APATHY IS NOT AN OPTION

When this election began I stated this was the most important vote of our generation. It may in fact be the most important decision Canadians make since rejecting American liberation efforts at the start of the War of 1812.

Advance polling starts tomorrow, the Federal election is on May 2nd. By May 3rd we'll know if Canadians have staved off a back door Republican take over of our country or not. If Stephen Harper is denied a majority in this election there is no doubt among CONSERVATIVE circles that he will be gone within 12 months. That is assured. Let's help make that happen, deny him a majority.

HE'S NOT HERE FOR YOU

Despite Harper's claims that Ignatieff only come back to Canada to be Prime Minister it was Stephen Harper who returned to Parliament in 1997 for that purpose.

He returned from the National Citizen's Coalition (where he had written Alberta should put up a firewall around it to protect it from the rest of Canada) to run for the leadership of the Reform party, then engineer a reverse take over of the Progressive Conservative party, and then lead that re-united right to 24 Sussex and the Prime Minister's office.

And when that didn't immediately happen he wrote a letter to the Governor General reminding her that should Paul Martin's minority government fail that Harper, Layton and Duceppe (the separtists Bloq) were prepared to form a coalition government.

Not Ignatieff, only Harper and Layton ever formally signed an agreement with the Bloq to form a coalition. Because Harper's only reason for reentering politics was to be Prime Minister.

HIS RELENTLESS PLAN FOR MORE POWER

For five years now his Republican vision has been frustrated by a more powerful opposition and the Senate, a body his party has repeated called weak and useless but one which, until he stacked it with the most Senate appointments in a single year ever, had managed to defer, delay or outright reject every stupid bill he tried to ram through parliament.

If Stephen Harper gets his majority then Canada will have elected a man who would rather spend 3 times as much on WAR MACHINES as Health Care. A man who would intends to spend 3 times as much on PRISONS as Police. A man whose only goal is to dismantle Canada and rebuild it in his vision - a seemless sister state to America.

And he hasn't hid any of it. His border agreements, his laws relating to trade and even his trade focus has been the United States. Even while that country has slid into the greatest economic crisis since the 1940's Harper has kept his focus on US trade to the near exclusion of all others.

He thumbed his nose at the massive emerging markets in China and India. Closing 15 trade missions already set up there and dismissing their importance. Canada has now been virtually shut out from trade with the Chinese and has lost its place as first among equals in trade with India.

His plan to spend billions on jets to patrol our northern border as though we could actually go to war with the Russians if they decided to exert their dominance there is insane.

His plan to spend billions on prisons to house more of our citizens, put there indefinitely for crimes most Canadians consider petty and misdemeanors rather than Capital offences, ignorantly flies in the face of nearly every study showing that Superprisons are both horrendously expensive and ultimately ineffective at reducing crime.

His idea that he can hack enough services Canadians have relied on for generations to balance a budget seems hollow considering he's been in charge for 5 years now, run up the highest deficits in Canadian history, without making a dent in the Civil Service, without controlling any costs.

His claim that he can balance a budget without raise taxes is pure fantasy. A five year old knows you cannot spend more without earning more. And while its true there is waste in any Government, to suggest that he can solve our budget problems through cuts and by not replacing retiring workers alone flies in the face of simple logic.

Projects to upgrade and integrate Computer systems typically cost MORE not less. And the end savings are never what were promised. Certainly not BILLIONS.

In fact the only way to cut that much money is to download services to the Provinces and Cities, both of which will have to raise taxes on their end to provide those necessities. We saw how badly that worked in Ontario under Mike Harris. Can Canada survive that on a National level?

TODAY'S PRIORITIES OR A DARK TOMORROW?

So Canadians have a choice between a future Canada with Jets and Prisons or Healthcare and Police. A dark fantasy or the status quo we've enjoyed. A burdened mini-America or the Canada we've built and love. A Republican Conservative or a Conservative Liberal. Stephen Harper or Michael Ignatieff.

And if you don't think that's a very big deal then I challenge you to drive across the border and pull into any US city that's at least an hour from the border, get out of the car if you dare, and look around.

If Harper gets his majority that's what your city will look like in 5 years.