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Educate yourself before you vote

Writer shares her opinion on the importance of voting and making an educated decision of who to vote for

Dear Editor;

Unfortunately the weary, resigned, election voters across Canada are failing to realize that this election is the most important election they'll ever vote in.  Please don’t be duped by our neo-con Prime Minister when he blames the other parties for causing this election.  Harper is the one who wanted an election to try and get a majority before the devastating G-20 report, the Afghan detainee report and the Whistleblower’s report were going to be made public.  This is his last kick at the can to try to get a Harper majority.  He is so desperate to do so, that he recently played his Americanized fear-tactic card on sovereignty issues.

Greedy, distracted, apathetic Canadians need to smarten up!  Do you want to end the remnants of democracy we have left in this country?  Do you want privatized for profit health care in Canada?   Do you want the end of subsidies for our farmers, which will bring us corporate mega farms as in the U.S. (which is already happening).  Do you want de-regulation of our banks, which saved us from economic destitution when the recession hit.  Nothing Harper did saved us!   Do you want a ‘military industrial complex’ of the north?  That is already happening here too!   Do you think that our war veterans are being cared for appropriately?  Not so, especially since Harper’s new federal rules for Veterans health care as of June 2009 and the now one-time payment for service.  Despicable!

All I can ask is that you turn off Survivor, American Idol, and Dancing with the Stars for one night and educate yourself about what is really going on before you go to place your vote in only 10 days.  Don’t pay any attention to polls (I think they should be banned.)   I, like you, am so sick of strategically voting but – it only begs the case for change in our system.  Otherwise go and vote for whomever you think has the best political agenda for you, your family and the country.

The most important thing that people in a democracy can do is to VOTE.  That is your least responsibility as a participant in a democracy.  We are witnessing people in the far- east literally dying to cast a vote for fair government – government of the people and for the people.  Do we want to end up under military rule, a dictatorship and live under years of emergency rule?  Don’t for one moment think it can’t happen here!

Marie Hooey, Port Hope, ON