Election Signs

Election day is almost here in Ontario!

Interestingly, despite having lived in Ontario, on and off, for 24 or so years, I think this may be the first time I'll have ever voted in a provincial election. It's not that I don't believe in voting (I've voted in the UK*, New Brunswick, and Quebec) it's just that for most of my adult life I've lived somewhere other than my home province.

But now I'm back, baby! And it's time to exercise my franchise...I guess.

From everything I've seen and read, this is turning out to be one of the saddest elections in recent memory.  None of the main parties seem to want to face reality. People want cheaper hydro and better health care. But money doesn't grow on trees. And unfortunately Ontario is flat broke and has a massive deficit. Everyone promises more stuff but with no civil servant job cuts or higher taxes. Something has to give so just tell us what you'll really do, not what we want to hear.

At least the colours of the signs are bright

The main options are two left wing parties, the Liberals and the NDP, and one right wing party, the Progressive Conservatives (there is also the Green party but my sense is that they are an after thought). At one time the Liberals were more central on the political spectrum and the NDP were more radical left, but now they seem to kindof blur together.

The Progessive Conservatives...geez...what can I say about the Progessive Conservatives? I don't normally vote conservative but this time, with one or two credible leadership options, I was leaning that way. And what did they do? They voted for this guy as their leader. C'mon!

A lot of people I know are really dispirited about voting this time around. It probably explains why so many of these signs are popping up:

On June 7th I'm going to exercise my vote but I have a feeling that no matter who wins the next day I'm going to be disappointed.

* As a UK citizen, I voted in an EU election while living there. Funnily enough, so did Glosette Girl even though she's not a citizen of any EU country. She wasn't sure if she was doing anything wrong (even though we were sent voting cards) so she faked a British accent at the voting station. "Hello Guv'ner!"