Great Canadian Political Scandals of the Past Decade

Near the end of the 2008 federal election, I read a comment on CBC's election website that mused about the $200 million wasted through the Canadian government's sponsorship program. The program was designed to promote Canada and the federal government to Canadians, especially in Quebec. The dollar amount ($200 million) is not entirely accurate since that is the approximate value of the program, and not all program money was misspent. Having said that, this still ranks as one of the most expensive examples of corrupt politics.

What is the most expensive example of corrupt politics? The 40th Canadian General Election. The Parliament of Canada passed Bill C-16, An Act to Amend the Canadian Elections Act on November 6, 2006. C-16 was the result of the Conservative Party's campaign promise to give Canada fixed election dates. The first election was to be held on October 19, 2009. Since then, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, on September 7, 2008, had Governor General Michaelle Jean dissolve Parliament thereby forcing an election. Less than 3 years after promising Canadians fixed election dates, Stephen Harper broke his own law. We went to the polls (some of us...begrudgingly) on October 14, 2008 - a full year before we were legally supposed to. This blatant violation of Canadian law cost taxpayers (approximately) $300 million. This is the most expensive abuse of power and taxpayer money in Canadian history.

So why don't Canadians vote? The answer seems obvious enough - corruption. The Liberals were corrupt during their last reign as governing party and the Conservatives are corrupt now. So who do Canadians vote for? The NDP - a party that offers all-encompassing social programs without concern for how to pay for them? The Greens - a party whose raison d'etre begins and ends with protecting the environment? The Christian Heritage Party? The Marxist-Leninist Party? The Marijuana Party? The Communist Party of Canada...?

Maybe now we know why voter turnout is so low.

Let's hope we don't get asked to vote again until the next legislated date (October 15, 2012 ).

Invalid Vote

I am officially declaring yesterday's election invalid.

Taxpayers shelled out $300 million or so to stage an election that meant nothing, proved nothing, and changed nothing. The Conservatives still have a minority government. The Liberals are still second. The Bloc are still third. The NDP is still fourth. And the Elizabeth May still doesn't have a seat.

I could probably still accept all this if Canadians had bothered to show up, but they didn't. The last estimate I saw yesterday predicted a voter turnout of somewhere around 56%. That's despicable. Almost half the vote-eligible population chose to remain voiceless. That's not democracy. If my math is correct (and if this prediction proved accurate) less than 20% of eligible voters gave Stephen Harper a de facto majority. Why not just go back to the good ol' days when the wealthiest 20% of the population ran everything, and the other 80% had no voice? It would be cheaper to run irrelevant elections.

Locally, Tim Fugard and Andy Bruziewicz, even if combined, couldn't fell encumbent Pat Davidson. What makes this so hard to swallow is that barely half the vote-eligible population of Sarnia-Lambton bothered to vote. What a joke.

For these reasons, I am officially declaring yesterday's federal election invalid.

Vote on October 14

Tomorrow is election day, so I decided to post some links for my loyal readers.

If you don't know where to vote, click here.

If you want to know when you can vote, click here.

If you're a young voter, and want information, click here.

If you are out of the country and want to vote, click here.

If you want more information about the candidates in Sarnia-Lambton (and their party):

AndyBruziewicz (New Democratic Party)

Pat Davidson (Conservative Party of Canada)

Christopher Desormeaux-Malm (Christian Heritage Party)

Tim Fugard (Liberal Party of Canada)

Alan McKeown (Green Party)

Take the time to look at the parties and their candidates, then go vote for the party/candidate you think speaks best for you.

I'm a Liberal. I will be voting for Tim Fugard and I've been working on his campaign from the start.

Go vote on October 14!