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Well it seems that we are in election season in Canada. Today Alberta elected an Alt-Right Government, but then that is Alberta for you, a wealthy province with a population known for its racism and bigotry and proud of it. The exception being the 2 large Cities of Calgary and Edmonton who tend to be more progressive compared to the rural areas. The new Premier is Jason Kenney, a closet case, former Federal Minister in the Harper Regime. He is a bigot, a racist, etc and when the media brings it up he simply scoffs saying he was misquoted. We all heard that before. Kenney  wants to declare war on Canada, imagine the Premier of a Province with a 3 million population. Sad little man.

Newfoundland and Labrador is going to the Polls on May 12 and in PEI we are in the final days of our election which promises, if the projections hold, to give us the first Green Party Government.  Very exciting for us in PEI it would finally break the old feudal system of a handful of families ruling the Province as personal property. The current Premier Wade MacLaughlan, Liberal, is very unpopular. A man who came in 4 years ago with lots of high promises and hopes that things would change and nothing did. The Conservatives are no where with 6 leaders in 9 years and a fear mongering agenda. The NDP have two or three candidates and no one believes they will be able to have even one person elected. This leaves the Green with Leader Peter Bevan-Baker who has done a superb campaign, people see him as a gentleman, polite and courteous. Addressing every issue and presenting a no nonsense approach to social questions. I have spoken with him several times in the last 3 years and I am impressed by him. I remember the first time I saw him in a coffee shop near the Legislature, he was busy talking to his staff and it looked like a meeting of sorts over coffee. I nonetheless went up to him, apologize for disturbing their conversation, we shook hands and he asked me a few questions and we had a short conversation but it was very natural and interesting. He also during my own campaign for Municipal Office, listen to what I had to say and engaged me in conversation.  On the other hand I had a chance also to speak several times with the Premier but his manner is totally different, more aloof, distant and not interested. A very different experience.

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Peter Bevan-Baker, Leader of the Green Party PEI.

PEI needs a change politically, the current system has produced nothing but stagnation for the last 100 years and the same people and families are always in power or in plum jobs. Corruption is rampant, the mafia could take lessons from the old style politicians here.

The hope is that with a Green party in power things can change. That is what we are all hoping for.

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Also with this election, a referendum is being held to change the way we vote. Currently we have the old British system of First past the Post (FPTP) and the choice is to change it to MMP or Mix member proportional which makes every vote count and gives a more efficient level of representation. The old parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives are against any change to the voting system. If we adopt MMP system then we will be the first in North America to do so. If the Green’s are elected, the are currently leading we would also be the first in Canada to elect a Green Party Government. So this small island province of 150,000 people could make history.

Already with advance voting, some 30% of the electorate have voted, including me. The actual election day is Tuesday 23 April.

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