Shows how much you know about the Liberals in Manitoba. They have made no such promise.
As for the NDP, they have hitched their wagon to the Blue Bombers. Another stupid commitment without looking at the alternatives.
Stumbled upon this site and wish I had known about it earlier. Stopping by to say thank you for the vote of confidence. In my respectful view, what is missing from the discussion of the inclusion/exclusion of strong candidates and the likelihood of who will will and lose is the more significant issue of timing and "the game".
I am a lawyer who is not a huge fan of litigation particularly given my area of practice, high conflict family law. In too many cases, litigation becomes the game and the focus of the litigation is strategy and moves along the game board. The children become the casualties of the game and in the end, everyone is shocked to find out that no one wins "the game". And so, I have found in my brief introduction to and education of politics.
I am flattered and encouraged by the support of my constituents. I did not sign up for this, I was asked. I said yes because I truly feel this is a privilege and an opportunity and because I value my Country and wanted to support and advocate my deep appreciation for having lived and benefitted from a democratic governance.
33 days. This is simply not enough. Not enough to allow candidates to prepare, to educate themselves, to allow them to become well informed, grounded, well educated rather than well meaning individuals. It is no wonder to me that candidates numbers and answers change like the wind and that policies and promises change and develop over the course of the campaign moreso for parties who are not the incumbents. It is purposeful. It is intended. The only party which benefits from this is the incumbent.
This is not sour grapes. It may well be that with 60 days, 90 days or 120 days, the incumbent would still succeed and so be it, if that is the case, as it should be. How the current system however, which allows an election to be called within 33 days, which is something that is now used in strategic ways to win "the game", supports, maintains and encourages the continuance and development of our democracy, democratic principles - is beyond me.
The electorate, like the children suffers, and I am hoping that with the growing frustration I am hearing at the doors, they will realize it. 33 days is not sufficient time, for the electorate to become well informed, grounded and well educated either with respect to the issues, the candidates or the parties platforms. This is not sufficient to allow most voters to become informed voters.
I am always glad to hear that someone is voting, regardless of their inclination whether it be Liberal, PC, NDP or otherwise. That is the beginning. I have a very hard time hearing that someone is choosing not to vote. The next important step is a move to making an informed vote (not that there are not a significant number of people who are not doing that particularly in an age of technological dependency).
What I have found and continue to find in the last few days, is still a significant number of people who will say: "Good thing you stopped by. I needed to meet you. Now you will have my vote." I have over 16,000 constituents in my riding. It is impossible that I will meet each and every one or even one half of my constituents even if I door knocked 24/7 for 33 days.
I have attended community events, seniors residences and had events at the campaign office. I established a website from the get go and invited people to contact me directly by email or on my cell and put it out there that if anyone wanted to meet me, wanted me to attend to their street, event, or otherwise, simply to request same and I would make it happen.
I do not believe my challenge in Tuxedo was that it was a well established PC riding. I believe that with more time, this could have been a far more interesting run, for me and for my constituents. I support a set election date. I support better prepared, informed and educated candidates. I support a better prepared, informed and educated electorate.
I also acknowledge that parties must step up and be organized and prepared well in advance of elections. We need to have strong, prepared candidates in place months in advance of the election.
We also need to recognize that elections are not really about the politicians or at least they are not the key stakeholders. The voters are. For a democracy to work, we need to all be as prepared, informed and educated as we can be. Open up a paper. Watch CNN. Vote. Make it count. Make it meaningful.
