Vote Any Way You Want!

Whether it's because you believe in the person, or the party, today is the time to exercise your democratic right. You alone will decide based on your knowledge, feeling or sense of trust about the candidates. There has been a great deal of anger in this province in the last year and a half towards mainly one man. With the exception of possibly the Metis of Labrador who claim that the Premier broke a promise to them too, many if not most people in the province were angry at Harper, especially when the issue of reneging on the promise to exempt non-renewables from the equalization formula, was fresh.

At the time, the thought of the province being allowed to keep an extra $10 billion or so was fantastic and exciting. However, the promise was not realistic from the start, and Harper should not have signed his name to a letter supporting that idea. Had Harper said "no, this is not possible" then maybe the Premier would have accepted that too, and none of his follow-up campaign would be taking place. Again, many people in the province felt angry at Harper, but it really was an unrealistic promise. It was certainly a stupid mistake.

The idea of Newfoundland and Labrador being offered a $10 billion windfall is not going to happen. If that was the determining factor in this current vote, you might count the Conservative votes on one hand. The outrage in the rest of Canada however, would not let it happen even if it were tabled.

In this election vote Conservative, Liberal, NDP, Green, NL First, PC, or any way you choose. Yes Harper went back on his promise, he made a serious mistake, but he is not the first or only one to do that, and won't be the last. All politicians have made mistakes. They are human. The very unfortunate thing about this election is that it possibly blinds people to good candidates in their district because they might in fact be Conservative. That is too bad, and it seems unfair. There are candidates running who are fresh, bright, and with no political baggage, who haven't accepted free public money. Unless someone can inform me differently, then Craig Westcott is one example.

If you feel you can trust whoever it is, do not let anyone, including our Premier, tell you who not to vote for. It's your choices, all of them. The anti-Harper campaign waged in this province will not sway this voter one bit, and hence, will vote for the person, not the party, as usual here.