“In case you haven’t been paying attention…” here is Slate’s pleasant recap of the Democratic Primary in a mere 8 and 1/2 minutes.

I find it hard enough paying close attention to my own country’s politics, but this recap is nice because it succinctly summarizes the highlights of the race so far.

I recently attended a forum for local candidates in the provincial election that is taking place tomorrow. I felt a little overwhelmed by my lack of knowledge of current events in the province and also by my confusion over what should make a candidate deserving of my vote.

I have decided not to be apathetic though; I’ve decided to vote for Tom Moffatt of the NDP. I haven’t jumped to this conclusion lightly. Among other reasons, I’m voting for him because the NDP is a party that DOES NOT TAKE corporate donations—EVER. It’s a party for the people, one that has proven it can be trusted.

The other thing I wanted to bring up, is voter apathy. It’s become a big problem here, as in many western countries. My friend Andy wrote an article on the subject, Voting: part of a healthy democratic diet, that has been published in this weeks issue of The Meliorist (the student run paper at the University of Lethbridge). Seriously go read the article, it’s short and it very nicely sums up why people don’t vote, and why it’s important to take part in the selection of our government.

He states that one of the biggest causes of voter apathy is the lack of proportional representation. According to Andy’s article, I can see why the current party (the Progressive Conservatives) have nothing to gain and everything to lose from proportional representation.

The differences based on the last elections results would be as follows:

• PC - would have 39 seats instead of 61
• Liberals - would have 24 seats instead of 17
• NDP - would have 8 seats instead of 4
• Wildrose Alliance - would have 7 seats instead of 1
• Green - would have 2 seats instead of 0
• Social Credit – would have 1 seat instead of 0

Albertans are ready for a new government and if we had a more democratic way of getting the people we want into power, more voters would vote with their hearts and we’d see an even bigger shift away from the PC party.

Here’s hoping more people will vote for the party they believe in, despite a lack of proportional government, in the hope of moving our leadership in the direction the people want.

There are a myriad of reasons to NOT vote for the Progressive Conservative party in the upcoming provincial election but this one in particular makes me chuckle:

Remember that on March 3rd, Alberta needs a new government.

The Electoral Compass is a tool designed to help you know which candidate in the US Primaries holds views most similar to yours.

Here’s where I stand, if I were voting…

The election is over and the votes are tallied. The conservative party didn’t do quite a well as some polls had predicted, but they still have the majority of seats and a minority government. Stephen Harper, leader of the conservative party and Prime Minister-designate will be sworn in as Canada’s 22nd Prime-Minister sometime in mid-February.

The local Lethbridge MP candidates were at the University of Lethbridge this afternoon in a debate. I’ll probably end up voting for Melanee Thomas of the NDP party because I think she is most deserving of my vote. She’s very quick on her feet and I imagine she’ll continue to do well in the party.

Melanee Thomas gives her opening statement.

However, after hearing some of the Conservative party plans I have a renewed respect for Rick Casson and some of the things he said today have actually made me feel better about their imminent majority victory next week. He’s not going to get my vote but at the same time it’s not like he needs it, traditionally Southern Alberta always votes for the conservatives.

It’s the topics that didn’t come up that bother me, but for the first while as/if Conservatives follow through with their top five goals, I don’t think I’ll have much to complain about—all that money for beer and popcorn—oh wait I don’t have kids.

Previously: MP questions and answers for the 2004 election

With the American elections coming up next week there has been a lot of talk lately about the upcoming Alberta Provincial election. The discussions can get pretty heated. If you live in Alberta you should check out this site about Ralph Klein and learn a little bit about his track record.

My mom is a teacher and I know she’s really not a fan of the Klein Government.

I took part in the federal election yesterday. Paul Martin’s Liberals ran surprisingly strongly and will form a minority government in Canada, with the balance of power held by Jack Layton’s New Democrats.

I voted for local NDP candidate Melanee Thomas. It was fairly certain here in Lethbridge that the conservative party would win, but nevertheless I feel disappointed that it wasn’t even close.

The sad thing is, it probably doesn’t matter who gets in. I realize it’s not good to be this pessimistic about voting at such an early age but I think Gary put it best, with his government Cat & Mouse analogy. We’re all just mice voting for the cats whom are perceived as the least hungry.

Things are turning political in Canada.

While perusing a Boing Boing article this morning I decided to imitate an idea I found there. An astute Canadian has written the MP candidates within his constituency asking four simple questions.

I followed suit and emailed the Lethbridge constituents. Here are their responses, edited only to fit in with each other on this posting. The text has not been changed.

Reply Legend (in alphabetical order):

Blue - Rick Casson (Conservative Party of Canada)
*Green - Erin Matthews (Green Party of Canada)
*Red - Ken Nicol (Liberal Party of Canada)
Orange - Melanee Thomas (NDP of Canada)

*-indicates the candidate has not yet responded.

1) There has been a lot of talk of a Canadian version of the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) Would you support this? and why?

Currently we are researching with Conservative national office your inquiry regarding the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

I would not support a Canadian version of the DMCA because many Canadians are personally and legally using music and other mediums on-line with intent to not infringe copyrights. I think that laws like the DMCA violate freedoms of expression and that there are better ways to balance copyrights and expression in law.

1b) Do you support changes at all to our existing copyright laws?

I do not support anything specific at this time. I would have to do more research on this subject. If you have any feedback or ideas on this topic, I would be interested in hearing what you have to say.

2) Mr. Martin says he supports the change to allow same sex marriage, while Mr. Harper says he would put it to a free vote - How would you vote?

I believe marriage is the union between one man and one woman.

I would vote in favour of equal marriage. Sexual orientation is a “personal immutable characteristic” and is inalienable from a person, therefore, we need to write laws that protect them, not unlike how we have law to protect people based on their religious beliefs or gender or race.

3) Do you support the Kyoto accord? why?

Koyoto Accord is Not a made in Canada solution. We will become an environmental world leader by focusing on clean air, clean water, clean land, and clean energy Canadians know we are fortunate to live in the most beautiful country in the world, a country with the world’s largest fresh water supply and abundant natural resources and wildlife species. But we also know we cannot take this natural environment for granted. We must be responsible stewards of our land, water, and air.

I support the Kyoto accord for several reasons. First, I enjoy hiking in Waterton Lakes National Park (which is in the Lethbridge constituency), but I do NOT enjoy looking out over the prairie vista from a mountain top and seeing smog. Air tests have indicated that particles and pollution from China have blown across the jet stream to settle in our area. This indicates to me that we need a global solution to pollution and climate change. My generation is being left with an environmental debt that I don’t know how we’re going to pay off.

One other reason why I support Kyoto is the result of the activities of two petrochemical corporations: Suncor and Beyond Petroleum. Both companies have implemented their Kyoto commitments, and both companies are MAKING MONEY. This is evidence that making our business environmentally sustainable and making our buildings, etc environmentally friendly creates jobs and boosts the economy.

4) This is the most important question, how will you make sure that your voice is the voice of Lethbridge while you are MP?

The most important issue(s) for an MP to address are the ones which interest, impact or are of greatest importance to his constituents. By being connected to his constituents through personal contact, or telephone and e-mail communications a wide-range of diverse, often complex issues are brought forward. Since being elected Lethbridge Member of Parliament in 2000 I have attended in excess of 500 functions also attended by thousands of constituents. During each event opinions, ideas and general thoughts are shared on national and regional topics, yet in all cases the bearing an issue has on a local level is of greatest significance.

I will actively seek out the positions and opinions of all constituents, including those who are not traditionally NDP supporters. Lethbridge very clearly has a plurality of opinions, so it is important to be open about my own moral code and worldview so that constituents know where I am coming from as well. I have already committed to quarterly meetings with several important community groups if elected, which will help keep me in touch with the community as well. Above all, I plan to continue with canvassing and door knocking because I’ve found that people are most open and honest and upfront when asked what is important to them. That kind of feedback needs to be sought out, and I am more than prepared to make that a central part of my job as MP.

The “pre-election” spending spree can now become the “election” spending spree, as Prime Minister Paul Martin visited Governor General Adrienne Clarkson and asked her to dissolve the 37th Parliament. Thus setting off a 36 day federal election campaign, ending with the vote on June 28th. This is the first general election for all three of the main party leaders. Slumping Liberal support in polls and a more regional vote should make this interesting. I’m predicating a minority government with the Liberals being the party with the most seats while the NDP and Alliance being on opposite ends of the spectrum fill in the rest of the seats and make sure that nothing is passed.

The popular party in Spain has lost the election. It is speculated that if the recent bombings had actually been perpetrated by the ETA it would have helped the preceding government win the election. Interesting coverage via The Toronto Star.

Today and tomorrow are the Student Union Elections. I had no idea who to vote for, so I’ve been reading up on the candidates trying to make an informed decision. Tyler Tanner, Jon Morrison , Scott McIntyre, Loralee Edwards, and Paul Daniels are running for President; Matthew Sletto, Jason Rumer, and Gorm Hansen for VP Academic. Kelly Andres and Greg Imeson are running for VP Administration while Clay Campbell, Michael Smith, and Patricia Butt are running for VP Internal Affairs. My review of their profiles (as found in the student run newspaper The Meliorist.)

Running for President:
Tyler Tanner—From Taber, Alberta. One of the infamous Tanner crew, specifically of the “Mother Tanner’s Sweet Taber Corn” line. Personally I would have left that detail out. He says some good things about the University and then toots his horn about what a great guy he is, but says little about why he would make a good president.

Jon Morrison—Management student. His reason for running is a personal interest in student issues. He fails to cite which issues he’s interested in. He has little or no experience in politics. Also he didn’t proof read his profile before submitting it, “I have developed a interest in student issues…” Do I really want someone so grammatically inept as my SU president?

Scott McIntyre—Unfortunately Scott has dropped out of the race. PoliSci student and likely would have been my first pick. Rumor has it he is not running for personal reasons.

Paul Daniels—The incumbent. His platform was based on what he has done and what he is going to do. So far so good, but his main points were that he has started to make the Zoo (the campus pub) a more welcoming environment, reviving Thursday night action there as well making the place non-smoking. He also added that ratified clubs need better funding and benefits. So if he’s elected I suppose I should assume that more of my SU fees will be going to University Clubs. Maybe I would care if I was in one.

Loralee Edwards—A senior student, and given the choices probably the best choice, but I still haven’t decided for sure.
Running for Vice President Academic:
Matthew Sletto—No bio submitted. I guess I know who I won’t be voting for.

Jason Rumer—Jason has a lot of experience in the SU and other political organizations. His bio focused on past experience rather than plans for the future but his list of past experience was impressive.

Gorm Hansen—Gorm also has had a lot of previous experience. His bio was unfortunately quite short. He does, however, have something going for him (at least as far as my vote goes) in that someone I recently met from the SU, whom is graduating, said that if he were to pick, either Jason or Gorm would be good choices but that personally he would vote for Gorm.

Running for Vice President Administration:
Kelly Andres—Long bio and considering the opposition, she’s my pick.
Greg Imeson—Why the hell would you run in a student union election and not submit a bio to the University’s student newspaper? I guess we could ask Greg that question.

Running for Vice President Internal Affairs:
Clay Campbell - Currently Clay is the Vice President of University Hall, for the Organization of Residence Students. He is also the founder and two-year president of GALSO (more commonly known as GALIA). He goes on to say that University Clubs are very important [yadda yadda] and that if elected he will divert more funds to clubs. Seeing as he’s the president of one of the clubs I’d have to say his bias on this topic shows through pretty clearly.

Michael Smith - I don’t want to seem judgmental here, but when he listed one of his hobbies as pilates, I had to wonder exactly what type of guy mentions his hobby of a specific kind of exercise when campaigning in Student Union elections. I guess we could ask Mike that. Anyway he’s currently the Vice President of GALIA and a treasurer of the board of directors at CKUL (the University’s radio station). His platform revolves around his desire to encourage diversity. Hmmm.

Patricia Butt—Ok, my last hope Patricia Butt (also known as Tricia). I was actually put off of the idea of voting for Patricia due to the overusage of bad puns in her political advertisements around the school. Puns aside, reading her bio seemed like what I imagine the cover letter of an application to be a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader would be like. Don’t get me wrong it was actually a pretty well written piece, but it didn’t seem to fit with someone concerned about Internal Affairs. I couldn’t help but think that if she were handwriting this, she would have dotted her lower case “i’s” and “j’s” with little smiley faces. She sounds pretty sporty and had a nice picture to boot, but her platform revolved around what a fun person she is and her love of all things sporty and cute. In the end though, I’ll probably end up voting for her.

The other positions didn’t have enough interest so all running for those positions will be awarded victory by acclamation.