I have voted in every election since I was of age, and I can’t remember ever being less enthusiastic. No, it’s worse than that. I don’t want either of the two who have a serious shot at winning to get it.  

I am still bitter and disappointed at Trudeau for breaking his promise on electoral reform. He made that promise when it didn’t look like he was going to win, but dropped it like a hot potato once he won as it served him well. The rest of us, not so much. Any system that allows a party that gets less than 40% voter support to get 100% of the power is not a system that reflects the wishes of the majority of the population. The United States and Great Britain are other countries that haven’t evolved beyond first-past-the–post, and we can see how it’s working out for them.  

A friend opined about how ironic it would be if this election resulted in Trudeau losing, but with such numbers that he would have won had it been Proportional Representation. It is mathematically possible, and I couldn’t help agreeing that that indeed would be sweet karma.  

That’s not the only reason I’m disappointed in Trudeau. SNC Lavalin was a disgrace, and as recently as the last debate, he’s still running with that sorry excuse that he was just trying to save jobs. First, the only people losing their jobs would be SNC executives and management. Trades folks and others would be building the bridges or whatever else needed to be built, but they would be working for a different company, that’s all. But more on point, the ethical breach in trying to interfere in the administration of justice was wrong, plain and simple. The fact Trudeau continues to frame it as a jobs issue suggests he still doesn’t get it. Or doesn’t want to.  

No question that that Liberal arrogance Conservatives decry, is a thing.  

But if not Justin Trudeau and the Liberals, what then? Andrew Scheer and the Conservatives? Nahhhhh. 

The Conservatives were once a proud, respectable party that accomplished some great things for the country. But that was back when they were the Progressive Conservatives, a party that had room for so-called Red Tories, moderate Conservatives of great social conscience like Dalton Camp, Richard Hatfield, Robert Stanfield, Joe Clark and even Brian Mulroney.  That Progressive Conservative party and its proud tradition has precious little in common with the renamed extreme right wing Reform Party of Stephen Harper, Doug Ford, Jason Kenny and Andrew Scheer. Don’t forget today’s Conservative Party came within a hair’s breadth of electing Max Bernier as its leader. That’s the same Max Bernier who has now decided to flaunt his racism for all to see.  

Was Trudeau right in the recent debate when he said Bernier’s job that night was to say publicly what Scheer was thinking privately?  

That may have been a cheap shot, but look who Scheer has surrounded himself with. His campaign manager, Hamish Marshall, was a board member of The Rebel, Ezra Levant’s racist, anti-Muslim, pro-Trump media operation. And Marshall has brought in senior Republican operatives who worked on Trump’s campaign to help run the Scheer campaign.  

Do I think Scheer is a racist? No, I don’t, but it is no accident that talking points he’s using, most likely an influence of the questionable characters who have instrumental positions in his campaign, are lifted from the Trump playbook, designed to dog whistle Canadians with racist tendencies.  

Why, for example, would Scheer specifically reference MS-13 in a recent immigration policy speech, the very same criminal gang Trump regularly invokes to instill anti-immigrant sentiment among voters. We have to ask why would Scheer do that when MS-13 has a very small presence in Canada, linked to very few crimes. In fact of all 140,000 so-called irregular refugees who entered Canada since 2017, a measly 0.3 percent were found to have committed serious crimes. But still, here’s Scheer invoking immigrants in Trump like language as a serious threat. It should give us all pause.  

In the grander scheme of things, in my mind there’s little to distinguish between the Liberals and Conservatives in this election. Neither has what could be called a real vision for the country. Their messages mainly boil down to “Vote for me because I’m not as bad as the other guy”.  Doesn’t that just fill you with hope and inspiration to rush out and cast your ballot?  

One will drive up the deficit. The other will bring in what could be serious cuts. Pick your poison. One tries to put the fear of God into voters by grossly exaggerating about what life would be like under the other for the next four years when the truth is that not much will really change no matter which one wins. As for climate change, Jameet Singh pretty much nailed it by calling Trudeau “delay” and Scheer “deny”.   

Scheer’s refusal to participate in what as a result is the scrapped national climate change debate tells us how much importance he puts on the issue. Given the coziness between his party and big oil, it really would have been an awkward debate for him, so I get the strategic decision to not go there. 

I could go on, but to cut to the chase, the Liberals don’t deserve to be re-elected, and there are too many legitimate concerns about the Conservatives to be comfortable with them winning either, IMHO. 

A pox on both their houses, I say. But since one of them will win, the best we can hope for is a minority government, which seems likely, but hopefully not with the Bloc Quebecois holding the balance of power.  A better scenario will see the Greens or NDP in that position. Then they can use electoral reform as a trade off for their support. That’s right – let’s Make Quid Pro Quo Great Again. 

I tend not to use memes as part of my blogs, but this one captures my feelings about the election so accurately. 

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