So in an attempt to figure out which political party should get my vote I just finished the CBC’s Vote Compass. I find the results rather interesting.
First off the final result shows me as being closest to the Liberals, with me being solidly on the Economic Left and slightly Socially Conservative.
What?!? How am I socially conservative? Let’s let the Compass break me down by the issues it mentions:
Defense: I’m almost on top of the Conservative position here. Ok, while I do think we need to assert ourselves to make sure Canadian sovereignty over the Arctic is respected I do have some differences in how they plan to do it. That untendered choice of the F-35 fighter jet is one decision that I think is fiscally reckless and not likely to support Canadian interests.
Economy: I’m almost on top of the New Democrats (NDP) position. Tax cuts for the rich and for corporations who wish to relocate elsewhere make no sense to me. Cutting spending may have to happen, but cutting spending without looking at increases in revenues is not a sound economic policy.
Environment: Oh. My. God. I’m almost off the Social Liberalism scale and even more hilarious, I’m right in lock step with the Bloc Quebecois. Considering I wouldn’t go to Quebec City if you paid me that’s funny. In all seriousness I just like my air, water, soil and food to be as toxin free as possible, and I don’t trust big business to self regulate in a way that favours me or any other member of the public. Safety is a government responsibility, not a free market one.
Government Programs: I’m assuming they mean things like Employment Insurance, Health Care and other such programs. No real surprise here that I’m almost as far to the Economic Left as the NDP.
Immigration & Multiculturalism: Hmm. According to this I’m more socially conservative here than the Conservatives. This could be warranted but I think my views on Canada’s immigration policy are a little more nuanced than what the compass tracks, especially given its placing me on top of the Bloc’s position, which is laughable considering my opposition to much of what Quebec has tried to pull over the last 15+ years. If this was broken up into Multiculturalism (specifically Quebec’s role in Canada) and Immigration as separate ideas I’d feel this was more useful as weather gauge.
Law & Order: I’m a little bit socially liberal here, almost halfway (although leaning closer to the Liberal’s position) between Liberals and Conservatives. That’s not surprising. I’m all for throwing the book at violent criminals but I also believe the whole War on Drugs nonsense has failed and that we would be better off looking at alternative tactics. That and the Conservative’s plan to build more jails to deal with all the unreported crime they claim Canada is experiencing strikes me as playing on voter hysteria.
Moral Values: Again, I’m showing up in the socially liberal area, which is why the original overall result was pretty surprising. I really don’t care who marries or sleeps with who (provided it’s between consenting adults), I support a woman’s right to be able to get an abortion if she chooses, and people should generally be treated with respect and dignity. Believing this doesn’t strike me as being overly radical.
Parliamentary Reform: According to the compass I’m closest to the Green’s here, apparently. Whether that is true or not, I don’t know. What I do know is that the “first past the post” system we use has lately created more and more situations where the numbers of party seats don’t match up with the percentages of who voted for who. I realize that many people hate the idea of “coalition” governments but frankly, I think we’d be better off if we opened up to that. This country is too big and varied to allow people to feel alienated from their government.
Quebec: Yes, the one province that makes a career of holding the rest of Canada hostage with their threats to separate gets its own category. Apparently both I and the Liberal Party of Canada are dead centred bulls eye in the middle of the compass. Uh, considering how badly Jean Chretien dropped the ball on the 1995 Referendum that’s not comforting to me.
Taxes: Again I’m in the economic left, right on top of the Bloc and NDP positions. Makes sense I guess.
So there we have it. According to the compass I should be Liberal red. And after checking my answers I found out why I got such a conservative mark on social issues. Turns out I DISAGREED with letting women have abortions, instead of AGREEING with that as I mentioned in the write up. It doesn’t make much difference overall but does show me more accurately on the compass.
And once again the whole cut thing fails. Oh well. If anyone is curious the link to the Compass is here -
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/votecompass/ You don't have to put in a Postal Code or Riding, and you don't even have to answer the questions about the party leaders. I'd be curious to find out who you're "supposed" to vote for. *chuckle*