The Great Debate

It's easy to criticise.  Last Tuesday was my first time being a panel member. I had a few hours  to come up with questions. II didn't do it that well. More time would have made a difference.  But I wasn't a candidate so it didn't matter much. Except  I am my greatest critic in anything I do.

I thought  the candidates acquitted themselves well. Vanessa Long made the greatest impresssion but  won't make a difference.Much of the audience were there in support of one candidate or another. Few   minds would be changed by the debate.

I'm having a vigorous argument with my grand-daughter Stephanie ,at  the moment. She is very dis-satisfied with what 's on offer. I 'm having a hard  time persuading her the onus is upon her own shoulders.

The democratic system works best with two parties. If neither  represents what she thinks they should, she should join one  and set about contributing to change.

Splinter parties create splinters. You can't build a damned thing with splinters.Even the Three Little  Pigs found  that out to their distinct disadvantage.

An election is too late to correct things.

 A grandson, just finished high school last year, informed me last night,he knows the NDP candidate. From high school...  currently a university student. Couldn't attend the debate because of exams. Doesn't have many signs.

Does anyone imagine there was  a nomination contest? Of course not. The candidate  probably  allowed  her name to stand. So  the NDP can claim to be a national party with a candidate in every riding.

That's a bit of a scam isn't it? Well it's good for candidates in  secure NDP ridings to pretend they have a chance to form a government.

I didn't read of a nomination battle for the Liberal candidacy either. It  could mean Kyle Petersen has agreed to take time  from  normal existence to fight for  the Liberal Banner.

What if he didn't?

What if the Hybrid- Conservative candidate was the only  choice?

Certainly the candidate's table was largest, the display the most  extravagant.  Whatever money could buy was on that table.

Money is power, they say.

Can it buy anything?

Well yes....probably...eventually.

Can it buy your vote?

Possibly. Are you  aware of its influence?  Probably not.

Is it a good thing for money to buy your vote?

Ah Yes my friend....but that is the question.

What price is your vote ?

Will more jail cells  do it for you? Will  sexual predators who managed to torture and murder repeatedly before they were trapped by their own mistakes, being  in jail but not forever,make you willing to sell your vote?

Will scrapping the long gun registry, though you've never owned a gun or likely to, make you feel
safer in your bed at night? Is that the price of your vote?

In Welland, the last manufacturing plant is closing its doors. Real estate values have fallen through the floor.   Wellanders are in complete despair.   Free Trade did that for us.  You forgot about that, didn't you. It's what made Ontario a have- not province.

Remember Michael Wilson's and Brian Mulroney's assurances?

My grand-daughter Stephanie was only ten  when that happened. She graduated from university several years ago. Underemployed since and unemployed now, Didn't learn much about politics in any  school she attended.

Anyway,  when it comes right down to it.What is  the price of your vote?  Is it  about being assured of your  safety  on the streets and in your bed , when you didn't even know you weren't?

Is it about knowing your neighbours are unemployed because of a deliberate government policy?

Is it about food banks being the order of the day and  an entire generation  growing up knowing they are second-class citizens without much hope for anything better?

Or is it about hope and confidence and trust that in this great country  our forebears built for us, the best is yet to come.

And it will only happen, as it did before, by being there for each other.