OH CANADA...

...I am feeling all kinds of disappointment this election.

I never understood why it is that as Canadians we just let things go. We never get angry at our political system or the decisions they make. It seems that part of our Canadian Identity is to complain and then do nothing. I am so sick of what I prefer to call the Canadian Affliction. It's as if we as an entire country suffer from some kind of psychological disorder en mass. WTF???
Citizens of Police states are less complaint than we are. They riot, protest, bring attention to issues they care about.
Canadians would rather lay down and die.

Steven Harper Called an election, in hopes I am sure of getting out of his minority government and gaining a majority government. The Canadian government spent some ridiculous amount of money to have an election, only to reorganize 30 or so seats, and end up with another conservative minority government.

FUG! Something close to 60% of voters did not turn out. I can't believe people just don't care enough about what happens to us to get up off their asses and vote. Poor Mr. Dion looks like he even considered hanging himself when he heard the percentage of non voters.

Who are these non voters? Are these people apathetic, lazy or just young people who think they may not be responsible enough to assist the country in making a decision that could affect all aspects of each citizens life? Could these people be refusing to vote because they believe that some how all politicians are the bane of our existence? What ever the reason there are ways to go about making your feelings known.

Get involved in politics so you can change the way they work. Get to know your local representatives they are there to answer questions. Find out what their platforms are, decide what issues are important to you. Get involved with programs that support change in the way you would like to see change affect your community, city, or country.

There is another way to refuse the vote so that it's noticed. Not voting means nothing. Refusing a ballot brings attention to the fact that you as a voter are not pleased with the options that have been given to you.
Wikipedia says: While Canadian federal elections do not allow a ballot to be refused, the provinces of Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Alberta, as well as the Yukon Territory, all allow voters to "refuse" their ballot at a polling station, which is then recorded as having been refused.
I am going to guess if you mark a ballot refused in Ontario it may be added to the pile that is scrutinized and later considered "spoiled" There has to be a better way than NOT VOTING.

Speaking of scrutinized votes, for those of you who did vote you may be surprised to know that not every vote counts... Every Camp has a group of people called Scrutineers, and their sole job is to scrutinize the ballots. If your "X" is artistic, or made in cursive writing, or any of the lines touch the out side of the circle, if it's too small, or you make a check mark, or anything other than a perfectly hatched "X" in the middle of the circle it is up to scrutiny and may be added to the "spoiled" pile at the end of the day and count to nothing.

(If you have any other information on refusing ballots post a comment and let us know.)

Both my husband and I got out there and voted. We voted for the candidate whose opinions and agendas are closest to our issues.

For us, we want social services, we want better education and health care. We don't want to continue these over seas wars on the behest of an American president, we don't want our services to become privatized. We don't want any more of the country's assets to be sold off to private companies.

So based on what I just wrote I am willing to bet you guys are smart enough to guess that I didn't vote for the torries. It's also fair to say that I am NOT IMPRESSED that they are back in power even if it is a minority government.

We continue to loose everytime a torrie is elected. We are slowly turning into our American Counter Parts. Before we know it we wont have health care any more, the rich will get richer, and the poor will get poorer. The middle class will cease to exist. Students will suffer, and children won't have doctors to go to. The environment will continue to suffer because big business has nothing to worry about, Harper doesn't care about the environment, it's likely the very last thing to consider on his agenda.

I am sickened.

Thankfully it is a minority, and the other parties can bring some of their agendas to the for front. I feel bad that the green party didn't get even one seat. It would have been nice to hear from them, and see them bring something to the house of commons.
The NDP I think did really well this election. I am glad to see them gain some seats. Good on you Jack Layton.

Of all the parties, I belive that the liberals really didn't do as well as I thought they should have. They lost seats to both the Torries, and NDP. (a blog post about this might show up in the next couple of days...) I was really disapointed with the liberals.

I can't believe how strange it is that an election took place last night and we are still in the same place as we were in yesterday morning.
Sad.