Federal Election

[perfecho]

I do not want the Libs either, and that is what Harper is counting on, but I would like a leader that stands behind his word.
Interestingly, when the populous wants an election, usually the gov doesn't....they are normally ousted. When a gov wants an election, it's because they are riding higher in the polls, and the voters are content with what is going on, hence do not want an election.
This is why I favor a set election date....it takes out the opportunists and over the years, saves tax payers a great deal of wasted $.

[farmers_son]

I don’t know what it is like elsewhere but really in my riding what I like or what I want is beside the matter. The riding here has gone Conservative for as long as anyone can remember. The only question is how wide the margin our Conservative candidate will win by. I can follow the issues and ponder the various positions of the parties, carefully weigh the qualities of the various leaders and form a view on which government I might like to win the election but the fact remains that unless I am willing to move to another constituency my vote really is totally irrelevant in the outcome of the election and only matters as to the margin of victory our local Conservative candidate wins by.

I guess that brings up the issue of popular vote and should a number of federal seats be decided by the overall popular vote, this would tend to give representation to the smaller parties who get votes but quite often never enough to win the seat. There are pros and cons to that but as it is if you live in a riding that is a staunch supporter of one party or another all the election excitement is happening somewhere else.

It is a given that not one of the parties leaders will make a stop in our riding, it would be a total waste of their time.

[per]

Same situation here, fs. What does count though is that federal funding is available to parties with more than 2% of the popular vote across the county. That could be a good enough reason to vote in another seemingly futile or even useless direction. Although Elizabeth May has hurt the Greens terribly, they are a party who's basic platform isn't as out there as many think. A stink vote could help fund some opposition. A hybrid of "first past the post", and "popular vote" would suit me just fine.

[perfecho]

Agree with FS and Per posts.
Interestingly enough, I think the greens have grown in Alberta in the last two elections, and probably for the same reason.
It was "Bill and Bill show" many years ago that said a hay bale in Alberta would win under the Conservative banner, and I for one wouldn't have bet against the hay bale.