I Am Canadian! I’ve been sort of keeping up with the Canadian news, mostly from the Toronto area of course, as that’s where I’m from. But also I’ve read a couple of articles in US news about the upcoming Canadian Federal election. You should see the headlines down here, “Canadian Government Collapses!” LOL! Gotta love the US media! Anyhoo…as a non-resident Canadian citizen, I just checked the Elections Canada website http://www.elections.ca/home.asp?textonly=false just to check if I’m eligible to vote, and it would seem not. Of course I could fib a bit, and just pick a date that I intend to return to Canada, just to make sure there’s one more vote AGAINST Steven Harper and his creepy Conservatives, but I really don’t have an expected date that we could possibly return. *sigh* All I can do is encourage every eligible Canadian to get out there and vote, and if you’re currently not living in Canada but intend to return, please please please! Send in the registration form so that you can cast your vote! The apathy of the last few elections is terrible; let your voice be heard! Cast your vote and let the government know what it is you want from them! Stop being so bloody Canadian and get LOUD! Sheesh!

Please, for the sake of the country, and your own personal freedoms that every Canadian has become accustomed to and has the right to, do not allow Harper and the Conservatives take Parliament! Seriously, what is more important for the government to be spending their time on, revoking same sex marriage rights, or enhancing health care? Do you really want the government to start whittling away at basic human rights and freedoms, or would you rather someone take the reins who no matter what their own religious or spiritual background is, will be able to set that aside for logical thought? By no means do I think the Liberals are anywhere near perfect, but at least they TRY to not inflict their own religious dogma on the entire population. Yes, Canada is a western country, and about 80% Christian by the last census. But I’d hazard a guess that about half or more of the Christian population don’t want the same sex marriage debate to come up again, because they really feel that there’s no harm in it. Has the sanctity of YOUR marriage been affected by a couple of men down the street who got married last year? If it has, then perhaps you should examine your own life, and not theirs.

Personally, I feel that our country is enriched by the federal laws that allow freedoms to EVERYONE, no matter their race, creed, religion or sexual preference. Or should we follow the US, and attempt to amend the federal constitution that homosexuals are lesser people, and therefore don’t deserve basic human rights? Hmmmmmmmmm? The feds may not have accomplished it, but several states have made it illegal for couples of same sex to get married. Which IMO, is basically saying “you’re gay, you have no right to fall in love and live happily ever after”. Do you want to live in a country like that? Where they make it against the law to be in love?

There are a lot of things in the Canadian Government that are flawed, I’m well aware of that, and the only reason I live here in the US is because of Canadian Government flaws! And one particular immigration officer at the Peace Bridge crossing, but that’s another story :-p But do Canadians really want to elect the Federal Allia….erm…Conservatives, only to have a wannabe Bush in office? If Harper had been in office in 2003, he’d have followed Bush into Iraq, and we all know the fiasco that would have been! We don’t have nearly enough troops to be sending them off to un-just wars.

The thought of the Conservatives gaining power of Canada scares the bejeebers out of me. Don’t get me wrong, before the Progressive Conservatives got into bed with the Alliance, I would on occasion vote Conservative. Not anymore! Nope Nope Nope! There’s conservative, and then there’s Alliance. And the Alliance is NOT what Canada needs. No matter what colour you paint them, or what label you slap on ‘em, they all just seem rather UN-Canadian, and they scare me.

So please, for the sake of your own Canadian-ness, and for the sake of our country, get out there and vote on Elections day. Encourage your friends and family to vote, and don’t just vote for the rhetoric or for the best mud slinger! Vote for what’s best for Canada, and what’s best for your rights and freedoms. Please, let me go home to Canada, not Mini-Me. As much as I’d love for my husband’s issues with Canadian Immigration to be resolved, I don’t want it to be because Canada is annexed and becomes the 51st state.

If you’re eligible to vote, go and do it. Don’t just grumble about the mess of the government and say “well I had nothing to do with it, I didn’t bother to vote”. Have your say. Please! Just vote. It only takes a couple of minutes of your day to do it. January 23, 2006. That’s a Monday. There’s nothing on TV that evening anyway, you can stop on your way home from work. Or go first thing in the morning. Please? For me? For the future of Canada.  ¶ 9:49 AM