Stephen Harper sings Imagine with Maria Aragon

If you wait until the end of this election, all of the candidates will have documentation of themselves holding babies, interacting with delightful, supportive seniors, and something cute and unexpected like this.

Stephen Harper is bland. I know he’s my prime minister, I know he sits politically and economically right (especially so since he’s from Calgary). I know that he’s a Christian white guy with a white wife and two kids. He pretty much fits the cookie cutter image most Canadians want today. Other than that, I don’t really know anything about him. I’m somehow allowed to hate him because he stands as a symbol for a party who works against my interests. But the (non)apathetic Canadians voted his party in-twice.

I hope a party wins a majority this election, and I hope it’s one I can support. But while the cameras flash and the videos record things like this for the media to distribute so voters can have warm, fuzzy feelings when they go to the polls, I’m going to ignore all the bullshit surrounding politics and motive and knock it all down to this:

Stephen Harper can’t really sing, and when he is rightly fighting to be re-elected, he isn’t going to have time to perfect the notes for this song. He was asked to sit down with an adorable, talented little Canadian who deserves the recognition, and play an inspiring song which shows off more humbleness and personality than I’ve seen from him in a long time.

Good for the assistant who lined this up. It’s everything you want to be seen as in a campaign and I will not blame any politician for living up to his/her job description. If his party should be re-elected, or even if he’s just the next leader of opposition, I at least hope he will take the lyrics of this song to heart when representing the people of Canada. (Not Harper’s Government).

Election Day

Election Day has become a ritual for me ever since I turned 18. During the day I vote and encourage others to exercise their democratic right, and then once the polls close I camp out in front of my television waiting for results to come in.

This election is different. For the first time, I experienced voter apathy. This is saying something for a politically liberal person growing up in Conservative Alberta. During the 2008 general election, I was satisfied that Ralph Klein was finally gone. For the Federal general election of 2008, I barely paid attention to the Conservative incumbent guaranteed to win in my riding, but anxiously awaited the results for New Democrat Linda Duncan.

Of course, our municipal government doesn't function under the party system. Instead, candidates propose their vision for the city when vying for a spot on council. But I don't have a vision of myself in this city. I plan on moving away from Edmonton when I finish my degree next June, and I haven't put much thought into the potential of eventually establishing a life here. Even the ballot itself proved troublesome. Do I vote for a Catholic Board School Trustee, an institution that was responsible for my grade school education, or for the Public Board to reflect my current (non)religious views? Even my anticipation of the Election Day was lessened by the necessity of voting 2 weeks ago- between work and night class I had no time to make it to my polling station today.

With 7.5% of poll stations reporting, CTV is predicting a win for Mandel. Looks like Edmonton will continue to see plans for an expanded LRT system, the potential for Expo 2017, and the closure of the airport. Congratulations Mandel, but I'm dreaming of Ireland.