Civic Duty

Today, I voted.

It is a civic duty and responsibility I will never forgo. No matter what, casting a vote is the only way I can say I have given back to a country that has given me so much.

It wasn't easy wading through party rhetoric and strategic advertising to find the platform I could vote for with a clean conscience. I did my homework, read and listened, and voted. I didn't get a voting card, so I had to go to two different polling stations with my ID before finding where I should be. If I had to go to more, I would have.

It's hard being a Canadian voter. Most people will take more online polls about their sex lives or what kind if Harry Potter character they are than weighing in on the most important poll of all. The future of our country.

Health care has turned into Russian Roulette. Finding a family doctor alone is almost impossible, let alone finding one you will trust with your health. Hospitals are short-staffed and equally short-tempered. The pharmaceutical companies have a greater say on our health than we do. We are practically extorted into shoving experimental drugs down our throats for future supposed illnesses that may or may not develop.

Funding for public education has dwindled to the detriment of the very students we are responsible for, to the detriment of future voters. In Toronto, amalgamation has turned the "system" into a bulky, slow-moving, blind monster. Funds are misspent, deals with suppliers leak public funds with gouged prices, social workers and nurses are spread thinner than the butter on Oliver's stale bread.

Banks have stolen not only our pocket books, but our pockets as well with hidden charges, additional fees for using automated services that are supposed to save them money, and interest charges that are worse than aggravated hemorrhoids. Big banks are not only swallowing up smaller banking institutions but also theaters, sporting venues, museums, and I fully expect them to take over the street meat vendors as well. Scotia Bank Hot Dog Stand. BMO News Stand. TD Canada Trust Hair Dressers. Gee, I wonder where they are getting all those funds? Oh right. That $1.50 every time I use my debit card. Yeah, the one that is responsible for fewer salaried tellers.

I'm not even going to talk about gas prices that seem to depend on everything under the sun. If there is a storm in Connecticut or the President of the US has a hang nail, boom, gas prices go up. Then, all the prices spiral in a horrific domino effect.

Shall I even talk about the murderous effects on our environment? The insane tax breaks for already filthy rich conglomerates that are killing the earth and, by extension, us? The disgusting underpayment of Old Age Pension that makes being old synonymous with being poor?

I am hoping and praying that my vote will make a difference. Something has got to give. I certainly do not want to see my country turn into one where the rich strip the poor, and we wind up lugging our money around in wheel barrels to buy stale bread and milk. More please.