If you haven’t heard already, a Federal election campaign is underway. But if you’re anything like me — wrapped up in the ordinariness of your own life — the current election campaign is hardly exciting enough to tear you away from your favourite TV shows. There’s talk of a coalition … or not. Majority is a word that, for the time being anyway, we should retire from our political vocabulary. There’s the promise of a family tax cut if we can pay off the deficit. And tax-free grants for low-income students. The capping of credit card rates. Oh, my … I’m feeling flush already.
Five days into the campaign, and I still don’t feel like any of the three party leaders campaigning to lead this country are speaking to me.
I’m not rich.
I’m not poor.
I’m not over sixty.
I’m not part of the “ethnic vote” that matters.
I’m not a parent.
I don’t have any income to split.
I already have a degree — and my student loans are paid off.
Where is the vision? Whatever happened to principle? Maybe I’m still waiting for this election to coalesce around one important issue — to be about more than which party leader can put for promises that we hope they can fulfill once elected. Maybe it’s because today, after filling out change of address forms, and calling numerous local and provincial agencies to give them my new address, I’m left wondering what the federal government really does for me? Does it really matter in the grand scheme of my life?
I’m trying, too, not to buy in to the media’s cynicism. But sometimes it’s hard, and I have to wonder who’s really setting the agenda during this election campaign — the political parties and their leaders or the media?
The question smouldering under the surface that no one seems to be asking is this: what does Canada stand for in the 21st century? Perhaps by the end of the election campaign we’ll have an inkling of how the political parties see this country evolving, and I hope to see myself reflected in that vision.
Five days into the campaign, and I still don’t feel like any of the three party leaders campaigning to lead this country are speaking to me.
I’m not rich.
I’m not poor.
I’m not over sixty.
I’m not part of the “ethnic vote” that matters.
I’m not a parent.
I don’t have any income to split.
I already have a degree — and my student loans are paid off.
Where is the vision? Whatever happened to principle? Maybe I’m still waiting for this election to coalesce around one important issue — to be about more than which party leader can put for promises that we hope they can fulfill once elected. Maybe it’s because today, after filling out change of address forms, and calling numerous local and provincial agencies to give them my new address, I’m left wondering what the federal government really does for me? Does it really matter in the grand scheme of my life?
I’m trying, too, not to buy in to the media’s cynicism. But sometimes it’s hard, and I have to wonder who’s really setting the agenda during this election campaign — the political parties and their leaders or the media?
The question smouldering under the surface that no one seems to be asking is this: what does Canada stand for in the 21st century? Perhaps by the end of the election campaign we’ll have an inkling of how the political parties see this country evolving, and I hope to see myself reflected in that vision.
An excellent post of valuable reflections, for any country in the world.
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