Can we please focus on the issues!

KAMLOOPS — I dread election campaigns. I quickly get sick and tired of the rhetoric and head-bashing and the silly accusations by all parties against the others. It’s extremely influential to the campaign, of course, and the whole intention is to get voters in a furor and vote based, not on reason, but on inflammation created by the spin doctors. We saw how Donald Trump’s campaign used that last year to elect a man based on rhetoric and some character-bashing rather than on facts and issues. In previous elections, we in Canada have started to use that same U.S. based style in federal and provincial campaigns.  I’m already tired of the B.C. election campaign and it hasn’t even started yet. Every NDP promise has been made to change the way the B.C. Liberals have destroyed our province. On its website, the party says “While Christy Clark’s government will let carbon pollution escalate for the next ten years, B.C. New Democrat leader John Horgan released today a climate action plan that will…..”  When you go to the B.C. Government twitter feed, the announcements are generally not party specific, but on the right hand page, there’s a list of people to follow- not surprisingly, Liberal Cabinet Ministers occupy the prime spots. And on the @bcliberals twitter feed, there’s lots of NDP bashing. The B.C. Green Party’s web site is pretty straightforward. Nothing flashy. A description of their policies and what they believe in. Not anything to get me stirred up and irate about, but if I were trying to find out what a party stood for, that’s what I would like to have at my fingertips.

I think part of my concern relates to the increasing amount of uncivil behavior we tend to be moving towards. We certainly saw that in the U.S. campaign, we see it in the rantings against our own Prime Minister, and we see it from many in the general public. Look at any Facebook or Twitter account open to public response and it’s downright scary what you see. Political campaigns are becoming the ultimate in uncivil behavior. Let’s stick to the issues. Tell me what your party is going to do, don’t tell me how bad the other parties are. Tell me why your party is the one I want to vote for. Don’t take unfair shots at the Premier, or the NDP leader or the Green Party leader. I know I’m flogging a dead horse here, but when hundreds of news releases come across my desk, literally, in the course of a day, the last ones I read will be the political ones that spend all their time on rhetoric, and none on substance. Don’t expect me to give them much exposure, or you much respect. I’m jaded enough already after years of listening to this drivel. Enough is enough.