Editorial
Last week’s federal election said a lot of things about Canada and the electorate.
The voting public apparently want four more years of Liberal rule (under Mark Carney), but almost voted for change that Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre was expounding on in every speech. Carney’s platform appeared to focus on dealing with US President Donald Trump, while Poilievre was banging the gavel for justice reform and tax cuts (promises that could have been hard to keep).
When the dust settled, the Liberals awoke with a minority government while many ridings, especially in the BC Interior, were swept with Tory victories. Shockingly, the NDP lost seats as well as official party status . . . in addition to leader Jagmeet Singh who stepped down after the election. (Both Singh and Poilievre lost their own ridings.) One has to wonder what the future has in store for the NDP now.
Some people voted with their conscience and put their ‘X’ next to their Green Party candidate, knowing they would never win or form government. One young female voter didn’t have a clue who to vote for because she didn’t follow politics and wasn’t familiar with the issues (she was in good company). So, her father told her to vote with her conscience in line with her values. Therefore, she voted Green for the environment.
Amanda Nason, publisher of the Pioneer, said despite the election results, the parties need to work with each other for the greater good. “Instead of more division and fighting, can we please find some peace,” she lamented. “There’s so much anxiety and tension in the air, it needs to be settled. If we don’t calm the noise, we’ll end up right back where we started: loud, divided, and with no real progress.”
How true.
We need everyone working together, particularly politicians of every stripe to strengthen Canada and to finally get this annoying American monkey off our back. Party politics must be put aside to bolster our health care system, put the ‘real’ back in justice, make housing affordable for our children, expand mental health treatment, put the environment before profits, and take the struggle out of life for the working class poor. These should be more than just promises during elections.
Lyonel Doherty, editor
