This Post is for Ontario Voters.  In my opinion, there is no greater responsibility for a Canadian than to vote.  Thousands of Canadians died to maintain our right to do so.  Democracy depends on INVOLVED AND INTELLIGENT citizens getting out and voting.  I know that American politics is way more exciting, and has far more interesting people involved, than we have here.  But that is NOT were we live, and who makes the rules we have to live under.

The citizens have to be involved, and intelligent, because we are the judges and juries who determine our own lives.  The policies and laws put forward by politicians affect every one of us, regardless of whether we are involved or informed.  I hate the comment “There is nothing I can Do.”  Well if you live in Russia, Syria, or North Korea, to name a few places, you are right.  Yes, you can vote in Russia, but only for the candidates the leader chooses.  (Opps that sort of sounds like here.)

But here there is something easy that you can DO.  YOU CAN VOTE!!  YOU CAN CHOOSE!  YOU CAN DECIDE YOUR FUTURE!

Just like everything else worthwhile, this requires some effort.  You need to go to candidates meeting, you need to apply real world thinking to the sound bites offered by a media more interested in shock value, than truth.  Solutions to big problems, like a broken Health Care system, a completely broken Education system, and a Justice System that does not seem JUST, take longer than the 15 seconds the media allows to explain.

Read the campaign platforms of each party.  Then apply plain old (un)common sense to what they are saying.  If you can not get away with spending in our own house, the kind of spending the parties plan, guess what.  Neither can they.  You can not spend more than you make and never have to suffer the consequences.  Governments think they can, because if they run out of money, they take more from us.

It may look like they are doing things that help people.  But do they really?  Raising the minimum wage, sounds like a good idea.  Go back and compare prices from before to now.  NOTICE HOW MUCH THEY HAVE GONE UP??  What good is a raise, if you have to pay more for everything after the raise?  And what about the people who didn’t get a raise?  Are they charged less?  So, who came out ahead?  The government.  Your income tax is paid on how much you make.  Get a raise and your income tax goes up.

We all know that the best jobs these days are with the government or government agencies.  (speaking from experience.)  But, have you ever considered where the money that pays the wages comes from?  What does the government produce, that is not funded from you and me or businesses? 98% of government income is from taxes, fees, licenses and fines.

So, when you walk into a government office and see several people gathered around a monitor looking at a Face Book post, you have to ask yourself, are all those people really necessary?  Because YOU are paying for them.

The government only understands how to spend.  They are as financially illiterate as most of us.  The solution to most problems in their book, is to throw OUR money at it, and hope it fixes it.  By the way, they never really ask how the money will be spent or how it will fix the problem.

Give a hospital more money, and then have them lay off nurses and Doctors and close beds because they can’t afford them.  What??  For my friend Larry, then pay the president of the hospital a bigger bonus for doing so.

I also believe that the death of Democracy lies in “Party Politics”.  I don’t care what party someone is from, once they are elected, every one of them has only one responsibility:  Making life better for their constituents NOT their party.  No one party or person, has all the best ideas.  Supposedly more heads are better than one.  So lets elect some good heads.

My challenge to you is, to spend a little time, and find out what is going on?  Who in your riding is the best candidate?  Does their party have common sense, or are they just trying to buy your vote with your money?  Will the candidate place the welfare of the people who voted for them, ahead of that of their party? (One of my favorite questions.)

Read what each party wants to do, and particularly how they plan on paying for it.  Ontario is $348,790,000,000.00 (Wikipedia March 31 2018) in DEBT.  What does that mean to you? It means that every man woman and child in Ontario owes about $25,000.00 more debt than they owe personally.  Your new born son/daughter or grandchild, came into Ontario already $25,000.00 in debt.

The bank of Canada wants individuals to reduce their debt, because higher interest rates are coming.  If we are supposed to do that, shouldn’t our government??

Roughly 25% of all the people who vote, were born in either a Blue, Red, or Orange blanket.  Which means they will either vote Conservative (Blue) or Liberal (Red) or NDP (Orange) even if the candidate in their area was a dead horse.  That means it is up to us, the NON PARTY CARD CARRYING citizens, to decide which direction this province should take.  Vote for the candidate in your area that will commit to making your financial life, and your children’s, more secure.  Even if they are an independent candidate. (no party affiliation) Then hold them to their promise after the election.  Stay interested!

Andrea, Kathleen, and Doug might not be as exciting as Donald.  But, they are far more important to your everyday financial health.