It's Election Season in Canada(?)

Who would you vote for?


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Because for most people any political party activism is a kind of weird fringe social activity. Not saying it's the right thing to feel. But you have two equal people to choose from for a job... Are you gonna pick the one who volunteered for some random organization or the one who did for a political party? ... Depends who's choosing. Will the closet-Liberal going to hire some guy for a position when he has been a paid employee for a couple of year for the Tories, or the person with the same skills who has done another kind of unpolitical job? Depends on the type of job maybe, but I'm guessing for most types of jobs, the political involvement WILL have an effect on the selection process and I feel like it's most often going to be a negative impact, unless you were a big name like a minister of something or even a deputy, and even then, who knows.
Depends on what the random organization is. And unless the person is already well-known to be affiliated with the party, there's no reason the issue should ever come up on a resume or job interview.

Of course, that's according to logic and the Charter. But the first year I worked for Elections Canada, the lady interviewing me asked if I was a member of the Reform Party. I was shocked, because even though Red Deer was represented by a Reform member (the aforementioned Bob Mills), the hiring for the polling stations was supposed to be absolutely neutral. The lady immediately apologized and acknowledged that it didn't matter and she shouldn't have asked, but... I could tell she really wanted to know anyway, and since I did need the job...

I did not obey my first impulse, which was to tell her there was no way in the hell of any religion ever invented that I would be a right-wing party supporter. But neither did I lie... I just told her that I'd known Bob Mills for many years, because he had been one of my high school teachers - Grade 12 biology, to be specific. I sidestepped the question of party affiliation completely. But she was all smiles and suddenly-relaxed body language when she heard that I knew Mills. I got the job, and never mentioned to anybody at the polling station that I'd voted for Mel Hurtig's party that year. :p
 
Yep. The thing is, guys... every individual counted in a province means a bit more $$$$ that goes to that province in the form of TRANSFER PAYMENTS. You want your respective provincial government to get a bit more money squeezed out of Ottawa?

Nah, I don't really care. I'm only in Alberta as long as the money and conditions are good here - if it's better elsewhere, I'll move.

Yeah, it's the proper duty of Quebecers to report their existence to Ottawa so we can mooch off as much of Alberta's monies as possible. *nods wisely*

You should be thanking me for currently living in Alberta and not bothering to do the census.
 
If they're anything like Australia (and they usually are) Stats Canada will do a post enumeration survey to estimate the degree of undercounting of different population groups, and adjust the information accordingly. So not filling it out won't have an impact on the final count.
 
Depends on what the random organization is.

Exactly. I remember when I was studying in environmental sciences, professors who had any experience outside of academics kept warning us of our first few jobs... "Be careful not to "stain" your name by working with an environmental activist organization, you never know what you'll want to do LATER in life, and having Green Peace or PETA in your resume is not necessarily better than no experience at all in some cases". Are you going to be hired as an environmental impact assessment expert if you've a past as an oil drilling tycoon? Maybe, but... Well same goes if you have a past of chaining yourself to trees for a job.

Political party affiliations are not too far removed from this.

The sad truth is that in these days of difficult job situation for younger people, the more "professional" you become, the longer you study, the more risk you take by affiliating yourself with certain organizations. And while this risk may not be worth it anymore on a personal level in 2011.
 
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