Politi-what?

Okay, I'm feeling fairly miffed and confused about the state of Canada's government right now. And annoyed by everyone's reactions to what going on.

I should explain that I'm not political. I don't get it. I'm apathetic. I don't have television, I quit listening to the radio (because Radio 2 changed their entire weekday program to nix most of the classical music!!) and I don't read newspapers because who wants to spend that money? So I'm fairly uninformed. And I don't care. Maybe I'm evil. Whatever.

But I do feel I have to do my civic duty and go vote (after all it's a right that not a lot of people in the world have and I felt it would be ungrateful not to) so I was bloody annoyed when I heard through friends that we're going to have to vote on the federal government AGAIN. Seriously? Didn't we JUST all vote like last month? And then we had to worry our heads about the US election too, and the municiple elections just finished and I think the provincial ones are coming up again and I'm just fed right up! Leave me alone government!!

Well it turns out we're NOT voting yet. We either vote next year (probably unless some wheels get seriously greased, and from what I can tell those wheels are damn stubborn and don't seem to want to move no matter what.) Or we get to have a coalition of the smaller opposition parties that as far as I know have nothing in common ideologically except that they hate the party currently forming the government. Great. That sounds stable. Oh and they want to spend lots of money we don't have in stimulus packages to help people suffering from the financial crisis--which has so far done absolutely nothing to help our biggest trading partner. Meanwhile, the ruling party's solution is to suspend parliament (lest they lose power because they won't budge on THEIR stance)-- which means absolutely nothing gets done for two months straight while we're in the middle of an economic crisis. Brilliant.

Now I will be honest. I voted for the Conservatives. Not because I am conservative. I already said I don't get politics at all. But I had no respect for the Liberals after 13 years of lies, broken promises, and scandal and their new leader (who didn't seem to speak English) wasn't doing anything to restore their credibility as far as I was concerned. And plus they wanted to raise taxes for "helping the environment" or something. Cuz that's the big issue.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not some hick with a petrol guzzling 4x4 on stilts that thinks global warming is a lot of hooey. As a matter of fact, I live a fairly environmentally responsible lifestyle. I use cloth diapers, we drive a tiny, super fuel-efficient Honda Fit (and we only have ONE car). I walk where I can and when I can't walk I use the bus. I wash my dishes and my laundry in environmentally safe detergent. I don't waste paper. I use power-saving lightbulbs. I buy local and organic groceries when I can and I cook things from scratch rather than use processed pre-made "food products" that are not only unhealthy but also create a lot more waste. Why do I have time to do all this? Because I'm a stay at home mom. Why can I afford to stay at home? Because we cram everything we own into a tiny two bedroom trailer which we plan to fill with as many kids as we can fit bunk beds for and because the current government party sends me a check for $100 a month (per child under 6)--which is what pays for the slightly more expensive groceries, and environmentally safe lightbulbs and laundy soap and organic milk from a local dairy. My husband does not make a lot. In fact if you divide his wage between us (imagining that we're BOTH working) we make about 9 bucks an hour. Which is a buck more than minimum wage. Not really enough.

Now I COULD go back to work (like a responsible woman of the world) and actually try to provide the north American standard for my children (their own rooms in a big house with a big yard and all the toys and opportunities for sports and extra cirricular activities they could possibly imagine). But we'd have to buy another car, and I would have spend half my wage on daycare and we'd never have time to eat as a family so it would be instant meals all the way and processed lunch meat (bring on the listeriosis) and low quality snack foods and disposble diapers (daycares don't do cloth) and meanwhile my kids would never see me, my husband would never see me, family unity would go out the window, and all those environmentally friendly things we can manage because I stay at home and bother to do them would be gone.

We'll never own a house-- or at least not while we're in our current situation. But I failed to see how raising taxes would actually help the environment when the problem, to me, seems to be a social one-- which is that both parents have to work to survive. If one parent chooses to stay at home to take on these things that INDIVIDUALS ought to be responsible for (not the government), then we can make a much bigger difference to the world not just environmentally, but socially speaking as well. Think of all the kids who will have better relationships with their families-- and marriages that will benefit from more frequent communication and time spent together at home? Think of how much better people would be fed--how much better children would learn if they weren't consuming sugar and processed crap all day because Mom (or Dad) haven't got time to make you anything else?

And politically, the only party I saw supporting families with one spouse at home to care for the children and keep house was the Conservatives. No one will convince me that taxing us further to provide more government subsidised child care programs will actually help things that are wrong in this country. Plus the Liberal government's track record for a)doing what they said they would and b)using our money wisely (instead of lining their already heavy pockets) is pretty shady. Green solution my ass.

So I voted to the right. Not because I call myself conservative-- I dunno anything about politics. Ideologically I don't really understand how one party differs from the next. But I know what I value-- which is family life. And it seems to me that a lot of the left leaning parties, who talk a lot about union rights and the environment and government subsidised programs, seem to value the same things I do, but their solutions for change make no sense to me because they all assume that work is life instead of the thing we do in order to support and enjoy other parts of our life- like family. Why would a woman WANT to stay home and care for her family? Is she backwards? Mentally deficient? Did she miss that year at school where we drilled into them importance of having a career? Of putting herself forward and being a USEFUL member of society????

Well I dunno but the "education" never stuck with me.

Plus all that talk about union rights and stuff always gets my goat because, ahem, we would LOVE to have a union job-- you actually make some money if you work for a union--ever worked retail? No? Then stop bitching. Those people don't make enough to pay rent when they work 60 hours a week. They get shitty hours, deal with shitty people (and smile while doing it), they are always underpaid, understaffed, over-worked, they don't get proper breaks or holidays (two weeks?? Are you kidding??--half an hour's unpaid break, maybe, out of eight, to wolf down a disgusting meal from the food court?) and they don't earn enough money to manage even a small rent half the time, let alone pay for a car or school or decent food or raise kids. Who represents them? Uhuh, no one. People who work for unions have it made compared to the rest of us. People who work for unions are the ones shopping on Sundays (people need the right to shop weekends you know) and making the poor sales assistants tear their hair out.

Okay that last bit was fairly irrelevant and bitter so jsut disregard it, but personally I'm fed up. I don't want to vote again. I just want everyone in Ottawa to grow up and stop talking shite!! And that goes for the lot of them!!