Do some reading, and on Monday, mark your X

The federal election of 2021 will be largely remembered as one that almost no one wanted. Except, of course, for the Liberal Party of Canada, including its leader Justin Trudeau.

The Liberals saw an opportunity, fresh off competent pandemic management and doing well in opinion polls. Like five provincial governments in the last year and a half, they saw an opportunity to seize a majority government, and they went for it.

They wouldn’t admit it, but it’s a near certainty that they regret it now, with their popularity diminished and their hoped for majority pretty much a pipe dream.

Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh have hammered Trudeau on the “unnecessary” election. But both leaders said repeatedly during the last session of Parliament that they had no confidence in the government, which in a minority government situation means an election is a distinct possibility. For them to claim now that they had no role to play in the election equation is partisan spin.

Still, the Liberals and Trudeau had it in their power to call or not call an election, and they must own their decision. They may well lose on Sept. 20 and they will have no one to blame for that but themselves.

Which brings us to the central point: There is an election on Monday, and as Canadian citizens we have an opportunity and an obligation to take part. And much as we may not like this election, the dreary campaign and the awful debates that have been part of it, there are serious decisions to be made.

The two main alternatives are the Conservatives and the Liberals. And they offer a number of significant differences in terms of policy and platform. Here are just a few examples.

Both parties would spend big on pandemic management and recovery. But whereas the Liberals favour mandatory vaccination in some sectors and support vaccine passports, the Conservatives favour an all-voluntary approach.

Consider child care. The Liberals, again, are trying to sell a national affordable $10-a-day child care vision, not dissimilar to what already exists in Quebec. A number of provinces, Manitoba, British Columbia, Quebec and others, have already signed on. The Conservatives don’t support the plan and will scrap it and give tax credits to parents instead. That would save money, but offers much less to parents and families and does nothing to address the inadequate supply of child-care spaces across Canada. So there is a clear choice on child care.

Another example is climate change. Both Conservatives and Liberals agree we need a price on carbon, which is a big change for the Conservatives. But where the Liberals upgraded Canada’s emissions target to at least 40 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, the Conservatives favour the lower target — 30 per cent — set by Stephen Harper’s government. Again, a clear choice.

How about fiscal policy? The Institute for Fiscal Studies and Democracy (IFSD) graded the platforms of the Liberals, Conservatives and NDP. All three got an overall pass but the Liberals passed in all categories — realistic economic and financial assumptions, responsible fiscal management and transparency where the NDP platform failed on transparency and the Conservative platform failed on responsible fiscal management.

True, there is no overriding ballot box question beyond whether voters are mad enough about the pandemic election to boot the Liberals out.

But there are choices, lots of them. Our hope is that Canadians will take a deep breath, do some homework between now and Monday, and put an X next to the name of your choice. It’s the right thing to do.