I’ve been reading a lot of analysis, blogs, and comments on the results of this last election. I figure, if all these morons are able to speak their mind about what happened, then so can I. If you don’t like what I have to say, then whatever, I’m just another moron with a blog. At least I can spell, though.

I think the Conservative near-majority starts and ends with Dion. To start, let’s list all the things I knew about Dion when he was chosen as the Liberal leader:

  • Nothing.

At that time, I was hopeful for him. He struck me more as an academic than a politician. What I hoped to see was a man that was going to be honest and up-front about the issues. Maybe even honest enough to win over the 40% of the eligible voter population who stays home every year because they think they deserve better than the league of morons we are able to choose from. But what I actually learned about Dion was absolutely nothing. He did nothing, said nothing, and made himself known for nothing. In fact, Harper was feeling so little pressure from the Liberals during his previous minority government that he referred to NDP leader Jack Layton as the “leader of the opposition.”

That is precisely why Harper called this election. He knows that the Greens do not have enough localized support to even win a single seat, the NDP has localized support but they’re too idealistic for some and too left-wing for others, and the Liberals are about as relevant as roadkill on the Trans-Canada Highway. In fact, by not even unveiling a platform until the last minute, the Conservatives effectively told the country, “Vote for us, we got nothing, but the Liberals are going to be even worse than nothing.”

How did Dion respond? By unveiling a superior platform that tackles issues Canadians are concerned about like jobs and the economy, health care, foreign policy, and perhaps biggest of all, distrust in today’s corrupt politicians? No, he proved Harper right, by unveiling the most ill-conceived, idiotic proposal that you could possibly imagine. In a time where people are fuming about soaring gas prices and the associated rising cost of living, why in the purple polka-dotted hell would anyone think it’s a good idea to raise taxes on gas?

Let’s take a look at how this works. The idea behind it is, by raising taxes on gas and offsetting the extra cost in your income tax, it gives you (and businesses that ship products using fossil fuels) an incentive to explore other modes of transportation. There are a few problems with this line of thinking:

  • How can we guarantee that low-income families aren’t going to be hit the hardest by this tax? If the idea is to get poor people to give up their cars and have to quit jobs they need their cars to commute to, well, congratulations Dion, you’re a genius.
  • Gas prices have already been up around $1.45 per litre. What happened? Well I don’t know about you, but people just paid and got even more angry. And like Harper was warning, the price of everything went up.
  • For an disincentive to be effective, there has to be alternatives to the practice you’re trying to discourage. Unfortunately, there aren’t any viable alternatives to fossil fuels yet. We can’t go down to the car dealership and buy an electric or hydrogen powered vehicle. And unless you live in downtown Toronto, public transit just doesn’t work for everyone.

I find it very difficult to believe that the Liberal Party’s combined forces actually thought this was the best plan. If they did, I have a feeling that the Conservatives are going to be in power for decades. Even more disturbing, though, is the number of people who are voting. While a lot of people are worried about the economy, I’m more worried about the future of democracy. The people at the helm of our political parties are out of touch with what really matters to the people, but that doesn’t mean you should stay home. If you don’t want any of the candidates that are being offered, go spoil your ballot or vote for an indepedent. Send them the message that we’re tired of giving them our trust when they don’t deserve it.