So the election is now just days, maybe hours away...

By only

Friday January 20, 2006

There are a few scenarios at play here and despite all the water
cooler talk from the conventional media, there still remains a lot
unsaid about each of the major party’s platforms. In a last ditch
effort to help you make your decision, we at Only have
broken down each of the major party’s platforms to highlight the
agendas and direction they would take if elected.

MAKE NO MISTAKE . YOU MUST VOTE .
IF YOU SAY YOU DON’T CARE OR THINK THIS IS NOT IMPORTANT, YOU ARE DEAD WRONG. THE SAME SHOULD BE SAID IF YOU ARE ABOUT TO KNEE-JERK ANY POLITICAL PARTY INTO POWER BEFORE YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE ABOUT. EVEN IF YOU’RE REALLY MAD AT THE OTHER GUYS.

This comparison below is meant as a way to make it easier for the lazy, and to expose the realities behind electing the party you might already think you should vote for. We do this because we don’t think you should vote based on who you don’t want. Instead you should be voting for who you think will closest reflect your views and at least steer the country in the direction you want. We do this because we love you, so think about this stuff and don’t fuck it up.

HEALTH
LIBERALS: Hire more doctors. Implement a Public Health Care Initiative to protect public health care in regards to “accessibility” and “timeliness.” Develop a National Pharmaceutical Strategy. CONSERVATIVES: Allow a mix of public and private care. Improve wait time by end of 2006. Necessary out of country operations paid for. Prevent the decriminalization of Marijuana. NDP: Stop any further privatization of health care. Create a
Health Care Training Fund to create more nursing spots. Expand the coverage of home care. National drug plan to cover costs over $1500. GREEN: Stop the development of a two-tier Health Care system. Help provinces create more detox and treatment beds. Ban all non-natural pesticides by 2010. Develop a National Pharmacare plan.

This is a fundamental no-brainer. Either you think that everyone should have the same access to health care or you think that people with money should be able to get better, faster care. Remember private health care is expensive and you probably can’t afford it. But that guy from Alberta probably can.

DEFENSE
LIBERALS: Ban all weapons in space. Increase military spending — more troops. CONSERVATIVES: More spending, more troops, more planes. Restore military presence in B.C. Create Veterans’ bill of rights. Arm border officers. Begin using biometric technology and face scanners at points of entry. Expand intelligence gathering and work more closely with foreign
spy agencies. NDP: Maintain focus of Peacekeeping. Scrap the Anti-Terrorist Act. Ban security certificates. GREEN: Make Canada a military nuclear-free zone. Maintain peacekeeping role.

Yes it’s for real. Eye scanners and biometric technology. Are you serious? Doesn’t anybody watch movies? Do you really want to be scanned coming/going to the States? And then there’s that thing called the Missile Defense Program, which the Conservatives have already said they would look at, welcome to Cold War Part 2.

ABORIGINAL
LIBERALS: $7 Billion total for aboriginals attending residential schools and for a quality of life package. Better health-care on and off reserve. CONSERVATIVES: Accept target of recent Meeting of First Minister and Aboriginal Leaders in Kelowna. Settle land claims. Replace the Indian Act. NDP: Implement Kelowna agreements. Resolve land claims. More youth infrastructure. Engage First Nations, Metis and Inuit in the preservation and stewardship of environment. GREEN: Implement the Royal Commission recommendations on Aboriginal Peoples. Promote Aboriginal culture. Legislate fishing, hunting, logging and trapping rights.

Before the Kelowna Agreement the 1996 Royal Commisision recommended over 400 changes in a 4000 page review to the way First Nations people are treated in this country. Failure to proceed came under both the Conservatives and Liberals and despite what is written, the Conservatives have dwindled on their commitment to uphold the Kelowna agreement, while the Liberals don’t even mention it.

EDUCATION
LIBERALS: tons of money for student aid and work training programs. Money to split 1st and last year of undergraduate costs up to $3000. Help disabled students. CONSERVATIVES: Allow trades people to deduct cost of tools and equipment. Little money for post secondary student aid. Make student loan eligibility easier. NDP: Restore money cut by Liberals to post secondary education. Overhaul Student Loan Program. Create
long-term federal grant system. GREEN: Try to reduce tuition for post-secondary education. Create program to reduce student debt.

??The NDP has the best angle here. They offer the most student aid and as anyone with a student loan knows: the Student Loan Program sucks. For the Conservatives, the idea of making student loans easier to get might sound good but really it just mean you can go into debt sooner, with less resources to get out of debt. Tricky bastards.

FAMILY
LIBERALS: Double spending on child-care. Help the elderly. Create Family leave program (time off with benefits for families with new kids). Disability savings fund. CONSERVATIVES: Put same-sex marriage to a free vote in House of Commons. Create 125,000 child-care spots and pay families $1,200 per child under six. NDP: Child Day-Care Act. Create 200,000 day-care spaces. Offer money for home-care and support regulated
public long-term care programs. Increase Child Tax Benefit to pay $1000 per child. GREEN: Create comprehensive Anti-Poverty Strategy. More money for early childhood education. Tax incentives for companies that offer on-site childcare.

??The Liberals just keep throwing money at these problems, but the time off plan would be useful. Whether it’s 125 or 200 thousand spots for childcare, you need to wonder “what about the rest?” But Canada does have a low birth rate so maybe it all works out. For those without kids the Conservatives offer of $1200/year might seem decent, but here in BC most parents pay $9600/year/child for daycare. The NDP’s Child Day-Care Act
would help create a higher national standard for child care.??

ENVIRONMENT
LIBERALS: Develop National renewable fuel standards. 5% renewable content in gasoline and diesel fuels. More National Parks. Implement Kyoto Protocol. *CONSERVATIVES: Develop a Clean Air Act. 5% renewable content in gasoline and diesel fuels. Pull out of Kyoto and develop a Made-In-Canada strategy for reducing greenhouse emissions. Ensure water quality and quantity. Increase fines for polluting. Tax break for public
transit riders. NDP: Establish a Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act. Make polluters pay. Increase Gas Tax Transfer to cities. GREEN: Make polluters pay. Regulate chemicals in consumer products. Ban imported toxic waste. Institute new energy conservation strategies. Use wood waste to produce bio fuels. Ban bulk exports of water. End all federal subsidies to fossil fuel
sectors.

It kind of comes down to whether you think the Kyoto accord is worth participating in. A lot of other countries do. It’s all about cutting greenhouse emissions by certain target dates. Encouraging greener technologies and the like. One member of the Conservative party did speak to this issue and said he was unconvinced that humans are causing global warming. No it couldn’t be the billions of cars, and factories pumping crud out into the air everyday? More parks is nice.

sources: official party platforms, Globe & Mail chart