Analysis & Commentary

If you think I'm being harsh, what do you make of all the attack ads and the demonizing going on? I don't know whether to laugh or be frightened. A little of both, I think.

Seriously, I am concerned about this, and so are some friends I have been talking to. It seems as though there's a gladiator battle happening between the Conservatives and the Liberals, in which anything goes but actually gouging out someone's eyes.

A couple of days ago, I opened up the National Post and read about a television attack ad the Liberals were supposedly thinking of using. It used clips from the movie Rosemary's Baby and compared Steven Harper to the spawn of Satan by superimposing his head onto the baby's body from the film. It took me a while to realize the article was a fake – a joke.

Very funny. I'm not laughing.

Is anyone really swayed by an attack ad? Aren't there important issues to work on? It's true that the party leaders are concentrating on health care and taxes in their speeches, but I feel the money and time spent on these attack ads are, in a word, wasted. I sure could use that cash to pay off my student loan.

Another thing that has me scratching my head is the tradition of taking the campaign out to the lawns of the nation. Last night I spoke to my friend, Sonya, in Ottawa, who was upset because the owners of her townhouse complex put up huge Conservative party signs all over the block. "It's like they are making the choice for us," she said. "We never got asked."

Like a lot of young voters, Sonya also said she probably would not vote because she felt this election is already decided.

Meanwhile, I am finding it hard to concentrate on this election. Important world events are occupying my mind these days. Since my father is a Kurd and I still have family in northern Iraq, I am worried about the transfer of power there, among other things. Many of my classmates here in Halifax share my concern for international events and find them more compelling than the current crop of Canadian political issues. Although this is our country and we generally care about the political outcome, right now there are just too many demons to fight out there in the wider world.

Some days I am just thankful I live in a First World country where there's food in my fridge and a mattress for me to sleep on. But the election gives me a voice and I am planning to use it.

So we come back to the big question this diary is supposed to eventually answer: How am I going to vote?

To their credit, the Liberals are helping me to come to terms with how I might start to decide, by asking us all, "What kind of Canada do you want?"
Well, for starters, I want a Canada where everyone feels they have a voice and are actually heard – a Canada where the leaders of this nation earn the respect and faith of young people in this country and help, not hinder, students who want to get an education.

Sounds perfect? Well, so far, no party seems to be able to deliver on my vision. If I thought I was confused before about whom I would be voting for come June 28, I am really confused now.