Someone made a comment recently about my political leanings, especially my repeated thumping on the Ontario Liberals and their leader Premier Dalton McGuinty. I am the first to admit that over the last 18 years my political views have swayed back and forth, from right to left to all over the place.
To define myself as being of one party or another really doesn’t fit as no single party reflects what I believe, some come closer than others though.
Without going into too much detail, I am moderately left of centre when it comes to some social issues but I am fiscally moderately right of centre. I believe in smaller government that can maximize productivity, less is more and that when people need help, it should be a hand up, not a hand out.
I support public health care and feel we should expand that to pharma-care and recognise that dental care is an important part of that. We also need to go from the reactionary system of fixing the ailment, to preventing that ailment from occurring in the first place.
I feel that there should be some universal childcare strategy that helps provide affordable daycare but does not forget that some people do choose to stay at home with their children. This is why the Martin/Dryden plan was failed and why the Harper plan doesn’t go far enough.
Less taxation is better than more, however we should all pay our fair share of tax despite your income level. Income taxes penalize middle income earners while propping up the lower income earners and giving the high income earners a break. There are too many loopholes and exploits to the tax code. A flat tax (gasp) or even no income tax but a high consumption tax would be simpler to manage.
I support a strong military and our country’s role in Afghanistan, but we need to still focus humanitarian efforts there and in places like Darfur.
The Canadian Dollar should be fixed at par with the US currency, we need to be more self-reliant when it comes to our oil consumption and I don’t mind paying .80 a litre for gas, but I do mind paying a $1.00.
And yes the Al Gore global warming is a farce. Ethanol production is bad once you factor in the amount of fuels and pollution from the farm and processing it takes to turn Corn into Ethanol.
I am tired of the labels French Canadian, English Canadian, and all of the other hyphenated Canadians, we are all Canadian, pure and simple. Gay couples can have a civil union, but I am against the use of the term Marriage as it is a religious term first and foremost.
So there you have it, I am a fiscally conservative, socially liberal, communist, libertarian who has some likings to the religious left and right. I cross party lines, change my vote with each election and am the nightmare of most political parties because I actually pay attention to what they say and then vote.
By the way, in 2003 I voted for McGuinty to get rid of Ernie Eves, and in 1999 I voted for Mike Harris. In 2006 I voted for Stephen Harper to turf Paul Martin, but I voted for Martin in 04 because Harper scared me. 1995 doesn’t count because I voted for myself. How’s that for blending the lines?
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