Spend 15 minutes browsing http://www.greenparty.ca/, their Policies section and Where we Stand, Issues and especially Living Platform section.

You will be surprised with quite a few things, especially when it comes to Ontario Greens (founded by former Conservatives) and then really change and shake up the country's leadership by voting for a new, truly democratic alternative.

I don't agree with everything Green Party stands for, but the party has well established methods for ensuring that each member's voice is heard and counted when it comes to setting policies and party's agenda, so I know that if there are enough members who think the way I do the party will change. As much as I was dreading the vote, I'm looking forward to it now. It's time to really shake things up in this country instead of just choosing between two evils.

"I don't agree with everything Green Party stands for"

Neither do I, but I certainly thought Ralph Nader as a human being was a better choice than either of the two guys that ran against him in the last US election.

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The conservative party is still lost in Canada and very divided. I think if the conservative party had gone with a different leader things would have been different. Harper is very smart and has some great ideas. But, he has quite possible the worst charisma of any major political leader I have ever seen. He can't take a good picture and just doesn't seem to understand that Ontario is different from Alberta (and that Ontario isn't the same right across). Let alone understanding the Maritimes or Quebec. BTW no major election has ever been won in Canada without sweeping either of Ontario of Quebec. [/reply]

exactly. to win canada you have to win ontario. i think that's what the conservatives have struggled with the last few times around - their candidates end up looking like hayseed rednecks. for the conservatives, pleasing alberta is as easy as promising not to mess with oil and beef. and BC is as easy as promising not to mess the with comfort of middle-class retirees (let's not forget stockwell day's home riding was. . .kelowna!). but they need someone who can roll past the prairies.

all that said, i'm not sure we'll see any huge surprises out of this election, for better or worse.

-mike

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https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

[reply]
Harper is the leader of the Conservatives, but I have no idea how conservative he or the Party is, or even really what the term conservative means in Canada. [/reply]

Unfortunately for us Canadians, a few years back a party called the 'Progressive Conservatives' was getting regularly trounced at the polls while a new 'Canadian Alliance' party took shape in western Canada. The Canadian Alliance was very popular in western Canada and idealogically are very similar to the U.S. Republican Party. The Progressive Conservatives were basically fiscal conservatives and socially quite liberal.
These parties merged and it seems to many Canadians that the new Conservative party is too far right socially.

This gives the liberals a huge advantage as the only centrist party.

The Progressive Conservative party still exists but not on the national level. They are still strong in provincial elections.

As the the corrupt nature of the Liberal party, my opinion and is probably shared by many is just that they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. I am not about to believe the Conservatives are going to be any different. Corruption happens at these levels no matter the ideologies of the politicians.

The Progressive Conservatives panicked when they weren't getting votes and jumped on this fledgling bandwagon and now are far weaker than they would have been had they toughed it out the past decade.