elxn42: the final day before the final judgement.

So, it's come down to this, with under 48 hours left for us Canadians to cast our ballots in the federal election. 

It may be a bit of a surprise to see me coming in with a general evaluation of the campaign landscape so late into the game, but I've been preoccupied with a busy school life, work, and nervously biting my nails to sharp, awkward nubs trying to gauge the final trajectory of this election. 

The polls suggest, by quite a wide margin, that Canada's tried and true—tho not uncontroversial—Liberal Party is on its way to a victory of some sort. Whether this will fly so far as to become a majority mandate (requiring 170 of the 338 seats in the House of Commons), or turn to be a more expected outcome of minority governance, these are both potential outcomes that bode acceptable results for all those with the wider priority of ousting Harper. For those still caught within the bitter partisan divide between the Liberals and the NDP, however, a Liberal victory may garner a hostile reaction from those who hoped the more experienced Thomas Mulcair would take Canada's helm and deliver us from 10 years of what can be called, at best, clumsy mismanagement, and, and worst, outright evil in the form of power-for-powers-sake.

Personally, I found none of this years big political contenders to be either particularly fascinating, nor impressive. Harper, tho very well known to resort to dirty tricks as a way of leveraging himself and his party, took this a few surprising steps further when he battened down the hatches and dug in to a campaign dedicated entirely to fear and what Canadian's would hypothetically lose were they to lose him. He also allowed himself to slip even further from basic ethical standards when he began railing against the niqab, as well as preaching a false gospel of "weed is infinitely worse than tobacco" at the same rallies at which he campaigned with Rob Ford, the former Toronto mayor who smoked crack cocaine while still in public office just last year. In this sense, and due to an illustrious list of dark faux pas that date back to the very start of his political career, Harper was immediately crossed-off as an option in my mind as I've been a long-time supporter of the "Anyone But Harper" movement, and do sincerely believe he has destroyed the image of Canada as a constant and progressive contrast in the world. The strangest thing about his having done this, however, is that this image isn't something I thought I cared about until it finally became clear that he had irreparably taken it away, so I suppose that, by some basic relative standard, I am a bit of a nationalist. (A loose nationalist). 

Justin Trudeau, son of the late former Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau—praised for such things as the patriation of the Canadian constitution from the United Kingdom in 1982 and the creation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, tho heavily criticized for his disastrous National Energy Policy and disproportionate nation-wide declaration of martial law in response to the FLQ crisis in Quebec—started this campaign on a very precarious footing. My largest point of contention with him had been his backing of the controversial anti-terrorism legislation, Bill C-51. For the first month (and prior), he was unable to articulate a clear reason for said support, and vaguely blundered on and on about "Real Change Now!" and "Helping the Middle Class" without elaborating on any clear policy position or platform promises until about a month ago, when he and his party not only began to make properly specific promises, but also gave articulate and reasonable justification to their backing of C-51 and how they intend to make significant amendments (such as adding sunset clauses and clarifying all the vague ambiguities left unclarified by the Harper government via Parliamentary committee and review). At this point, I began to see him less as a potentially necessary half-evil in the drive to remove Harper, and more as a viable option for Prime Minister, though not to a point I felt comfortable casting a ballot in his name (though I would have done so in a heartbeat had it been the strategic option in my riding).  

Thomas Mulcair, however, did—through this process of elimination—earn my vote, but it does have to be said that he wasn't one to particularly impress either. 

Throughout his campaign, Mulcair consistently liked to remind everyone that his priority was "to get rid of Harper," all while buying up ad-time online and on television that often baselessly tore into Justin Trudeau on a personal level as opposed to policy position, and sent a shiver of disgust down my spine as I dealt with the vicarious embarrassment of attack politics; something I strongly believe should be left entirely to the foaming mouths of desperate neoconservatives, as it's only their hawkish, confrontational ideologies that align naturally with such shallow, proto-fascist rhetoric.

Now, with less than 2 days to go, my biggest concern roots from the entirely unexpected Conservative victory in the United Kingdom last May, when, against all forecasts and odds, David Cameron won re-election with the help of a "master of the political dark arts," the infamous Australian political consultant, Lynton Crosby.

Crosby has won multiple elections for the right with the unethically strategic use of "wedge politics," which is to say issues of little to no importance that can be used to viciously divide an electorate and attempt to subdue it to a right-wing agenda with the use of fear. Far from being a legitimate option in a Parliamentary democracy, it is essentially a form of soft totalitarianism in the form of 'divide and conquer.' Though the good news it that there are reports Crosby abandoned the Harper campaign trail just 4 days before the election due to his disapproval of Harper's mingling with the controversial crack-smoking former mayor of Toronto and his pundit brother, Doug Ford, which means that Harper's desperation far surpassed what he believed Crosby could accomplish on his behalf. 

However, my nerve about the election doesn't simply end with the absence of Crosby on the Conservative campaign trail, as his basic strategies still apply, even in this atmosphere of flailing desperation. Not only this, but there have been serious allegations of electoral fraud and cheating leveled against the Conservatives in regard to every election they have run under Harper's leadership, with one lead eventually culminating in an arrest and conviction in relation to the 'robocall' scandal of 2011. The voter turnout for this current election has far surpassed that of the past two, but there is still very much a part of me which is still concerned the Conservatives may be cheating, as it has already been shown they don't feel the necessity to respect the basic foundations of democracy. However: the good news here is that Canadians are already cautious and wary of potential cheating, as is the independent body that oversees elections, Elections Canada. They have made a point of warning voters to the signs of a fake polling station or attempts at voter suppression. So, perhaps, in the end, I don't foresee a Conservative victory in the making, but I am wary to cast a final judgement until the conclusive results have come in. 

Remember to double-check your riding and to vote strategically, everyone.