What better way to spend a Remembrance Day than to exercise my civic privilege and research whom I should support in the upcoming municipal election?

After hours (and this is by no means exaggeration), I've finally come down to a list of all the people I'll be supporting in this Saturday's election. For those of you not living in Vancouver, you may be interested to know that Vancouver doesn't have a ward system, instead we elect our representatives at-large. In other words, we get a list of a bunch of people looking for our vote and we pick ten of them.

On the surface, it looks all very democratic, even holistic if I can use that word in this context. While in a ward system you have to deal with the perils of NIMBYism, Vancouver councillors must theoretically represent the whole of the city which should lead to decision making that places the betterment of the city first.

I don't really know if it all works out that way though. I'm still new here.

What I can tell you is that there's a very real division here between East and West. Acknowledged or not, culturally and economically Vancouver has been referred to as as a two-ward system. This fits well with the two-party system we have... well sort of:

There's the Non-partisan association, which is traditionally rather right-wing, and an alliance of left-ish candidates comprised of three parties: Vision Vancouver, The Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) and The Vancouver Green Party. The funny part is that alliance thing. Since this party system is all about who controls the council, Vision, COPE and Green have reached an agreement not to compete with each other and instead campaign as a sort of team. As a result, NPA is running 10 candidates for council, while Vision is running 8 and COPE 2. There are similar splits in the parks board and school trustee races.

The problem for me is that I really don't like COPE. I find many of their policies (and even some of their candidates) to be naive, and their priorities to be sorely misplaced. However, if I don't support the NPA (who brought us many notable problems like CCTV cameras in the streets, private police, panhandling bylaws etc.) then I cannot vote against that agenda without supporting COPE. Or can I?

There are independents running as well, many of them clearly unfit for office let alone my vote, and there is also the Work Less Party whose platform is very forward thinking and dare I say enlightened. Their only problem is that the group seams plagued with non-professionals incapable of actually doing the job for which they're attempting to get elected. Their policy paper is riddled with typos for chrissake.

So after much research and personal debate I have arrived at this list. If you think I've missed something worth noting, please let me know. Notably missing from here is Michael Gellar, a charismatic, intelligent, well travelled candidate... who is running with the NPA. I couldn't in good conscience give my vote to someone who could potentially be motivated to support some of the more disastrous NPA policies either out of loyalty or political pressure. If he were running independent however, I'd support him in a second. Also, Lea Johnson, an independent, seems like a decent guy, but his website talked about his work in Ukrainia... He's probably best suited for working with RainCity anyway.

Notably on this list are Richard Mayencourt (independent) and two Work Less Party candidates: Geri Tramutola for council and Ivan Doumenc for park board. I had the opportunity to hear Tramutola speak last Friday at the VPSN's Last Candidate Standing event and was blown away by the passionate and eloquent nature of her arguments. It's clear that she knows her stuff and she's by far my favourite candidate. I only know Doumenc from his profile on the WLP's website, but his ideas for parks & rec appear to be in line with my own so I included him as well.

So that's about it. My basic strategy: Start with known favourites, then add Vision. If I needed more, I went down the list of independents and COPE people. If I needed fewer, I went through the Vision list and pulled out weak profiles. It's about the best I can do with 86 candidates and such a short period of time.

If you have different strategy, I'd love to hear it ;-) For those of you just wondering where you can get started, I suggest you take a look at the list of candidates and their profiles on the city's website.

It's done. America has apologised to the world for seven years of war, a ruined global economy and a deteriorating climate. A majority (albeit a slim one) has spoken and chosen a new leader to represent the most powerful nation in the world that man... talks like a Kennedy. Obama speaks with such conviction that despite my long-standing cynicism directed at politics in general, I find myself wanting to believe in a brighter future.

Think about it for a moment: a black man is president of the United States.

Maybe there is hope for us after all.

Barack Obama's victory speech. He almost finished the whole thing without mentioning "god".

As for John McCain, I'm left with some disappointment in knowing that his career is coming to a close. McCain has always been a patriot and servant to his country for that, I feel that he's not been given enough credit. I may not have agreed with most of what he supported but such devotion and service to the greater whole must be recognised and for that I thank him for his hard work and dedication.

Jon McCain's concession speech.

The future for Obama is going to be terribly difficult. The whole world has pinned such hopes on him and has, dare I say it, unreasonable expectations of the powers of one man to captain a ship so very full of holes. In the coming years, we must remember that change requires more than empassioned speeches, it needs dedication and support from the people. The president has called for sacrifice and service and if change is really going to happen, these will both have to come in spades.

Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States talks about an Obama Presidency and how merely electing him will not be enough for real change. For that, we need direct action:

So Stefan Dion is finally leaving. After a short time in the Big Seat and holding the dubious honour as only the second Liberal Leader to ever not win a federal election, the Long Knives have come out for Dion and he's now effectively on his way out.

And while I can understand the bitterness from the Liberals (they are used to winning after all) I think that they would benefit from a step back before shouldering him with all the blame.

Where do we begin? Was it the gutting of the health care and the environment by the Liberals under Chrétien and Martin? The rise of the NDP and the Greens? What about the sponsorship scandal in Quebéc? Or maybe it was the two generations of disenfranchisement the West has had with the party since Trudeau's Salmon Arm Salute?

The fact is that the Liberals have long been in decline and frankly, they've been completely undeserving of the leadership of this country even longer. They have a lot to answer for and this typical arrogance of their being Canada's ruling party is at the root of their problems. Liberals have to stand up and take responsibility for their actions on health care, the environment, in Quebec and the West. Then and only then will they be entitled to govern this country.

So lay off Stefan. Sure he made some bad calls, but he should in no way shoulder the bulk of the responsibility for the Liberal loss. His party didn't deserve to win. It's that simple.

This wasn't the only reason of course, but a number of political expert-types are pointing to this video as a major reason for their losses in Quebec. Without a good number of seats in Quebec, there was no way for any government to acquire a majority in the House.

Just after Harper made his idiotic comments about arts funding going to "rich people and their extravagant galas", a Québecer published this video on youtube and made some serious rounds throughout the provice as well as across this country. If you haven't seen it yet, it's worth checking out:

It's that time again. I've talked about this on a few other occasions but thankfully, the subject never gets old. It is, after all, the thin line we've collectively drawn against the dogmas of dictatorship and divine right. In Canada, we assert our collective will and dictate the ideals that will lead us forward. Sometimes we make poor decisions and elect people undeserving of leadership. Often, we vote out of fear, or a lack of confidence in our options. In every single case however, we elect the government we deserve.

I can only hope that in this election, I'm right when I say that we deserve better than we've seen in the past.

• The polls are open now and close at 7pm in BC and 9:30pm in Ontario. Other poll colsure times can be found here
• Know your rights when voting. Elections Canada has a FAQ for any of your questions.
• Get educated on the parties available to you. Visit their respective sites and read up on their platforms:
  • Green Party of Canada
  • New Democratic Party
  • Liberal Party of Canada
  • Conservative Party of Canada
  • Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada
  • Bloc Québécois
  • Canadian Action Party
  • Christian Heritage Party of Canada
  • Communist Party of Canada
  • First Peoples National Party of Canada
  • Libertarian Party of Canada
  • Marijuana Party
  • Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada
  • neorhino.ca
  • Newfoundland and Labrador First Party
  • People's Political Power Party of Canada
  • Progressive Canadian Party
  • Western Block Party
  • Work Less Party

The CBC hosted a televised debate for Vancouver-Centre candidates not too long ago and they'll be running the show tonight at 4:30pm, 7:00pm and 11pm PST on CBC Newsworld. While the "victor" has not been released, the following claims that the Greens did very well. If you're currently living in Vancouver-Centre or are just interested in how some of the lesser candidates are doing, it might be worth checking out:

The X Challenge with Mark Kelly / 4:30 pm, 7:00 pm and 11 pm PST

Tune in today (Wednesday, October 08) to CBC Newsworld and watch Green Party deputy leader and Vancouver Centre candidate Adriane Carr triumph in debate and studio audience polling on The X Challenge with Mark Kelley. The program airs at 4:30 pm, 7:00 pm, and 11 pm PST.

Adriane appeared with two other Vancouver Centre candidates, the NDP's Michael Byers and Conservative's Lorne Mayencourt, as well as Liberal Ujjhal Dosanjh, in a debate format that enabled voters to put their questions directly to the candidates, and to vote on the results.

After 90 minutes of debate, questions and answers, and voter polling, a final poll asked the audience to indicate if any minds had been changed.

We promised not to reveal the results of this pre-taped program, but let's just say that Green Party supporters will be delighted by Adriane's performance in the debates, and thrilled by her final placement in the polls.

It would be hard to imagine a better outcome!

The audience of about 100 was selected to represent political leanings as indicated by CBC's latest rolling poll and the idea was to gauge how many voters were influenced, and in which direction, by candidate's participation in the debate and answers to audience questions.

The X Challenge will air today, Wednesday, October 08, at 4:30 pm, 7:00 pm and 11 pm Pacific Time on CBC Newsworld. Don't miss it!

Strange that Hedy Fry, the Liberal candidate in Vancouver-Centre didn't show up and sent Dosanjh instead. I'm interested to hear their reasoning on that one.

I have no idea if it'll be available online, but if I find it, I'll post the link here.

Update: 2008-10-09 00:04:14 -08:00

True to form, the CBC has posted the entire debate online. Enjoy!

I just got an email from someone promoting voteforenvironment.com and I really wanted to rant here.

I really, really hate that site. Aside from the fact that it flat-out tells you not to vote for a party that wants to make the environment better, it openly advocates for a party with a long record for doing the opposite. Has everyone forgotten that the Liberals are the ones who actively gutted health care and the environment for twelve years before they were finally kicked out of office? How can anyone claim that they're better than the Conservatives on either of these issues when they've done everything they could to support big business over clean air and fresh water in the last two decades?

Sure Stefan Dion might be different from his predecessors, but you can be sure that the people under him like Hedy Fry (my current MP) haven't changed. Innaction and fear-mongering are the tennets of the Liberal party and claiming to support them in the name of the environment is either naive or misleading. Take your pick.

It's sites like this that foster fear and promote a complete lack of action on issues that they claim to support. If they just wanted to advocate that Harper's Conservatives are bad for Canada, I'd be right behind them, but claiming that a Liberal government would be better for the environment is like claiming that white cats don't eat mice. It's laughable.

Elections are at the core of democracy. We take what the people want, tally up the votes and move our government in that direction as a result. It's not a betting pool, it isn't a chess game. To use a phrase I read earlier today: "Don't vote for the lesser of two evils, vote for the one that isn't evil". It's not like you don't have a choice ladies and gentlemen, there are at least 4 candidates in every riding in this country and if you're interested in the health of the environment, I can promise you that the Liberals and Conservatives aren't the least bit interested in doing anything about it.

For those of you not following the federal election, the Big Debate is tonight, and for the first time in history, the Green Party will be represented.

It all starts at 9pmEST, which for the West coast folks, that's 6pm. I'll be attending a shindig at Soho pub on Denman with the rest of the Greens to watch Elizabeth May in action. If the French debate is any indication, it should be a really good show.

For my friends living outside the country, the CBC will be hosting the debates online as well. Just go to CBC.ca and follow the links from the front page. They use a form of streaming Windows™ media, but it should work on a Mac as well.

Is anyone else annoyed that CBC hasn't done more stuff with Bittorrent?

Also, for those interested in the U.S. election, the Vice Presidential candidates debate will be held at roughly the same time down south. I expect Palin to look like the complete idiot that she is. That too should be a fun show, and you can expect the guys at OneGoodMove to have some really good video when it's finished.

I just got a call from the Green Party today asking for money. It's a typical thing when you're already on the donors list that your party will give you a call trying to milk you for that list bit of cash when an election is called so I wasn't bothered at all. In fact, I did the math and agreed to top up my contribution to total the $400 mark for the year (you get $300 back the following year in your tax return).

I'm posting this here because it occurred to me just as I was about to give the guy my card number that he called me. He could have been anyone claiming to be from the Green Party and I was about to give him my credit card info.

So I quizzed him and he passed. He had my account number, address, email address etc. etc. I'm not worried. But I thought I'd point this out to the rest of you for what it might be worth. Remember who called whom before you give out any personal info :-)