Sharpen up those voting pencils people, they are about to get a lot of use!
The first election on the agenda is federal, which will take place on May 2, and we can expect a whole lot of campaigning on this front. Prepare to have your once peaceful TV-time inundated by attack ads, smear campaigning and mud-slinging.
Federal Green Party candidate Elizabeth May is already feeling persecuted, having not been invited to the televised all-candidates forum to be held this month. The broadcast consortium that will air the debate decided that only parties with sitting MPs should be invited. But May is fighting back, questioning why Bloc Quebecois, which only fields candidates in Quebec, should have a seat at the debate while the Green Party, which has a candidate in most ridings, will not be included. And she's right. After all, the Green Party received six percent of the popular vote in the last federal election and those Canadians deserve representation.
I strive to be an informed voter and while doing some research into the upcoming election, I stumbled upon something called the "Vote Compass," an online tool to help people decide which party most represents their views. I took the test - 30 questions that ask you to agree or disagree with certain statements on matters of defence, economy, environment, government programs, law and order, immigration and multiculturism, parliamentary reform, taxes, moral values and Quebec. There are also questions that ask you to rate the five candidates on trustworthiness, competence and suitability for the position of Prime Minister.
After your answers have been calculated the program tells you which party your views reflected most and you can compare your answers to the parties' answers. I encourage everyone to try it - you may be surprised, I know I was!
The "Vote Compass" can even tell you what riding you are in if you don't already know (hint: we are in Souris-Moose Mountain) by simply entering your postal code (if you don't know that I can't help you).
Once the federal election is all wrapped up, our city will have a by-election on May 18 to elect a new member to City Council. Candidates cannot announce their intention until April 6 but I bet a few of you have already heard through the grapevine which residents will be throwing their hat into the ring.
This leaves us with the provincial election on November 7 and unfortunately, plenty of time for campaigning.
I know that some people are discouraged from voting because they say they don't know the issues but the Internet makes it so easy to get informed. These upcoming decisions will affect us all - pencils poised!
