After weeks of speculation, the writ has now been dropped, and Ontario voters are once again given their brief opportunity to practice democracy. While this isn't the first election in which voters have access to the internet, it may be the first in which the internet actually affects the results.
When Kim Campbell commented that election campaigns are not the time to discuss serious issues, she was pilloried not for her insight, but for her poor judgement in stating the obvious. Election campaigns are very much a marketing exercise. Each party has a product to sell, and will use the same tried-and-true sales methods as your local car dealership. Issues are reduced to slogans, jingles, "sound bites" and "photo ops".
However, unlike a car ad, an election is an offer you can't refuse. As of April 30, when your income tax was due, you had already paid for the product. For some idea of your initial down payment, add up line 428 of your income tax return, plus your property taxes, plus the 8% PST you see at the bottom of every cash register receipt. Your only choice now is which model you want to drive for the next four or five years. Having invested a lot more than you would at the car dealership, you now have a mere 28 days to research the product.
This is a "product" that affects a hefty portion of your daily life. Hark back to the Canadian constitution and you will quickly conclude that the things that affect us most are provincial, not federal jurisdiction. Even local matters are dependent on provincial governments, because municipal governments, by definition, are a provincial responsibility, and thus dependent on provincial whims. It's your provincial tax dollars that pay for such day-to-day needs as road maintenance, schools, hospitals, welfare programs. (So why do the feds take the lion's share of our taxes? I'll leave that to another columnist!)
Currently in Ontario there are at least six "models" to choose from: the Freedom Party, Green Party, Liberal Party, Libertarian Party, New Democratic Party and the Progressive Conservative Party, although probably not all will have candidates in your riding. Each has a comprehensive web site full of information - as well as "sneak previews" of their ad campaigns - jingles and all. Here is where you can do your homework. Consider their basic principles (for instance, do you want more, or less government control - an NDP automatic transmission or a Libertarian standard?). Then, how would they apply those principles as actual policies? Read what actions each would take in the areas that matter to you.
Of course, that's still just the glossy literature. The final decision is usually in the test drive, and we have had a chance to test drive all three major parties within recent memory. Which did you prefer?
I recently heard this definition of taxes: you send your money to the government, which takes a 50% handling fee, then spends the rest on things you didn't ask for. Once every four years or so we are allowed a 15-second opportunity to participate in our own government, to have some input on our own futures and how our hard-earned money will be spent. On June 4, when you take that stubby pencil in hand, make an informed choice.
I'll list the six web sites on the Kawartha Internet User Group home page. To find us, start at www.bobcaygeon.com, and follow the links for "Community services and organizations". While you're there, make note of our next meeting (second Thursday of the month, 7 pm, Lions' Hall, Bobcaygeon). And, if you're not on the 'net already - all the more reason to come and find out more. See you there.
