This Year in Politics

2007 could be huge for Canadian political geeks, especially in Ontario. In October, Ontarians go to the polls in a general election. If the minority Conservative government fails, we'll see another federal general election, too.

While I believe the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party under John Tory is the best option for Ontario, I have become somewhat disillusioned federally ... which happens, I guess. You either love everything, or find something that ticks you off and makes you move on.

So, in the event of a federal election, I'm at something of a clean slate, and I want to honestly review platforms for the best option when voting.

I thought what I would do is to take a look at some of the issues that are of interest to me, and compare the party's stance on it. As opposed to taking the traditional partisan route, and reviewing a platform and saying how great it is.

I tried that.

I died a little bit inside.

There will be a couple of ground rules for myself:

• I'll have to completely burn off my short term memory and pretend the last three years in Canadian federal politics did not exist, otherwise I'd never vote Liberal or Conservative. Ever.
  
• I can't vote Bloc, so I will likely only include the Conservative, Liberal, NDP, and Green Parties.

Looking back, I've only ever voted NDP, Progressive Conservative, and Conservative. During the last election campaign, I did that CBC Vote by Issue quiz, and the NDP came close to the Conservative Party - so, it may be worthwhile to go through this exercise (at least to me).

Comments will be open on each coming piece - an open space available for you to shill and spin your party's platform :-) .

Tags: canada, politics