The Thought Salesman

This fall Canadians are going to the polls to decide who will run the country. Likely this will play sideshow to the American election, despite the gravity of these times.

Elections should be about one thing, and that’s deciding the way the country should be run. It shouldn’t matter if a candidate is good with children, or eats children; it should be about that candidate’s vision for Canada’s future, and their plans to bring about that future.

So, as you will be called on to make a choice, I’ve created an extremely short guide to help you make that decision. It looks reminiscent of a video game’s instruction manual.

Conservative Party
Leader Stephen Harper
Plans for…
Economy: Tax cuts. The Harper government isn’t laying out any specific plans, but they are really playing up their tax cut record. Unlike tax cuts to the south, it seems that these aren’t reserved just for the big corporations, although they still get more than their share of them. The GST has already been lowered 2% and there has been a handful of tax cuts sprinkled over various groups, such as seniors, low income workers, transit riders, etc. It can be assumed that this trend will follow, but it begs the question of how far they are willing to, or able to, go with the tax breaks.
Environment: Mixed blessings. This is where the conservatives are being really criticised. Although they have done more than just sit on their hands, with a few billion dollars worth of trusts, they still lack a concrete plan.
Health Care: Two-tier. Although they have invested some money into the health care system, cancer research, and information programs, they are still the party that favours two-tier health care. Two-tier health care threatens to destroy our most cherished institution. http://thethoughtsalesman.com/private
Afghanistan: They favour staying in for the long haul. They’ve voted to extend the mandate until 2011, and have a general idea that we should eventually be in a non-combat role, but their plans are unclear. They have also provided more funding for the Department of National Defence.

Liberal Party
Leader: Stephane Dion
Plans for…
Economy: Investment. The Liberals are looking to invest money into the hurting areas of the economy, mainly the manufacturing sector. They also want to cut personal and small business income tax by around 10%, proving that although they are left leaning, they are still a centrist party.
Environment: A plan. The Liberals have a coherent plan that they call “the green shift,” which includes a carbon tax. What is a carbon tax? It is a tax that is weighted based on the volume of carbon emissions that people produce. Carbon taxes are being considered for the EU and several other areas worldwide, they are seen as a way to truly discourage pollution. Their downside is that people who live in the country will be disproportionately affected. It is a controversial step in a controversial plan. There are two things to consider though, controversial isn’t necessarily bad, and taxes eventually come back to the people anyway, in one way or another. Be it through health care or funding our diplomatic missions, it is always spent for the interests of Canada.
Health Care: Not for two-tier. Therefore, not out to destroy our health care system. They have not really campaigned on any sort of health promises, but if their record is to be an indicator of the future, then they should be looking to act as benign caretakers. It doesn’t look like they will expand or shrink our health care system, just maintain it.
Afghanistan: They don’t really have a position. When they were in power and the NDP held the swing vote, they leaned toward the NDP’s position, now that the Conservatives are in power; they seem to be swinging towards their position. The message: we don’t really care about where the Afghanistan mission is headed.

New Democratic Party
Leader: Jack Layton
Plans for…
Economy: Hard to label. The NDP economic plan seems to be a mix of relief for the poorest Canadians and rescuing the manufacturing sector. They want to put incentives and sanctions in place to protect Canadians from environmental spoiling and health risks, at the cost of businesses. As the party focuses mostly on people instead of business, it is to be expected that their economic policies reflect this. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it appears as though they are looking to help the areas in the biggest trouble, but not to go very far with it. One positive point that does come to mind is that there certainly won’t be tax breaks for big business with the NDP.
Environment: The NDP have a clearly defined environmental policy. It has led to the passing of the C-377 bill, or “Kyoto-Plus,” which is apparently a scientifically sound plan to reduce emissions by 80% by 2050. It sounds… too good to be true. The NDP doesn’t seem to want to compromise on the environment, and look to meet Canada’s Kyoto goals, even though little has been done thus far. Imagine this as cramming the night before an exam; it will be a lot harder than if we studied all semester, but with some hard work and a lot of sacrifice, Canada might just squeak by with a C-.
Health Care: Very not for two-tier. The NDP would ban private clinics and invest a considerable amount of money into the public system at the cost of giving tax gifts to big businesses. As a socialist party, health care would probably do the best under the NDP. This isn’t so much an endorsement, as it is an admission.
Afghanistan: Ready or not, they want out. The NDP have been pushing for an immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan. Good for Canada, bad for NATO, bad for Afghanistan. It is unclear if some Canadian troops would remain as part of the rebuilding effort.

Green Party
Leader: Elizabeth May
Plans for…
Economy: Huh? The Greens believe in “economic well-being” as opposed to economic growth “for its own sake.” This is a noble and enlightened sentiment, but unfortunately, if Canada were to go Green, we would be the only country to hold these values, and you can imagine what that would do to the economy.
Environment: Green. As a party that is nearly single-issue, the environment would be in good Green hands. This is the party that would go the farthest to protect the environment.
Health Care: Different. The Greens want to set up a number of panels and research task forces on determining just how effective our health care system is, and what’s the best way to fix it. They also promise more federal funding, although less than what Brian Mulroney took away from us, it’s a start at the long process of restoring the balance between federal and provincial funding for health care. The overarching theme that seems to be evident in the Green policy literature is, however, that they want to promote healthy living, and to do studies to figure out what isn’t working. It’s a sort of, “we aren’t sure, but we are going to learn” approach.
Afghanistan: Conflicted. The Greens want out of Afghanistan, but they don’t want to abandon the Afghans through a quickie withdrawal. They want Canada to continue to rebuild Afghanistan, but do not support the NATO mission. They want to seek support from the Muslim world in the form of troops, to do the “Blue helmet” work. They want to allow Afghan farmers to grow poppies, but want a regulated organisation to be the sole buyer, and use the poppies for morphine production instead of heroin. How realistic these plans are remain to be seen, but at least they are using their brains.

EDIT:
I had decided to leave out the Bloc, but I’ve had a change of heart.

Bloc Quebecois
Leader: Gilles Duceppe
Plans for…
Economy: Quebec! The Bloc is interested in helping to promote Quebec business at the expense of the rest of the country.
Environment: The band wagon. The Bloc is willing to do… something? They haven’t laid out a plan, but maintain that environmental advocacy is one of their core values.
Health Care: Quebec! They are interested in health care, tentatively it seems, as they’ve laid out no specific platform, but instead are out to secure more money for Quebec’s health care system.
Afghanistan: Unclear. They’ve voted against extending the mission in Afghanistan, but have yet to indicate what sort of a withdrawal they favour. They have supported following the decisions made by house committees, and try to avoid politicising the mission.
Canada: Destroy it. They are a separatist party; they seek to destroy the Confederation of Canada. It is that simple, they are a single-issue party that has tried to be a real party, their number one goal is to destroy the Canada that we know and love.

There, I’ve laid out the four big issues and the five big parties’ positions on them. Read this post, read the party websites, and please, when you go to the polls in about a month, don’t vote based on who has the French accent, or who has a bunch of cats.

Do Canada a favour, vote. Vote intelligently. If you can’t vote intelligently, then don’t vote at all. Voting is a big responsibility, if you are thinking of half-assing it, then please think of your country and make your decision based on how you want Canada run instead, and not on what’s in some entertainment magazine.

Don't vote stupidly
The Thought Salesman