Mr. Government

Photo From the CBC

Tuesday evening's English debate did little to sway me: I'm still undecided on who I'm voting for, still outraged that Elizabeth May was excluded, still convinced that Harper is some kind of terminator robot sent from the future to see just how much Canadians will let one politician get away with (this one was especially not helped by the bizarre way that he avoided looking at any of his opponents and just stared directly into my soul the camera).  

I thought Layton really nailed it, handling the really low-blow from Ignatieff (the whole school-yard taunt about him forever being in opposition) gracefully; that Ignatieff is really going for record mileage with his whole Russian émigré schtick; that Harper doesn't really understand what the statement "that is simply not true" means; and to be honest I'm really frustrated that the Bloc gets a say Federally when they only represent one province. 

But, really I just felt kind of lukewarm; kind of par for the course, you know? Then I saw the above word-cloud on the CBC website of the most spoken words during the debate by the leaders and I got really, really depressed. Then I got enraged by how accurately the diagram represents Canadian politics: a bunch of old rich white dudes yelling out meaningless talking points and buzz words over one another. 

Looking at this diagram and the debate in general I can't believe how many issues, how many people are ignored.  

How long before we see a debate where one of the candidates is a person of colour? A woman? What will it take to get attention to issues outside of the realm of fear? That the gun-registry is still an on-going issue is mind-boggling. Aside from the fact that the money to put it in place has already been spent and that the upkeep is a fraction of the cost than the detractors say, despite the fact that police officers and RCMP across the country have said that it is used frequently and ignoring that long-guns are fucking weapons that should be fucking registered, the motion to dismantle has been voted down. But, no, by all means lets flog the dead horse! Yet, Aboriginal people, the first people of the country, were mentioned exactly once and only by Layton. 

Off the top of my head a few words that are missing: 

Aboriginal Rights

Women's Rights

Education

Childcare

Farmers

Fisheries

Foreign Aid

Environment

Veterans

Homeless 

Seniors

Sustainability

Pay Equity 

Canadians deserve better than this.