I did my civic duty today and voted in the provincial election. There were a number of hurdles. Foremost is that everyone knows Ralph Klein is going to be elected premier. He’s been practically daring people not to vote for him. Second, I really don’t know any of the candidates in my new riding. None of them have done anything noteworthy for me. So I’m going to vote Green party. You get a nice feeling when you vote for them. That, and they appreciate your votes so much more. With Conservative you are a face in the crowd. With Green, they will probably celebrate every vote. Third, it took forever to vote. With the municipal and federal elections it was a five minute deal. For this provincial election, the voter lists didn’t have anyone in my building on it (I met two other groups of my neighbors at the polls) and there was a long line just to get into this place. The media kept predicting low voter turnout because the outcome was a foregone conclusion. Didn’t seem to happen.
In other news I finally got the last check for my stock sale a year and a half ago. When my old company got bought out, they kept 18% of the money to protect against unforeseen expenses. There were practically none, so I’ve finally gotten the remaining money. The bad news (considering the good news of a large influx of capital) is that it is all in U.S. currency. And those stupid Americans keep ruining their economy by electing dumb presidents, meaning my check is worth less and less. I love that the Canadian economy is firing on all cylinders, but I keep getting American money that is turning into monopoly money.
Still I have a nice chunk of change. I’m hoping that the Americans can get their act together so I can make a good deposit towards my mortgage.