my position on the upcoming election is that i want to see justin trudeau resign and replaced by a member of the liberal parliament that is not chrystia freeland (who would be even more right-wing than trudeau is). i don't think he's very bright, and i don't think he's very liberal; he's more reagan than kennedy. but, my disinterest in trudeau's myopic brand of conservative faux liberalism doesn't mean my political positions have changed. and, the conservatives have certainly not moved far enough to the left to appeal to me, either.

i've always been on the very far left of the liberal party, which is a position that is sort of untenable and subject to rather extreme levels of abuse by the party, itself. there are pragmatic, functional reasons why i don't just vote for the ndp - the reality is that i don't agree with the ndp on much of the actual ballot issues, and it's because they often end up to the right of the liberals. i don't want to abolish the senate, for example (although i really don't like what trudeau has done to it, either). i've voted green a few times, and that's much closer to the vision i want to see. but, i'd rather see preferential voting (because i like the riding system.) than proportional representation...

i don't see a good option, right now, and the most exciting outcome is really for the liberals to be forced into actually doing what they said they would do by not holding the balance of power, to undo it. but, i can't vote for trudeau as a person, as a personality. i wouldn't vote for him if he was running for city council - i just don't respect his abilities or his intelligence.

so, i would like the liberals to remain in a minority parliament. much of the policy that the liberals produce in these situations nowadays may be phantasmic, but the chimera projected by a liberal minority remains the most appealing animal that the parliament is able to produce.

i will probably cast a protest vote for my local green candidate, and the ndp will probably hold the riding.

but, i would plead with the voters of canada to actually reduce this government's minority, so that the liberals need to rely on not just the ndp but also on another party, such as the bloc. in his tendencies to lean towards conservative decisions at every opportunity, mr. trudeau has not only not earned a majority, but has proved he needs even greater oversight and even greater deference to parliament.

a second trudeau majority will be a return to the days of stephen harper, if we ever really escaped them to begin with. and, his singular mandate was to be anything but harper.

so, my endorsement is anything but liberal.

don't give them a majority - they haven't earned it, they don't deserve it and we will all regret it.