Yes it's election time in Canada, though unless you've been recovering from a brain injury that sent you on a mission of self-discovery through the interior of Kazakhstan in search of your own identity, you've probably noticed that this country's been in election mode for years now, and going strongly with every passing day.  You can thank our current government's amendment to the Canada Elections Act for that, which declared every third Monday in October the shittiest goddamn holiday in our country's history.  

Yes, a fixed election has just been declared, the first (and possibly last) of which is to be held October 19, 2015.   This is a date that has been anticipated for so long that reporters are tweeting that children have been literally brainwashed by campaign attack ads which have been running for months.  Now don't get me wrong, believe it or not I think this was a mad science experiment worth seeing to its conclusion.  We've had governments drop writs like bombshells on opposition parties several times, in an attempt to sneak an election in while people are still wondering what the hell the Rhino Party actually is (I'm looking at you, Prentice!  How's that premature resignation treating you?).  A fixed election is supposed to level the playing field.  Of course, having now lived through one, I think most Canadians will subject themselves to an airport colonoscopy before they have to suffer another one of these cookers.

Hey, if it's gonna happen, make it happen with the best, right? bionicteaching via Compfight cc

But enough whinging and griping about dates, let's be real here for a second and talk about what's coming down the pipe here.  No, not with the election, with me and this blog, that's what's important.  Well, over the next 11 weeks, you can expect me to be keeping up with things, dusting off the cobwebs of this long-forgotten corner of the internet to give you my take on the latest debates, campaign messages, polls, and all the gaffes that are fit to print (and boy I bet there's going to be some peaches).  

By "my take" I naturally mean my opinion, and you can expect that to slant to my own opinions on the direction in policy I think the country should take.  That said, I can promise you that I consider myself non-partisan in that I do not adhere to any specific political spectrum.  For example, I support a strong Canadian navy - a typically "right of centre" idea - while also supporting higher corporate taxes - a typically "left of centre" idea.  I am also open to new ideas, but I will question them with the hope of getting an answer that goes beyond ideology, such as the notion of a mandatory minimum wage.

I also consider myself non-partisan because at varying points in my life I have voted for every major party:  the Tories, the Liberals, the NDP, even the Greens.  I carry no membership card, I have never donated money.  I flirted with volunteering for my local Liberal candidate, Kent Hehr, but left after only a few meetings, realizing very quickly that I preferred to remain on the outside as an observer and an independent, unbiased voter.  Also I was pretty busy.

In addition to my own posts I'm going to keep a page of links to some important info pages:  polls, vote compasses, elections Canada riding information, etc.  Nothing with an editorial bent to it (go ahead and insert your own derisive sneer about polls and editorial bent here).  You'll be able to find this page in one of the slides on the homepage at thecanerdian.ca.  This should be up on Friday, August 7th.  I'm just putting together a list of links now.  I'm also going to try to alert people to major events, primarily debates, but if any noteworthy speaking engagements crop up I'll try to hone in on those too.

The last thing I'm gonna say is this.  If you've never read my blog before (FOR SHAME) you could be forgiven for thinking, based on the way I've phrased a lot of this, that I am in fact a reporter with credentials and a press pass and an audience and friends and all that jazz.  I am not.  I have very strong opinions, and sometimes people like to read them.  That's it.  I get my information the same places everybody else does:  from newspapers, from twitter, from seeing the candidates and leaders speak in public.  I am just another Canadian, who is nerdy.  I am the CaNerdian.

If I have one thing that I think I'm proud of, it's that I like to get people engaged in what might otherwise on the surface seem like a dull, pointless process.  Well, I've voted in every election I've ever been eligible for, and let me tell you this:  out of all of them, this might well be the most exciting and unpredictable we've had in my lifetime.  If the polls are to be believed (and with people running aggregates at faster speeds than they've ever done), the three major parties are still very much all in the race, and there's a huge chunk of undecided voters out there ripe for the picking.  So listen up, because your vote matters, and I'm going to do my damndest to remind you of that ever day from here through October 19th.

Let's do this.

marke1996 via Compfight cc