Calvin's Weblog

Comments: Get off yer ass and vote!

and if you are daft and/or lazy enough to have left making your decision to the last minute and haven't got a clue what's going on, this little quiz helps select the party best suited to your views based on your answers to questions pertaining to the hot issues...

http://www.politicswatch.com/voteselectorquiz2004.html

Posted by sage at June 28, 2004 02:24 PM

Yeah, I took that quiz (out of curiosity, not because I was undecided) a few weeks ago, and actually took it again this morning too, when deciding whether to post a link in this blog entry... but I really don't think it's very accurate. The version they had four years ago was totally accurate, but this year it keeps telling me that I should 100% vote for Gilles Duceppe - which is not only impossible to do from BC, but a very strange considering I'm totally against seperation - but anyway, this morning I found the trick is that if there's a question that you agree/disagree with, but it wouldn't stop you from voting for someone, then say it doesn't matter instead of saying to agree/disagree. That way it more or less comes out in your favour, except again, it doesn't take into account the actual political definition of conservative/liberal/etc - it doesn't ask fundamental questions about your political philosophy - ie: if you're pro-choice, it gives the NDP 100% on that question, even though 2 other parties are also pro-choice... I guess just not as decisively. And it doesn't even consider that you might want to vote Green, or Heritage, or (God forbid) Communist... but whatever ... it's somewhere to start out, if you're still undecided (3 hours from the polls closing -LOL )

Posted by Calvin at June 28, 2004 02:39 PM

i used to vote...but i've never been elected...so i don't vote anymore

Posted by vetiver at June 28, 2004 04:05 PM

ok, i voted... am i allowed to complain now?

i haven't looked at all of the numbers yet for the rest of canada, but in BC, the NDP lost 9 seats to either the Liberals or the Conservatives by less than the Green vote in the riding. 6 of them went to the Tories. That's just nasty. It's time for the NDP to merge with the Greens and eke out whatever deal possible to make it stick.

And what the hell happened in your riding? Holy christ! I wouldn't want to be gay out there...

Posted by sage at June 29, 2004 12:32 PM

Yeah, no kidding ... Green got a lot of votes in all the Island and coastal ridings, but not a single seat - a lot of people (probably most people) want a cleaner, safer, more enjoyable environment, but a vote for Green is a vote for nobody in the 'political' scheme of things. It's time the NDP realized that they'll never be a national party of any relavance and just give it up. As for a merge with Green... well, I'd like to see a time where EVERY party espouces Environmental Stuardship with absolute sincerity - that way we wouldn't need to waste the fringe vote on Green, and the Marijuana party too, for that matter...
Anyway, the election results are at: enr.elections.ca/content/enr2004.pdf

Also, with respects to MY riding, I'm dissapointed that it went conservative, but not upset. I was surprised, because ALL of the richest neighbourhoods in Canada went Liberal except for Westwood, but not upset because I wanted a minority government to take some bite out of the Liberals. What I don't get is why people chose Conservative though. When people tell me they're going to vote for Harper, I say "Oh, you actually want to tripple military spending and make Canada's military 'invasion force' ready?" And they say "hell no, of course not!" so I say "Oh, so you're against a womans right to chose, and you want to repeal Canada's pro-choice laws?" And they say "well, no... I don't want that..." and then I say "oh, okay - so really you just want to return to the traditional definition or mariage, and take away 20 years of work towards gay equality and rights?" ... "um, well no - I don't care about that..."
"Okay then, it must be the Kyoto Accord - you must agree that it's way too expensive and restrictive on industry, and that even though the entire industrialized world (except the USA) has signed on because they realize that without clean air, and an end to global warming our children will have NO future, you agree with Stephen Harper that we should rip it up, and be like our big rich polutin' brothah's to the south?" ... "well of course not! We need that..." ... "Well then why on earth would you vote Conservative???"
...and of course the answer is always the same...
"Because we gotta teach those Liberals a lesson!"

Yeah. Good choice. Just like the choice they have in Quebec. Two terms in a row, voting for the party that would best teach the Liberals a lesson got THAT province within a hairs-width of seperation from Canada. More that 70% of Quebec likes being a part of Canada and doesn't really want to seperate, but they still want to teach the government a lesson, so they vote for the only 'real' opposition there is, and whammo - the Bloc Quebecois is running the province. Next thing you know, instead of using their clout to block stupid healthcare cuts, their 'hidden agenda' kicks in, and they spend four years trying to seperate from the country.
The scary thing about Harper's agenda is that it's NOT HIDDEN! He says freely and proudly that he wants Canada to be like the US - he's for using their currency, their trade laws, their weaponization of space, their expansionist policies, their militarization, even their healthcare system. If he had won, this country we're so proud of would be no better than the US within a few years, and THAT is frightening to think about. No reasonable Canadian wants that, but yet the still vote for this guy? You know, it's actually a real shame that they merged... I'll bet that if Reform was still a seperate party, everyone would have voted PC... joe Clark's a good guy, he would have made a good PM ... oh, wait, he already had his chance at that... hmmmm - well, who the hell remembers 1979 anyway...

Posted by Calvin at June 29, 2004 01:21 PM

yah, voting against a party to teach them a lesson is scary voodoo... look what happened in BC... voted ourselves right out of having free eye exams, physiotherapy, massages, chiropracty, etc... oh, and voted ourselves right outta sober-driving premiers as well!!!

Posted by sage at June 30, 2004 12:24 PM

Huh? Whachoo-talkin-bout Willis? I've had to pay my chiropractor $10 over top of my medical plan since I was 13 years old - nothing has changed there... and eye exams are still free if you've got basic med, so I don't know where you're gettin' that...
And I think it's great that our premiere has finally shown support to all us proud drinkin'-drivin' British Columbians - maybe we can once and for all repeal those rediculous, antiquated, third-world alcohol related laws. The only sad part about Gordo's ordeal is that he gave up drinking, and gave up driving all together - that really doesn't set a good example for our cause, even though his intentions were good. If we could just get it out to the people that in order to be a good drunk driver, you've got to first LEARN how to drive drunk, we'd all be safer, AND happier.

Posted by calvin at June 30, 2004 02:39 PM

how come bc has a medical service plan?
i thought all canadians had free health care

Posted by vetiver at July 1, 2004 09:56 AM

paying your chiropractor $10 is waaay different that paying him $50 a visit, which is what it is now... and, no, if you have straight provincial medical, your eye exam is NOT covered anymore... check the facts, yo... you and i have extended coverage which picks up the slack (for a fee, my extended medical now costs more because it has to cover the de-listed services), but a lot of canadians can't afford extended medical insurance... hell, i probably couldn't justify it if my company didn't pay 1/2...

Posted by sage at July 5, 2004 10:31 AM

as far as the rest of canada goes....as far as i know...i dont' have to pay anything to go to the hospital...or the doc's office...if i have a problem with my teeth...i have to pay the dentist money...unless i get blue cross or something like blue cross....if i neeeed glasses i need to pay for them of have the propper insurance...
it makes sence as far as health care goes that i should have to pay for medical...but anything else is just maintenance....i have never under stood why canadians living in BC have to pay according to there income a percentage....if the quebec want to separate from canada maybe they should move to BC and try it a new way....because BC seems to be the province the most separated...i've heard the hear say...that ottawa doesn't pay alot of attention to BC...but what is the true story....blame it on who...it's stupid that it was even considered....
it took how many people at MSP to not realize i don't live there anymore...2 years later...i'm guessing 10...i got 208 and some change....but i'm thinking it's alot more...i'll be calling tomorrow
see ya'll soon

Posted by vetiver at July 6, 2004 10:24 PM

Well, I've only lived in BC, so I don't really know if the other provinces get completely free medical or not, but I do know that when I was poor it was free, and now that I make over $24,000 a year, I pay 100% of the premiums... well, not really - I get it free from my employer, like most people with jobs - but when I was a contractor I had to pay it.
All your questions about BC-Med can be found at this link.
I found a Comparasin of all the Canadian health plans here and damn, it DOES look like PEI gets a great deal... the healthcare is run as a non-profit org, and includes hospital stays and meals? That's amazing - but that's not what it's like everywhere. Quebec has a plan much like ours, (with lots of exclusions), Alberta has three levels of insurance (basic is free, and there are varying levels of 'freeness' right across Canada. It does make you wonder though, if they can make EVERYTHING free in the Yukon and PEI, why can't they do it in ALL provinces?

Posted by Calvin at July 7, 2004 07:26 AM

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