I know I’m a junky, but I need to share my political musings with someone.

Municipal
Gregor Roberston is awesome. I really hope he becomes the next mayor of Vancouver. If you want to help, you’ll need to become a Vision Vancouver member before May 15 and then head to the Croatian Cultural Centre on June 15 to cast your vote for Gregor. Unfortunately, I won’t be in Vancouver. I’ll be in Toronto attending Nick and Annoush’s wedding before heading out to Scandinavia with Ben. So, not only will I miss the nomination meeting, I’ll miss Car Free Vancouver day. 😦

Since I won’t be able to vote, I’m trying to convince other people to get out and vote. I’ve been assured voting is a pain in-and-out procedure. No need to stick around for boring speeches or anything. And it’s conveniently located on Commercial Drive, so when you’re done you can hit up the Car Free festivities.

Gregor was at Critical Mass on Friday, and got an enthusiastic reception. Not surprising, considering that he really is a dedicated cyclist and has some ambitious plans to improve cycling in Vancouver.

Provincial
The big news provincially is the Carbon Tax that takes affect July 1. It will start as a 2.4 cent/litre gas tax and increase every year. I’m disappointed the NDP is opposing it. The argument that it unfairly punished people in rural areas has some merit, but not much. My only complaint is none of the gas-tax revenue is being devoted to public transit – it’s impossible for a gas tax to change people’s behaviour if they have no alternative to driving.

Federal
I’ve been really impressed with the NDP lately. They have stood up for a lot of issues I think are important. Some examples:
– They pushed hard to ensure MDA wasn’t sold to an American company, and in the end they won.
– They’re pressing the government to ensure net neutrality.
– Pat Martin has lead the charge to scrap the penny – a move that’s long overdue.
– They created this handy credit card fee reduction kit, which will help you convince your credit card company to lower your rate.
– They’ve opposed Bill C10 (see Rich Mercer’s take).
– They stood up against DMCA-style copyright laws in Canada (which is more then I can say for the Liberals).
– And lastly, they’ve spoken out against increased ethanol production – something that we’re bound to hear more about with the href=”http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/26/AR2008042602041_pf.html”>spike in food prices.