The Upcoming Upper Canadian Elections
Sep. 8th, 2003 09:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldAn interesting post by the redoutable Ikram Saeed has brought my attention to the fact that Upper Canadians (sorry, Ontarians) are holding their provincial elections now. (As well, Kingston has its own municipal elections coming up.) I've picked up the requisite forms from the booths in Stauffer library, and I've only to fill them in.
I don't know who I'll vote for at the municipal level in Kingston--thoughts anyone?--but I suspect that if I vote provincially (if I'm qualified to vote, even; must check that out) I'd vote against the Tories. This isn't because of any deep-seated ideological animus against the Tories, though I was never a particular fan of Mike Harris. It's just because I feel that some sort of shift of government is a good idea, and it has been eight years since a party other than the Tories was in power in Ontario.
(Besides, as a good Atlantic Canadian I know full well the opportunities for low-level patronage. Maybe I should infiltrate myself into a party hierarchy?)
The question, I suppose, is who should I vote for. The NDP might be the natural choice for me, as a left-leaning student, except that a) I don't vote in order to salve my social conscience and b) the NDP isn't a particularly effective party in any case. (Witness the Bob Rae government in the early 1990s.) Most of the other, smaller parties--Greens, for instance--share these faults in spades. I suppose that the Liberals are the best alternative provincially.
I don't know who I'll vote for at the municipal level in Kingston--thoughts anyone?--but I suspect that if I vote provincially (if I'm qualified to vote, even; must check that out) I'd vote against the Tories. This isn't because of any deep-seated ideological animus against the Tories, though I was never a particular fan of Mike Harris. It's just because I feel that some sort of shift of government is a good idea, and it has been eight years since a party other than the Tories was in power in Ontario.
(Besides, as a good Atlantic Canadian I know full well the opportunities for low-level patronage. Maybe I should infiltrate myself into a party hierarchy?)
The question, I suppose, is who should I vote for. The NDP might be the natural choice for me, as a left-leaning student, except that a) I don't vote in order to salve my social conscience and b) the NDP isn't a particularly effective party in any case. (Witness the Bob Rae government in the early 1990s.) Most of the other, smaller parties--Greens, for instance--share these faults in spades. I suppose that the Liberals are the best alternative provincially.
