As I sit staring into my crystal ball, a newspaper headline screams out at me. The paper is dated Oct. 20 and the headline reads “Conservative candidates sweep the Okanagan again.”
There must be a news blackout is this valley.
Or perhaps we have the shortest memories in Canada.
We don’t remember how Harper took over the Progressive Conservative party and coerced it into the Conservative Party of Canada, which then went on to show its colours in the last three elections (robo calls, campaign over spending).
During his micro-managed era, we have witnessed the withholding of information on the purchase of F-35 fighter jets, denial of climate change, the closing of funding for scientific research, Canada being ousted from the United Nations Security Council, eight consecutive deficits, dragging Canada into war and hand-picked senators who have allegedly stolen from taxpayers.
But the train wreck continues.
There is the changing of electoral boundaries where 30 new ridings were installed to create a more Conservative voting base and renamed 31 others to insure voter confusion.
How could we forget the omnibus bills and Bill C51?
And then to top it off, parents were bribed with our own tax dollars.
However, this child tax credit will have to be paid back with our next income tax bill.
There has been nothing in the past nine years for young families trying to purchase their first home.
There is no help for post-secondary students struggling from crushing debt.
How about help for single parents or low-income parents who cannot afford day care?
Nope, nothing.
First Nations Canadians will again receive the same treatment they did under previous Harper governments. Cutbacks and broken promises. Missing aboriginal women? Swept under the rug.
Our war veterans have had Veterans Affairs offices closed and services cut in the face of a rising wave of post-traumatic stress disorder suicides.
I predict that Harper will win not because he is the best choice, but because he knows that 61 per cent of our population will not vote.
He is counting on the apathy of the young, the poor, the First Nations and the disillusioned to abandon their right to vote.
Today, the most subversive act an Okanagan Canadian can do is to become informed and get out and vote.
Brent Applegath
Vernon
