Omemee Pigeon Flyer Asks “Why Vote?”

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Why should people of Omemee and area vote for your party?” Read the responses

Editorial:

Haliburton –Kawartha Lakes-Brock Conservative Stronghold or ?

Omemee and area residents live in a riding that is typified as “safe Conservative seat.” by Project Democracy, In their site about strategic voting they say to vote however you like, it won’t make any difference. Is there any wonder that there is voter apathy?

People have voted Conservative here for years. Is there any reason to believe this year will be different? Perhaps.

This election started as no other election in the history of Canada, or the commonwealth. This election started because the ruling party-the Conservatives were held in contempt of parliament. Being held in contempt of Parliament is not the same as a non-confidence vote, no matter how loudly Mr. Harper chooses to shout it from the rooftops, or lay the blame on the other parties for this election. The Conservative Government was found in contempt  for wrong doing against the people of Canada, and to blame that on the other parties is tantamount to a thief blaming the arresting officers for his being caught.

I was very surprised to see the Conservatives keep Harper on as Leader in in light of the scandal, which has gone from muck to mire through the campaign. Frankly, if the Conservatives had replaced Harper with a different Leader, and sloughed off all blame onto Harper as being the ring leader in G8 Gate, I might have blindly continued to vote Conservative myself, giving them yet another chance-forgiving soul that I am, after all Barry Devolin has seemed to be a pretty good guy, keeping his nose clean, doing for our riding, etc. etc. Barry Devolin was also the only candidate to answer our question. However, the multiple dictatorial actions taken by Harper over his past terms in office make me wonder what hold this leader has over his party members to allow him to continue on in this vein.

So which party might be the one to bring this long-time Conservative stronghold crashing down?

Liberals? Laura Redman was the only candidate to leave evidence of visiting our paper. and we thank her for signing our Twitter widget. Unfortunately,Victoria County residents, may tar her with the brush of the actions of another Liberal who broke the written amalgamation promises to Omemee and area.,People do tend to have long memories.The Conservatives began their campaign with attack ads against Ignatief, but have recently shifted to the NDP holding them as a dreaded spectre.

NDP? Could be, The Conservatives seem to think so, having now turned their aim on Jack Layton. The NDP are showing in local polls as second to the Conservative Party.While Lyn Edwards. may be a very good candidate,the NDP is not without blemish in the broken promises department. surprisingly, Area teachers may remember a huge loan forgiven to the NDP’s who then turned on the teachers’ association with the fervour of a rabid dog after being elected, Surprisingly,CAW, a past NDP supporter is backing the Green Party this campaign, which may swing votes from the NDP.

Greens? The Green Party has not had the opportunity to mislead voters yet. Their Leader, Elizabeth May, an Order of Canada recipient, has a reputation of being a fighter on behalf of preserving our natural resources and health, as does our local candidate,,Susanne Lauten. Despite not being in government, these ladies , have done some phenomenal work on our behalf already.On the other hands,the Green Party has many new , and some may think radical, ideas; such as legalizing marijuana and taxing it to the hilt. Looking at the history of the end of alcohol prohibition , does make this seem to be a sensible solution,.However, there are many of us who have been raised on the stricture that marijuana is a gateway drug.

So who will be the MP for our area in the morning? Whether you win, or lose the election: Barry, Lyn, Laura, and Susanne you all have all won my admiration,and  thanks for standing up for what you believe in, and doing your best to make our riding a place people can be proud to live in. How many of us would be willing to take the same risk, and stand before the scrutiny of the public eye in order to make a difference?

Now for the responses to our question:

We did receive some feedback from each party in response to our question,.

The question was:

Why should the people living in Omemee and area vote for your party?

These are the responses we received:

Barry Devolin CPC followed us on Twitter and asked us to follow him, although we already were following. Barry’s Campaign Manager, Jamie Schmale, quickly got in touch with us, and kindly sent a copy of Barry’s information that had been posted in the newspapers, then also forwarded a specific response from Barry Devolin.

Laura Redman LPC Followed us not only on Twitter, but was the only Candidate to register as a visitor on our Twitter gadget. Laura also chatted  through private messaging on Twitter about the challenges of covering such a huge geographic area as ours.

Susanne Lauten GPC Followed us on Twitter and “Liked “our Facebook Page. Susanne also posted a comment on our Facebook Page.

Both Laura and Susanne were mentioned as having attended the Green Side Up Tree planting in Omemee, as well.

Lyn Edwards NDP Not having received any response from Lyn Edwards, I popped a copy of the note into her message box on Facebook with the question”Did you see this?” Response-“Yes”.

Conclusions:

We wanted to be fair to all candidates by posting their responses all on the same day,so waited too long to post the one response we did get. In the future, we will post answers as soon as we receive them.Final Answer? Jamie Schmale should run for office!