Although the Conservatives are likely to keep many of their Saskatchewan seats, there is no question that my riding is completely up in the air.  The incumbent MP Carol Skelton is retiring after representing this riding since 2000.  The Conservative Party representative Kelly Block is new to the federal political scene.  I will have a number of questions for her if she shows up at my door.  Nothing warms my heart more than making political candidates squirm by asking them uncomfortable questions.  But no matter what she says, she won’t be getting my vote.  While my political affiliation is listed as non-partisan, I am very unhappy with the Conservatives and I am not afraid to say so.  I have not forgotten that this election is illegal and that the Conservatives love to campaign with tax dollars.

In the last election, I voted for NDP candidate Nettie Wiebe. She is well-liked by many people in my riding and I know that many of my friends will be voting for her and many people have already said that I should vote for her. She is a farmer, which should appeal to the rural vote. While I usually choose to vote for a candidate first and a party second, I am quite disgruntled with the NDP. They talk a good game about electoral reform but they never made any move towards reforming our electoral system in the 16 years they held a provincial majority. There are many things that need to be fixed provincially but I don’t think the NDP will ever deliver on that promise. I will have a number of pointed questions for her if she ends up at my doorstep.

I am seriously considering voting for the Green party. I love what they have to say about the environment, electoral reform and drug policy. I just heard Elizabeth May say that she thinks that the poppy crop in Afghanistan should be legalized.  I am continually frustrated by the fact that drug policy is generally overlooked as an election issue.  But here she is on the agenda saying on the teevee that she thinks it would be a good idea to legalize drugs. That made me very, very happy and I can’t imagine any other leader saying that.  Jack Layton doesn’t mind going on Pot TV and telling an audience of cannabis consumers that the prohibition of pot should be repealed but I have never heard him say it to a national audience.  Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.  The Green Party candidate for my riding is Amber Jones.

The liberal candidate for my riding is Roy Bluehorn and there doesn’t appear to be much information about him available on the internet.

Finally we have the Libertarian Candidate Kevin Stricker. I was lucky enough to meet him when we had a barbecue at the beginning of the summer. While there are many planks in the Libertarian platform that I like, the general philosophy of the party does not agree with me. I am unable to over come my socialist leanings and my belief that the government should help people out. I believe in public education and public healthcare. So while I admire the efforts put forward by the small parties and I appreciate all the barriers that they face, I will not be voting Libertarian in this election.

I look forward to sharing my ideas about electoral reform, drug policy, the environment, the housing crisis in Saskatoon and anything else that comes to mind in the days ahead. I am really happy to see that there is a category devoted to marijuana on here, even though the term cannabis is more accurate.