My 2008 Election Wish List
Posted on September 9th, 2008 in current events
The 2008 federal election was just announced two days ago, but already I’m sick of hearing about it. Honestly, none of the parties have anything new to say. My mind is pretty much made up as to which candidate I will be voting for, but it almost seems like I’m choosing the least bad out of a group of horrible options.
If I had my way, there’d be a candidate and party that would have all the same priorities as I do. If that was possible, here’s my wish list:
- Sustainable solution for population growth across the country, and how to manage the resources that will support it, especially land use and energy
- No increase in taxes for low- and middle-income families/individuals
- Increase in taxes for high-income families/individuals and large businesses – with the exception of those in the manufacturing industry. If we lose any more jobs in manufacturing, too many people are going to be out of work*
- More incentives for homeowners and businesses to become more energy efficient – possibly subsidies for wind and solar power, or for upgrades from normal water heaters to tankless, on-demand water heaters for example
- More stringent environmental regulations for the Alberta tar sands and all other resource extraction
- Pull out of Afghanistan now; stop wasting our tax dollers and our soldiers lives on someone else’s war
* My father, who is 3 years from retirement, was recently laid off “indefinitely”. He worked for a company that made fasteners for the North American auto industry. He does not expect to be hired back. Yet, he cannot afford to be retired yet; he needs the income from the next few years to ensure he has enough money for retirement.
He’s never worked in any other industry. At his age, in a failing automotive industry, who’s likely to hire him?