The numbers haven’t shifted materially in our straw poll for the next federal government (vote now!). The Conservatives still lead with 47 per cent, down a couple points, while the Liberals gained a point to 21 per cent. The NDP and Greens still trail, by 16 and nine per cent respectively. But anti-Conservative sentiment still dominates our poll commentary, with Minh adding: “Can’t see how anyone is voting for Conservative when there is (no) info, platform or key issues relating to ICT.”
While the Conservatives still haven’t responded to our questions about their platform (the NDP and BQ are also still in the works), we can tell you this much from the existing record: A Conservative government would promote a new copyright regime that would stifle research, especially in the security field; the province of Ontario has practically had to sue for peace with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, an Ontario Conservative who branded his own province “a bad place to invest” — certainly not the best news for the third largest ICT cluster in North America; Stephen Harper would rid Canada of the productivity curse of spam, a noble if quixotic goal; and that the party’s most consistent policy statement has been, “We’re not Stephan Dion.” (If you doubt that, check the Web site — two pictures of the Liberal leader shrugging his shoulders dominate the home page.)
I’m sure a spokesperson will have something more substantive to say on IT issues when the party responds. In the meantime, though, a reader by the name of Neil has posted, in his comments on the introductory posting to this blog, something that could only be described as a manifesto — a thorough gap analysis between the importance of IT and the visions of our political leadership. It’s exactly the kind of discussion we’re trying to foster here. Read it here and then have your say.