Opinion: Madawaska Restigouche Riding Update - Narrowing the Field

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This is the first year in at least 25 years that I have taken time to sit back and review the whole field during a federal election.

Over the years I have worked with both the NDP and Green party riding associations, not at the same time, and was a member. Naturally I voted for the party that I was a member of and active in.

However, the past four years I have stepped back and do not carry a card in any party nor do I have any attention of doing so.

One reason has been my disenchantment with the process and the candidates. Since leaving Toronto in the late 1980s I have lived in ridings and regions that played little role in determining who won. There were just not enough seats to make a difference.

This federal election I was at first concerned that the field would be too narrow for me to make an effective choice as there were only two candidates but that widened to four which is enough.

I have narrowed my choices to two and I will talk about that in a minute. What bothers me this election, locally, is the lack of any election buzz. There are a few signs up more since the local debate but no one has knocked on the door or left any literature.

The absence of any sign that the Green Party or the NDP are in the running, aside from the local debate, is disturbing.

I will not be voting, NDP or Conservative. The local NDP candidate is not ready and the NDP federal leader, while impressive, is hung up on comparing Harper to Bush which is a bad strategy.

Next week I will look at local issues and hopefully have a few quotes from voters.

I will not voite Conservative as I think tax cuts are bad polices at least the way the Conservatives are using them. I agree many people pay too much in taxes so change the system, start taxing the polluters and reducing personal income tax.

I also do not like Harper but that is a gut reaction.

My choices are Liberal or Green and that is all I will say.