I voted Liberal. Many of my friends voted NDP. Most Canadians voted Conservative.
Why?
Different reasons.
Many people vote for the party that most closely reflects their own ideals. In general, that’s why I vote Liberal–it’s most reflective of my attitude and outlook. And that’s what most NDP voters do.
In 2004, a lot of people who supported the NDP voted Liberal, fearing the changes that a Conservative government might bring about.
Given the huge swing of votes between then and now, a lot of people voted Conservative yesterday because they want a change in government.
Personally, I’m not a huge fan of any of the federal party leaders right now. So I voted Liberal because I happen to like and support the local Liberal MP, Andrew Telegdi. Yet another valid reason.
In the end, what I’d like is the opportunity to support Mr. Telegdi, but not support Paul Martin. Yes, I’m talking about a vote for your local representative and a vote for the leader of the country. That makes so much more sense to me.
I’d also prefer a specified term, so that we can do away with some of the pre-election silliness that follows a non-confidence vote. I’d like to know when we’re coming up to an election, rather than having the ruling party play games with the calendar.
I know, I know. This sounds a lot like the American electoral system, but I don’t want that for one major reason.
I want our leader to be selected by the popular vote. That way, every Canadian’s vote actually makes a real difference in selecting the leader of our country. You can vote for the party you support with your local representative, and then the person you believe is most capable of leading our country. You can go the other way. Whatever. I just like the idea that a Prime Minister either did or did not receive my vote.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
this is picky but I want to point out that MOST Canadians did not vote Conservative. 36% of Canadians who voted, voted Conservative.
Geez, that was a fast response…and yes, I stand corrected.
I agree with you 100%. I’d like to be able to vote at the two levels and since I voted for the first time ever, this year, I can say that. I like the idea of a designated term like the americans have as well. To me, this whole idea of being able to call an election at the drop of a hat seems ridiculous… At this rate, we’ll have another election in 6 months. Great…
Anyways, I found myself saying these same things the last couple days and I’d have to say that part of the reason I’ve never voted in the past is mainly because I hate the way the system is set up. Ah well, I’ve voted, so apparently that entitles me to complain….
Yes Jeff, the fact that you voted does entitle you to complain and I am glad that I was finally able to force you to go and make your vote. Now I just have to figure out how to force you to vote for who I want you to vote for. That requires further work.
Oh, and Hi Russ…nice post.