The Canadian General Election

Our Prime Minister called a general election to be held on October 21st.  I'm glad in this country the circus only lasts six weeks.  Watching the politics south of us makes me even happier I'm Canadian.  I have no idea who I will vote for.  There was an all candidates meeting last Wednesday night but I already had plans.  I have not received ANY information from any of the six political candidates running in my area.  I only know one, the guy whose been our MP for the last four years.

I don't like any of the leaders of any party......oh help, I guess I'll figure it out before election day.  I'll hold my nose and cast my ballot.  I've never missed an election yet.  I've voted for almost every party and my favorite vote was for the Marijuana Party who ran provincially a few years ago.  None of the parties were worth voting for so I gave these guys my vote.  It wasn't because they wanted to legalize marijuana but their best idea was to build a much needed bridge to Vancouver Island.  They would put people to work and it would be lovely.  They were planning to build a macrame bridge!   That was one of the most ridiculous ideas but I thought creative and funny.  There were a lot of unemployed loggers who could put their macrame skills to work.  I threw away my vote, but I could not vote for any of the other candidates. 

A bit of Canadian History:

The British Columbia Marijuana Party (BCMP) is a minor political party, in the Canadian province of British Columbia that advocates the legalization of cannabis.

The BCMP was formed following the 2000 federal election, Marc Emery, the founder and current president of the party, formed the party the day after the 2000 vote. The BCMP made provincial history during the 2001 provincial election that came six months later, by being the only party to ever field candidates in all of the province's ridings during their first election campaign.

Brian Taylor served as the party's first leader during the 2001 provincial election. Taylor had been a prominent cannabis activist and was the former mayor of Grand Forks.

The Marijuana Party was excluded from the televised leaders' debate, even though they were running more candidates than either the Green Party or the Unity Party, both of which were included. BC Marijuana Party members protested during the televised debate.

In 2001, the party won 51,206 votes, 3.22% of the popular vote. Teresa Taylor, daughter of leader Brian Taylor, captured the party's highest popular vote total with 1,136 and polled 5.6% in the conservative Okanagan-Westside district.

At 4:20 PM, April 20, 2009, Marc Emery folded the party and gave his support to the Green party.