Please Vote. Please Vote Liberal.

This election campaign feels like a long one but only some weeks have passed. Polling numbers are like a roller-coaster for the past two years, and like them my intention to have a written monologue comes and goes. I have to get rid of the electoral anxiety in some ways; so here we are. This wall of text should've been completed weeks ago but only made available now thanks to the Conservatives deliberately withheld releasing their costed platform until the last day of advance voting. In any case, I hope that this completely subjective passage can be a little bit persuasive and helpful. 

We just went through patches after patches of bumpy road since the last election. Suddenly, we Canadians find ourselves being attacked in all directions: Trump and his lunatic policies that ended a decades-old period of economical and political non-conflict between US and Canada; China eyes on Taiwan and beyond, challenging the free and open Indo-Pacific and Canada's gateway to the Pacific; Russia invaded Ukraine and continues to threaten European and Arctic security, including Canada's north. We also have loads of issues within. Fueled by fuels, the inflation has been demolishing standards of living as we know it, and the subsequent increases in interest rates in response led to additional difficulties for many Canadians who are liability-driven. The stagnation of investments for the past decades in housing and healthcare was met with a sharp surge in population thanks to temporary resident policies and the subsequent effect is devastating. The intertwining public health and security crises related to homelessness and addictions continue to make lasting impacts on our social fabric. 

And Trudeau's government has been disappointing. Policies and their changes are rapid and reactive, without thorough planning or proactive thinking. Even when they caught up to themselves on making the announcements, the practicality of them usually is overlooked. Their policy toolbox is full of deflections (to the other levels of government) and derailments ("ah yes this [totally unrelated policy] is addressing the issue"). Not to mention the front office was managed horridly; from the PMO to cabinet, there were way too many Trudeau's McGill buddies and confidants that shielded him away from the real world, who themselves directly involved in policy decisions. I ain't not a poli-sci major but I can observe that office and cabinet is dysfunctional. 

So it may (or may not) be shocking for some that I am going to express my close-to-unwavering support for Carney. Although his premiership so far is short, there are stark differences between him and Trudeau. The cabinet he formed retained rather competent individuals like Joly and Champagne but those that were hard to beat nepotism perceptions like Miller are no longer in the cabinet. Carney cares more about the practicality then looks, and that resulted in a more compact cabinet while even sacrificing some portfolios in the expense of his political capital. These are polar opposites of Trudeau. What's more crucial is that issues of this country, including those handed from the Trudeau government, can only be competently dealt with by Carney, the seasoned economist, rather than Poilievre, the slogan-loving career politician. 

Carney is focused. His platform stemmed in two core themes: to ease out the fiscal and social instability resulted from Trump's policies, and to deal with the longstanding social issues like housing and health care from capital investments lead by the federal government. Both sides of the discussions surrounding government spending are lump sum: Poilievre's Conservatives love to talk about "inflationary" spending, while Trudeau's Liberals love to talk about the potential cut of services under a potential Conservative government. Carney, on the other hand, is the first person to distinguish operation costs and capital expense in government spending at this level of discussion, and consistently so since his leadership candidacy. Reflecting that thinking, the goal is to reduce operational costs of the federal service, increase productivity, and focus on capital investments for core priorities like infrastructure and diversifying our industries. A very cautious outlook of a balanced budget is proposed. These, to me, is what Canada needs in this crucial moment. On the other hand, the only thing the Conservative platform focused on is pandering to their base with slogans, the base that has been infested by and obsessed with Donald Trump, Aaron Gunn, Jordan Peterson, Joe Rogan, Elon Musk, and look-alikes. From reversing the ban on plastic straws to specifically editing the platform after publishing to include "anti-woke" language, the Conservative platform is a ratatouille of blanket reversals of everything Trudeau has done rather than a coherent plan for Canada's present and future. This scattering of self-serving policies is obviously not beneficial to Canada at this moment. 

Carney is competent and realistic. The platform provided a reasonable budgeting picture for realistic promises. Although the raw numbers are in the billions for big projects and investments in infrastructure and housing, Carney is not shying away from managing realistic expectations carefully for the fiscal future, knowing the drastically increasing instability ahead. Not even Trudeau had the political guts to do so, especially right before he was first elected. This demonstrates Carney's expertise and experience in public and private sectors on strategic planning and managing crises and his understanding of the big picture. The Conservative platform, with numbers pulling out from thin air, does not meet that expectation, especially considering Poilievre has been campaigning "to be the Prime Minister" for three years. How come cancelling the carbon tax — in their words really a tax that adds to the treasury — gave billions of dollars in *revenue* over three years? Also how come the government's revenue could be *increased* by tens of billons from investing housing? Unless we live in a Monopoly game, I hardly see how that makes sense. Instead of using PBO's baseline, the Conservative's numbers are based on a much higher rate of improvement of fiscal and economical performance, which seems overly confident knowing that Trump remains to be in power in the US and his random policies on tariffs remain in effect and evolving. This kind of baseless confidence — or arrogance — in himself and his policies earn no favours in demonstrating Poilievre's lack of substance and competencies in managing this country and economy. 

Carney respects the electorate. Although focusing on the big picture, the platform includes measures that cares about daily lives: directing CFIA to take cost-of-living in consideration alongside standards in safety; pay raise to CAF members; negotiate with provinces to promote interprovincial recognition of credentials in trades and healthcare. These show that Carney is cognizant and cares about people's lives. He also has a real, personal vibe when interacting with the electorate that honestly is neither acquirable nor could be taught. Poilievre may put more than a dozen of his fake smiling pictures in the 30-page platform but the attempt thus far to present a relatable figure is quite embarrassing, and partially thanks to his complete lack of life outside of politics. Poilievre wants to invoke the notwithstanding clause to do unconstitutional things, while Carney stated clearly that the Charter is to protect the people from the government. This contrast in the perspective of thinking demonstrates their philosophy in governance and respect on the electorate. What is the most damaging is Poilievre's complete refusal to attend all-candidate debates or forums at the constituency level. Not only he did not attend one in his own riding, he directed and enforced his Conservative candidates not to attend these forums. These images of cowardice and disrespect to this electorate, alongside his distasteful harassments on journalists and journalism in general who act on our behalf, are major, major red flags for any elected official, let alone at the highest level of this country. 

It should be apparent that, not only Carney is the better person to be Prime Minister, letting Poilievre taking power would also be outright dangerous, especially in this present time. More shocking to me is his refusal of obtaining security clearance. Although been repeated urged to obtain the necessary clearance to view the report on foreign interference in his party, he repeatedly refused to do so and even gradually developed a confidence to it, peaked at the Leader's Debate where he said he "will be gay gagged". Well, yea?! I don't know if he had experiences in keeping secrets for his friends in his youth, but generally speaking, when you made aware of a secret, you keep them! I can't, with any reasonable grounds, provided an explanation of his behaviour, other than that the reports of his and his Party's relationship with India, and his in-laws relationship with organized crime in South America, have some truth to them, so that if he were to apply for a clearance it may not be granted. If that were to be the case, he is not even qualified to be an elected official, and definitely not the Prime Minister. 

I have not mentioned strategic voting or all-but-Conservative even once and that was deliberate. I will never trust back-stabbers; my list of political back-stabbers includes notably Weaver, and also Jagmeet Singh at the federal level. He also had the past eight years to demonstrate his potential and competency in becoming the Prime Minister like Jack Layton once did but Singh unfortunately failed to do so. Although as a social progressive and social democrat I applaud NDP's and Green's strides in social issues and focuses on bringing a revolutionary thinking to the table, demonstrated by their platforms, I do not believe that they have a competent-enough team to realize these changes, at the federal level and with the present political reality. Alors, le Bloc n'est pas non plus une résponse réaliste. Although Blanchet may personally think he is a politician in a "foreign" country, I hardly can see the argument that Québec can survive this ongoing aggression from the south on its own. 

The Constitution Act, 1867 (as it is known now) dictates that the federal government shall make laws in the peace, order, and good government of Canada. The Conservatives love to talk about taxes; I, as a taxpayer, feel a profound sense of pride if my tax money was used to realize the said peace, order, and good government, by making sure our naval ships have less mold in the air, by providing humane and reasonable care for people experiencing addictions and homelessness, and by compensating the Indigenous Peoples for pass wrongdoings done by Canada in our name. I trust Carney to realize that as a focused, competent, realistic, and respectful leader, magnitudes more than Poilievre. 

If Carney and his new iteration of the Liberals can win a majority mandate tomorrow, it is not a "fourth" term as the Conservatives love to portrait it. Rather, it is an opportunity for Carney and his new team to fully lead and realize his plan for this country. Although I am as disappointed in Trudeau as the vast majority of Canadians, a vote for Carney and his party is the real vote for change and the best choice for Canada in this election. If you have voted, thank you; if you have not, please vote and please vote Liberal!