The choices will be hard to make on Monday, Oct. 21, but they need to be made in a wise and thoughtful way as election day arrives, and Canadians need to cast their ballots for government, and for their representatives in Ottawa.
Voters will look at the candidates they have in their riding, along with the federal parties vying for their support, and they will vote for the people and policies they deem to be the best for leading Canada.
In Souris-Moose Mountain, there are six candidates for consideration on the ballot. We have the incumbent, Dr. Robert Kitchen of the Conservatives, and five challengers.
These include Phillip Zajac of the People’s Party of Canada; Travis Patron of the Canadian Nationalist Party; Ashlee Hicks of the NDP; Judy Mergel of the Green Party; and Javin Ames-Sinclair of the Liberal Party.
Out of this list, Weyburn residents saw four of the six candidates at the Weyburn Chamber of Commerce’s candidates forum, where five of the candidates were at the Estevan forum, with Mergel able to attend that gathering. The Liberal candidate has been a no-show for campaigning or for any of the forums held here, so residents can draw their own conclusions about whether to support him.
In conjunction with what they have heard or seen from the candidates are the federal leaders campaigns as they have been criss-crossing the country and speaking at rallies and to the media.
There has been a lot of mud-slinging and vitriol thrown around with many half-truths or outright lies about what the other parties are promising, and somehow people have to wade through all of that to determine, who will be the best leader? Who will represent us the best in the House of Commons?
Who will Canadians be able to trust to lead them for the next four years?
They should consider factors like what the leaders are saying they will do, what they believe.
As a voter, do you consider the climate to be the all-important issue? Or do you want to know how taxes will be handled, how the budget will be set up, whether or not they’re planning to add billions to the national debt, or to spend in a fiscally prudent way, with a goal to achieve a balanced budget at some point?
One could also consider whether a leader who knowingly commits unethical acts and openly does not apologize for it should be allowed to just continue on leading the country.
Whichever way you lean in your beliefs, make your ballot count on Oct. 21, by considering not only what the national party is doing, but whether a local candidate is going to be a worthy representative.
