Since the election 2015 campaign was called, I have started, and restarted, this post again and again. It is no secret that many of the policies, and certainly Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party modus operandi infuriates me to no end. And I am truly afraid that the results that will unfold later today will show another Conservative majority government.

I’ve had some conversations over the past couple of weeks that have really disheartened me. Several friends and acquaintances admitted sheepishly that they don’t follow politics, don’t understand what the issues are, and thus don’t know who to vote for. They get there is a lot of antagonism about the Conservative party, and are frankly put off by their negative advertising, politicking and inflammatory issues they are invoking during this time (e.g. the niqab, old-stock Canadians). However, they don’t know what to do about it, and I fear there are way more Canadians out there who fall into this boat. They are therefore afraid to cast a ballot because they think an uninformed vote is somehow less worthy.

Then my greatest fear is that they won’t vote at all, and there will be no change in the governing party, and we will slip further away from the ideals I had assumed would always be a part of Canadian government. Showing up to open and honest debate by all representatives. The ability for journalists to question the Prime Minister and Ministers. Policies to be made based on data where possible, and not merely on rhetoric. These are just a few examples, I could go on all day about the many examples.

Your vote is greatly important, in more ways than I have the energy to get into here. So, if you are one of my friends and acquaintances who don’t want to vote Conservative but still don’t know who to vote for, please refer to this site to support whichever candidate in your riding is most likely to beat the Conservative candidate: http://www.votetogether.ca/

And if you are actually still open to voting Conservative because of you might agree with policy, please don’t. The ends don’t justify the means. Consider how this party has been implementing the policy and (mis)informing its citizens—it’s right out of George Orwell’s 1984 and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.

And then tomorrow, after the election results are in, we can have a more thorough discussion to bring you up to speed on the other issues. I might be ranting though…there’s been a lot that’s made me mad over the years.

~Jen