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Pick the right party when voting

Promises, promises, promises. Lies, lies, lies. That is what elections are all about, aren’t they?

To the Eidtor:

Promises, promises, promises. Lies, lies, lies. That is what elections are all about, aren’t they?

Not so fast — we, the electorate, are being promised many things these days by the leaders of the three parties that, believe it or not, have Canada’s best interests at heart. And then there is one Michael Ignatieff, who has stated that he is not campaigning for a coalition; he is going to form a government on his own merit. If we could only believe him, I’m from the generation that remembers two former prime ministers having won the elections on promises that were never kept.

Pierre Elliot Trudeau won his first election on the promise not to impose price controls that Robert Stanfield was advocating. Trudeau subsequently won the election on that issue and possibly robbed us of the best prime minister Canada never had. So what came of the promise? Pierre Elliot stole Robert Stanfield’s idea and immediately implemented wage and price controls.

Let’s take a look at a more recent promise made by an aspiring Jean Chrétien when he basically won the election with the promise to get rid of the hated GST. Guess what? Canadians are still paying the hated tax.

Of course, we all know that the government has to levy taxes if for no other reason than to fund its pension plan. A wee bit of tongue in cheek there, but hey, that we Canadians are a forgiving lot is proven by the fact that we elected both of the above-mentioned characters several more times in spite of their blatant lies (promises).

Though I don’t claim to be a prophet, there is no doubt in this writer’s mind that if given the opportunity Michael Ignatieff would form a coalition just to get rid of Harper. There is only one way to prevent that from becoming a reality, and it is not by voting Liberal or NDP.

Now you know the rest of the story.

Ray Neufeld

Creston