May 11, 2005

Payback Time

In an ideal world voters would evaluate each of the candidates, read the platforms of all of the parties, and carefully consider informed debates during the course of the campaign. In the real world people have busy lives with much more to do than follow every nuance in politics.

Traditionally voters are said to have very short memories, but the 2005 election may be very different. Most policy issues do not personally affect very many voters, hence it is easy to put them out of mind. The same isn't true when you get laid off, have your pay cut, or have your tuition doubled. There are dozens of decisions taken by the Campbell government that inflicted significant harm on tens of thousands of voters. Chiropractors, podiatrists and physiotherapists lost patients because MSP delisted their services; on the patients' side, they either paid more or did without. Some people skipped their regular eye exams because they no longer had coverage. Some seniors walked away from the prescription counter after learning how much more they had to pay for their drugs. The use of provincial parks declined when families got hit with $1 an hour or $5 a day parking fees. It is not just about the gut wrenching stories of seniors being separated from their spouses after 50 years of marriage as a result of the Liberal's community care policies, or about the tragedies created when people were turned away from emergency rooms. The election is about thousands and thousands of stories big and small where people know that they were hurt as a result of a mean spirited, uncaring government. May 17th is the time when those who were hurt can inflict some pain on Gordon Campbell. For some voters, it is payback time.