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The letter below is a load of crap.

(January 9th, 2006 - 12:03AM)

My friend just forwarded me some uneducated chain message. Its author told us not to vote Liberal because they can't manage finances. I sent the following reply to her and everyone else to whom she forwarded the message.

The letter below is a load of crap. I really hope that forwarding around this e-mail isn’t going to convince any silly people to change the way they vote.

I'm not saying so because I'm a Liberal - On the 23rd, I will be voting NDP like I always do. I'm just concerned because this letter is passing around a dangerously uninformed opinion, and anybody who mistakes it for fact could be basing their decisions on the wrong information.

The author of the letter below has blasted off his personal experiences and opinions to who knows how many people? He would have us change the way we plan to vote based on his “feelings” about politics - and as he says, he is “not passionate about politics.”

Here's an idea, buddy: if you don't care about politics, that's fine with me. As a Canadian citizen, you have the right not to care. But if you don't care, PLEASE don't ask people to forward your uneducated drivel around the Internet, and ultimately, into my mailbox! I already get enough junk e-mail about penis enlargements and Nigerian money-laundering schemes.

I am sick of hearing that the Liberals are corrupt and have mismanaged finances. That's just something Harper is saying because it's his only possible chance of being elected - that and, perhaps, his opposition to gay marriage. Don't let Harper trick you into thinking that our government is nearly as corrupt as he says it is.

Consider this:
Top ten scandals in Canadian political history

That's the CBC's breakdown of the top political scandals in our country's history. Read over the top ten and tell me where, pray tell, Paul Martin's sponsorship scandal appears? Harper would have us believe it's the worst thing that's ever happened in Canada, when the reality is that Brian Mulroney's government - that's right, the last time the Conservatives were elected - was far more corrupt than Martin ever was.

So when Harper tells you that the Liberals are corrupt, don't believe him. He's just taking a page from George W. Bush's book: if you say something over and over again, eventually people will believe you regardless of whether it's true.

But unfortunately, people are listening to Harper. There seems to be the perception that the Liberals have mismanaged our finances. I'd like to know how we came to this conclusion. Rising taxes are not necessarily a sign of bad government, as the author of the letter implies. If the author's family has stumbled upon hard times, I'm sorry to hear that. But we all have our own experiences, both good and bad. I'm not going to change the way I vote because of yours. At the end of the day, it's Canada as a whole that matters, and Canada has been doing well.

When people question the Liberals' abilities to manage dollars, they're usually referring to the sponsorship scandal - and as I mentioned above, that's really not much of a scandal at all. And remember that this was a scandal in which Paul Martin was exonerated. I have yet to see any legitimate argument against the current Liberal government.

I don't care who you vote for on the 23rd, but please make sure your vote is an educated one. I am afraid that many people will vote for the Conservatives because they actually believe what Harper is saying. Stephen Harper's war on corruption is every bit as frightening and misinformed as George W. Bush's war on terror. I am afraid of living in a country where our Prime Minister was elected on a platform of lies. So whatever you do, make sure to do some research before you vote.