Who do you trust? Is that what the latest federal election is going to chalk up to?
Gone are the days where a political party lets constituents and potential voters know what their platform is, what they believe in and what they believe they can do for their riding.
The writ was dropped on Sept. 11 and immediately the tone was one of negativity and vitriol as two leaders talked about how bad the other is—one using the word “lied” more than half a dozen times to describe his opponent.
That tone has already seeped into the Courtenay-Alberni riding, where candidates are taking aim at their opposing parties and respective leaders, if not against their specific opponents—yet.
In an era where two parties have traded leadership of the country over the past decades, it’s a given that one will fall out of favour only to be replaced by the other. The concept of “right wing” and “left wing” and which party ascribes to which is well documented.
Constituents need to know how their respective MP is going to vote on matters that are important to them and to their community. They only have 40 days in total to share that message; they are doing voters a disservice by spending some of that limited time expounding on the perceived mistakes and foibles of opposition parties.
Voting for one party because you don’t like another isn’t the solution either: just ask Ontario.
—Alberni Valley News
