Set Your Priorities

Political parties, third parties, and government alike have their priorities and what they want to work on, achieve, bring to the fore front and leave on the back burner.

 

What I found helpful is to have my own sets of priorities for the current or next government. This has help me listen better during debates and speeches. I listen to what they promise and what they focus on, as well as what they leave out. I can better compare my priorities with what the candidates, party leaders, and anyone else speaking out during an election.

 

It does happen that political parties do not really talk about all their priorities. They respond to the other parties or third parties claims and priorities by stating their opinions about their priorities and what it will do. Meanwhile never really saying what their political party’s priorities are. Those are theatrics and strategic moves to deflect the attention from their priorities by focusing on attempting to get voters against the priorities of the other parties.

 

Different levels of government have different responsibilities. Though it is important to remember that the money flows from Federal to Provincial to Municipal. These means that even if your priority is managed at one level, the other levels may be involved.

 

For example, if one of your priorities is health care. Health Care is managed at the Provincial level but the Federal Level sends money to the Provincial government to spend on Health Care. So if the Federal government plans on reducing transfer to provinces, there could be an impact on a provincial managed program.

 

Here are some of the responsibilities of each level of government:

Federal Government: National Defence, Criminal Law, Employment Insurance, Postal Services, Census, Foreign Affairs, Banking, Federal Taxes, Income Tax, Fisheries, Shipping, Railways, Telephones, Pipelines, Indigenous Lands and Rights, Agriculture, Immigration, Healthcare (transfer of funding), Federal Prisons and Environment.

Provincial Government: Direct Taxes, Health Care, Prisons, Education, Marriage, Property and Civil Rights, Agriculture, Immigrations, Road Regulations, Administration of Justice, and Environment.

Municipal Government: Parks, Parking, Libraries, Roadways, Local Police, Local Land Use and Planning (zoning), Fire Protection, Public Transportation, Community Water System, Waste Collection, Emergencies Services, Animal Control, and Economic Development.

Use the link below to print a list of possible priorities, write what your need is, and give it priority level. For example in Health care you could be in need of a family doctor, the priority level may be high or urgent.

My Priority List

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