(no subject)

Nova Scotia is having a provincial election today. The last one was only 3 years ago but it was a minority government which got chucked out recently. The papers are calling it a lackluster campaign and indeed i've been absent for 2 weeks of it but i must say, i don't remember having as many calls and leaflets left at my door as i have this time. I've only actually spoken on the phone to one campaign worker but i've had messages left several times, mostly by the parties i'm not planning to vote for. I did speak to the candidate that i was planning to give my vote to, but that's because he lives two doors down the hall from me and he was sitting outside the building when i got home the other day. Our encumbent isn't re-offering so it's wide open but i think the man running for that same party might get in. He's in his 30's i think, and very personable and seems very keen.

I'm not really keen into politics but i do like to at least read much of what is reported in the papers about the policies and keep myself basically informed and i almost always vote. The only time i didn't vote was the time i couldn't bring myself to vote for the party i prefer because i couldn't stand the candidate and couldn't vote for the candidate i liked because i wouldn't give his party my vote. I didn't vote. I didn't go and spoil or reject a ballot either. There may have been other times i didn't vote but not many and as long as it isn't teeming down rain today when i head to the polls after work, i will definitely cast my ballot. And even then... well i won't melt.

There's an editorial in today's Daily news where the writer bemoans the fact that there are poeple out there than can name Britney Spears' baby but don't know their local candidates. I don't know the baby's name but i only could tell you the name of one local candidate, off the top of my head. The one for whom i'm going to vote. I've looked at the brochures the others have left but only the one name seems to have registered in my brain. I guess that's good enough for my purposes though lol! No confusion at the poll.

Politics is a funny business really. When it comes down to it, i always said one party was no worse or better than the next but some do have basic ideas and tenets that i just don't get on with. I don't think Mom and Dad were consistently loyal to one particular party over another though i know Dad tended to lean to the New Democrats in later years, they are union-friendly and out for the working man and that's what Dad always said he was, "just a workin' man". Their best friends have always been staunch Liberal party supporters. I've usually gone either Liberal or New Democrat and only once voted Conservative at the Federal level and lived to bitterly regret it.

Our local municipal government is non-party specific though i'm sure many of the councillors have party preferences or even affiliations. There is no party politics at the municipal government level here. Candidates don't run on party platforms and no parties are mentioned during the campaign. It's strictly the candidate you're voting in, not a party. Whatever their own personal preference is, they are all classed as independents. The party system kicks in for the Province and Federal governments only.

Many a municipal councillor has run for provincial office and sometimes Federal. There's one man on the current HRM council that has bounced back and forth a couple of times. He's definitely been on HRM council twice and a provincial MLA once that i know of. He got voted off the Legislature so he came back to the municipal level. He's not running for the province this time but one of the other councillors is. I didn't think he had a chance because he's running against the Liberal party leader but apparently that fellow doesn't even have a seat at the moment. The last Liberal Party leader quit and this guy won the leadership but he isn't an MLA. He's got to win a seat and I expect if he doesn't, his leadership will be up for review. Some of the editorials are conjecturing that he won't win his seat. If the councillor wins, we'll have another by election for the city in the fall. Which means extra work for me and my department and we just got over a school board by election.

Anyway, I didn't mean to ramble on and on about politics. I'm not a political junkie, but i *am* interested and i think more people should be.

One vote *does* make a difference.

To Everything There is a Season

Next week will be the Summer Solstice, and here in North America, at least, it's the first day of Summer. All of our seasons officially "change" on the Equinox/Solstice dates but that's not always the case. Down Under, the seasons change on the first day of the relevant month of the Equinox/Solstice. How can that be? I always assumed the date for the change of the seasons was the same all over the planet but it seems not. Why is this? Government intervention? Who started the tradition of using either set of dates? The equinox/solstice seems more logical to me, as they are based on astronomy, the basic workings of the planet within the solar system. The first day of the month may be more consistent and easier to remember but it doesn't seem as logical to me. So in that light...

( A poll )

(no subject)

Just watching the local provincial election results. Polls closed just over an hour and already the computers are projecting. It'll be a minority government (again) but they can't tell who is going to be in power, the Conservatives or the New Democrat. It's that close so far. The candidate in my riding, the New Democrat and the one that had my vote is crashing to a landslide. Go him! The New Democrats are doing very well in the municipal region but the Conservatives usually do well in the rural area.

I was mistaken this morning. I thought the provincial government was defeated which caused the election but the leader actually called the election on his own. The former Premier retired and the newly elected party leader, a young pup, would have to call an election sooner or later. They survived the vote on their budget but he apparently tought it was a good time to win a majority. Doesn't look like it now.