Can we consider the alternative?
Alana DeLong argues in her recent letter that “we can do better than the Liberals” and it is hard to argue, but who can we choose among the present parties that could do better? The Conservatives are the tools of the resource extraction industries that have overlogged our forests and totally fracked us for the foreseeable future. The unsustainability of Conservative policies are proven by their faith in tax cuts, which have made national space programs unaffordable while the untaxed wealthy indulge themselves in vanity expeditions into the void. Our infrastructure is crumbling, the forests are burning and our watersheds are dying while the Conservatives do nothing.
So what is the alternative? The New Democrats and Greens cannot be expected to form a national government; neither party could conceivably form a majority with the first past the post electoral system. Given the choice between the admittedly flawed Liberals of the less than perfect Justin Trudeau and the absolutely blind Conservatives of Erin O’Toole what can a desperate nation do?
With all respect to Ms. DeLong, the Conservative record under Steven Harper and Brian Mulroney does not inspire any confidence that their return would bring a new standard of ethics to the body politic. Frankly, given the opportunity both major parties have bellied up to the public trough and snorted it up with both nostrils, so it seems unlikely that either party will make much difference in that regard. Pragmatic voters must therefore decide which little piggy to send to Ottawa to deal with the significantly more important issue of climate change and deal with lesser issues later. The question is therefore which leader will at least admit that we are killing ourselves slowly, and the answer is obviously not Erin O’Toole. Rational voters must therefore choose the individual candidate with the best chance of defeating the Conservative in their own riding, regardless of party, even if that means holding our noses while we do.
David Lowther
Mesachie Lake
