Dear Seeker,

Stephen Harper’s early call for the federal election on October 19 will result in an 11 week, 78 day campaign, the longest federal election campaign in modern Canadian history and more than twice the 37 days typically allotted for election campaigns in recent times.

Harper’s early election call is a crass, cynical political move because it will increase the spending limit for political parties from $25 million to over $50 million giving the Harper Conservatives a huge advantage over the other political parties.

The extra-long election campaign will also cost Canadian taxpayers tens of millions of dollars more in administrative costs for Elections Canada and in rebates to parties and candidates for their inflated election expenses. This will be the most expensive election campaign in Canada’s history.

Stephen Harper will try to buy this election with his American-style, big money, negative advertising campaign. However, it won’t work this time. After 10 years of Conservative mismanagement of the economy, their cuts to essential public services, the widening income inequality gap, their failure to protect the environment, and their anti-democratic measures and tactics, Canadians are ready for change with the NDP.

I believe that Canadians will see the NDP under the experienced, principled leadership of Tom Mulcair as the progressive choice to create good jobs, improve public healthcare, pensions, and child care, reduce income inequality, support agriculture and rural communities, and tackle climate change. Canadians can also count on the NDP to support our veterans, restore home mail delivery, repeal Bill C-51, and work to abolish the Senate of Canada.

In SDSG, we have in Patrick Burger a progressive candidate who will provide strong representation for the residents of SDSG in Parliament. We are ready to elect a NDP MP in SDSG and to help elect a NDP Government to build a better, fairer, greener Canada where no one is left behind.

Yours truly,

Brian Lynch,
President of the SDSG Federal NDP riding association