It’s election day in Canada and no matter which political party you are rooting for, get out and vote!<\/p>\n
I received a couple of interesting forwarded emails lately and I’d like to share them here. The first one comes from a concerned citizen from Edmonton, Alberta. The other, from concerned American filmmaker, Michael Moore.<\/p>\n
\nSOMETHING WORTH THINKING ABOUT<\/strong><\/p>\n
Hello. My name is Alan Robberstad I am a Canadian. One voter out of millions of Canadian voters.<\/p>\n
Paul Martin is no friend of mine. Liberal governments have not made my life any better. Liberal governments have made the future worse for my children.<\/p>\n
Jean Chretien and the Liberal Party became Prime Minister many years ago. Guess who was the Liberal Finance Minister…..Paul Martin…LEST WE FORGET<\/p>\n
Since 1993:<\/p>\n
\n
- My taxes have increased.<\/li>\n
- My family’s share of the national debt has increased.<\/li>\n
- My personal expenses have increased.<\/li>\n
- My waiting time to see a doctor has increased.<\/li>\n
- My concerns for my family’s safety have increased.<\/li>\n
- My costs to educate my children have increased.<\/li>\n
- Government interference in my life has increased.<\/li>\n
- My personal debt has increased.<\/li>\n
- My income has stayed more or less the same.<\/li>\n
- My savings have decreased.<\/li>\n
- The buying power of my dollar, in Canada, has decreased.<\/li>\n
- The value of my dollar, in the U.S., has decreased.<\/li>\n
- My trust of elected officials has decreased.<\/li>\n
- My trust in the justice system has decreased.<\/li>\n
- My trust in the immigration system has decreased.<\/li>\n
- My hope that a Liberal won’t waste my tax dollars has decreased.<\/li>\n
- My dreams for a better future for my kids, in Canada, have disappeared.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
That is my story since the Liberals came to power.<\/p>\n
I am not voting for Paul Martin’s Liberals. I am voting against Paul Martin and his Liberal Party in January.<\/p>\n
I am voting for Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party.<\/p>\n
Do I like the Conservatives? Not particularly……I don’t really like Politics. I am not political by nature. I am not passionate about politics. I am a middle age guy (48). I live in a small house on a fairly quiet street in Edmonton. I have a wife, Kathy, and two children (ages 19 and 17). I have no pets. I am a middle class man. I don’t usually say too much.<\/p>\n
Until now.<\/p>\n
Now I am going to say something!<\/p>\n
In 35 of the past 37 years, Canada has been ruled by:<\/p>\n
\n
- Pierre Trudeau – a multi-millionaire lawyer from Quebec.<\/li>\n
- Brian Mulroney – a multi-millionaire lawyer from Quebec.<\/li>\n
- Jean Chretien – a multi-millionaire lawyer from Quebec.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
And now we are going to vote for Paul Martin???? – a multi-millionaire lawyer from Quebec???<\/p>\n
The leader of the Conservative party, Stephen Harper, is:<\/p>\n
\n
- Not a lawyer.<\/li>\n
- Not a multi-millionaire.<\/li>\n
- Not from Quebec.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Stephen Harper says that the Conservative party will:<\/p>\n
\n
- Reduce my taxes.<\/li>\n
- Pay off the national debt as fast as they can.<\/li>\n
- Shrink the size and influence of the federal government.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
That’s good enough for me. I am going to give the Conservative party a chance with my vote.<\/p>\n
But wait! Paul Martin is now saying the same thing. My mother told me forty years ago: “Fool me once – shame on you. Fool me twice – shame on me!”<\/p>\n
The Liberals have had 34 years to be financially responsible. Remember, Jean Chretien was Trudeau’s Finance Minister.<\/p>\n
Remember also, Paul Martin was Jean Chretien’s Finance Minister.<\/p>\n
These people have been raising my taxes for thirty four years. They have been mis-spending my tax dollars for 34 years.<\/p>\n
34 years!<\/p>\n
And now Paul Martin says he will stop taxing and spending. No way.<\/p>\n
Thank you for reading my story so far! Why am I telling my story to you?<\/p>\n
Although I feel alone, I know that I am not alone. Your story may be similar to mine. And you may also feel alone. One small voter in the midst of millions of voters.<\/p>\n
What can you and I do together to change things? Here is my idea: Lets you and I join up together. Just you and I. Together. As a small team of two. How can you and I fight a huge political machine?<\/p>\n
You and I have two things that we can use:<\/p>\n
\n
- Our individual personal connections.<\/li>\n
- The Internet.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
The Internet is supposed to be this globalizing tool, right? Let’s put it to use.<\/p>\n
I have 27 Canadians in my personal e-mail address book. I am sending this e-mail to each of them.<\/p>\n
I am asking you to do two things:<\/p>\n
\n
- Forward this e-mail to every Canadian in your own address book.<\/li>\n
- Vote against Paul Martin and the Liberal Party in January of next year.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Vote for the Conservative candidate in your riding.<\/p>\n
I have probably written this e-mail too late. As I said I am not politically adroit. I feel like Peter Finch, in the 1976 movie “Network”, when he shouted: “I am mad as hell and I am not going to take this anymore!”<\/p>\n
Please, forward the e-mail RIGHT NOW!!<\/p>\n
My best wishes to you. My best wishes to Canadians everywhere.<\/p>\n
My thanks to David Stokes from Toronto He actually wrote this just (5) days before the last federal election. Fool me once – shame on you. Fool me twice – shame on me!”<\/p>\n
Alan Robberstad Edmonton, Alberta.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
I’d just like to point out a couple of things that bother me about this email. I don’t want this to be construed as support for one party or another?\u00a2\u201a\u00c7\u00a8\u201a\u00c4\u00f9I’m as mad at the dishonesty of the liberal party as much as the next person, but at the same time I feel like this email has a few very misleading statements that I want to pick out.<\/p>\n
I would recommend to the writer of this email that if your personal debt has increased, your income has stayed the same (more or less? which is it?) your savings have decreased and you’re looking for someone to blame, check the mirror<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
After whining about how you are in debt, you then have the nerve to complain that inflation has reduced the buying power of your dollar. Take an economics class and you’d know that a weaker dollar means it will be easier to pay back those debts. I’m not saying that that’s a good thing, I’m just saying you’re arguments go against each other.<\/p>\n
As for the value of the dollar compared to the Americans, as anyone that’s ever exported anything to the States knows, a weaker dollar is so much to the advantage of the seller. If you don’t like the idea of trading with the Americans, remember who it was the brought in Free Trade in the first place?\u00a2\u201a\u00c7\u00a8\u201a\u00c4\u00f9the conservatives. Also the American dollar is falling like a brick due to the incredible overspending of their “conservative” government. If Stephen Harper had of been in power when the Bush Administration asked Canada to join them in Iraq, I guarantee you our dollar would be a lot weaker, and our image as a peace keeping country tarnished. Is that what you’re asking for?<\/p>\n
You’ve also said that hospital waiting times were a concern for you, as are taxes and the national debt. These are all concerns of mine as well. However, I understand that privatization of health care is NOT the answer. Making ourselves more like the United States is NOT the answer. If I wanted to live in the United States, that’s where I’d move to, I’d rather not turn ourselves into that country?\u00a2\u201a\u00c7\u00a8\u201a\u00c4\u00f9don’t you think there is a good reason we put up with Canada’s cold winter climate?<\/p>\n
Michael Moore is currently in production on his next movie. As an avid lover of all things Canadian, he has also issued a statement regarding Canada’s federal election:<\/p>\n
\nOh, Canada?\u00a2\u201a\u00c7\u00a8\u201a\u00c4\u00f9you’re not really going to elect a Conservative majority on Monday, are you? That’s a joke, right? I know you have a great sense of humour, and certainly a well-developed sense of irony, but this is no longer funny. Maybe it’s a new form of Canadian irony?\u00a2\u201a\u00c7\u00a8\u201a\u00c4\u00f9reverse irony! OK, now I get it. First, you have the courage to stand against the war in Iraq?\u00a2\u201a\u00c7\u00a8\u201a\u00c4\u00f9and then you elect a prime minister who’s for it. You declare gay people have equal rights?\u00a2\u201a\u00c7\u00a8\u201a\u00c4\u00f9and then you elect a man who says they don’t. You give your native peoples their own autonomy and their own territory?\u00a2\u201a\u00c7\u00a8\u201a\u00c4\u00f9and then you vote for a man who wants to cut aid to these poorest of your citizens. Wow, that is intense! Only Canadians could pull off a hat trick of humour like that. My hat’s off to you.<\/p>\n
Far be it from me, as an American, to suggest what you should do. You already have too many Americans telling you what to do. Well, actually, you’ve got just one American who keeps telling you to roll over and fetch and sit. I hope you don’t feel this appeal of mine is too intrusive but I just couldn’t sit by, as your friend, and say nothing. Yes, I agree, the Liberals have some ‘splainin’ to do. And yes, one party in power for more than a decade gets a little… long. But you have a parliamentary system (I’ll bet you didn’t know that?\u00a2\u201a\u00c7\u00a8\u201a\u00c4\u00f9see, that’s why you need Americans telling you things!). There are ways at the polls to have your voices heard other than throwing the baby out with the bath water.<\/p>\n
These are no ordinary times, and as you go to the polls on Monday, you do so while a man running the nation to the south of you is hoping you can lend him a hand by picking Stephen Harper because he’s a man who shares his world view. Do you want to help George Bush by turning Canada into his latest conquest? Is that how you want millions of us down here to see you from now on? The next notch in the cowboy belt? C’mon, where’s your Canadian pride? I mean, if you’re going to reduce Canada to a cheap download of Bush & Co., then at least don’t surrender so easily. Can’t you wait until he threatens to bomb Regina? Make him work for it, for Pete’s sake.<\/p>\n
But seriously, I know you’re not going to elect a guy who should really be running for governor of Utah. Whew! I knew it! You almost had me there. Very funny. Don’t do that again. God, I love you, you crazy cold wonderful neighbors to my north. Don’t ever change.<\/p>\n
Michael Moore<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"