The election promise I want to hear

With the release of the federal budget a couple days ago Canadian politics fully kicked into election mode, despite being months from dropping the writ. Cue the platforms. Cue the promises. Cater to the base!

I've been doing some serious reflection on my own political beliefs. Who is my base? I know it's not the Conservatives, both from using poli-sci survey tools and my deep and abiding disgust with their ideology and governance. I've always been a Liberal since I came of age, but if the last nine years of Conservative rule has taught me anything it's that blind party loyalty is a flaming pile of dog shit on every political house and by extension, all of our houses.

The poli-sci tools tell me I am totally onside with Greens, Liberals, and NDP with a narrow enough margin to make each of them first choice.

I decided to write my own election promises with the hopes that they may find their way into a platform.

I want every Canadian to have

1.  enough food to eat and a warm and safe place to sleep;
2.  equitable treatment;
3.  accessible and affordable healthcare and education;
4.  evidence-based policy and lawmaking;
5.  a government that recognizes that #1 is the minimum benchmark of governance.

The World Happiness Report was released today. The top four countries are all cold climates like ours. 1. Switzerland. 2. Iceland. 3. Denmark. 4 Norway. They do all five things.

Canada came in at #5. We need a government that, at a minimum, can keep us there. Despite achieving #5, the incumbent government is not going keep us there. They're not going to keep us there, because budget 2015, or fudget 2015 as I like to call it, is the furthest away from 1-5 of any budget in the last nine years.