October 19 is Canada’s upcoming federal election. If you are a Canadian citizen, I implore you to make sure you have registered to vote by October 13. Regardless of whether or not you feel adequately informed on the situation, the results of this election will affect you, so please don’t be apathetic.

Information on all the parties’ platforms is available online — there are a myriad of sources available on almost any issue. It doesn’t take much time out of your day to check out some things you consider important and figure out which party best represents your beliefs.

While I won’t endorse any particular faction, I do discourage you from voting for our current Prime Minister and party: Stephen Harper and the Conservatives. Here is a compilation of reasons why I hold the opinion that it is for the greater benefit of our country to vote Harper out:

1. The Harper government has pandered to large corporations since its election. Currently, Canada has the second lowest corporate tax rate in the G7 (compared with combined rates). This kind of business-brownnosing enables a disproportion of wealth among economic classes.

2. Though Harper purports that Canada is an economic leader, he continuously cut funding for impoverished nations since his election. Foreign aid spending is now near the lowest it has ever been.

3. The New Canadian Citizenship Law in Bill C-24 changes the nature of citizenship, splitting us into first-class and second-class citizens. Essentially, anyone with an additional citizenship or the potential for one is considered a second-class Canadian. Second-class Canadians can have their citizenship revoked under certain circumstances. This impacts immigrants, people born of immigrants, Canadian-born people marrying immigrants, even people who may be completely unaware of their alternative potential citizenships.

4. Harper withdrew Canada from the Kyoto Protocol in 2012, effectively vacating Canada’s2005 promise to cut down on emissions. Since then, Canada has cut down about a quarter of the amount it had previously promised to have achieved by 2020.

5. The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a trade agreement between 12 nations whose contents have mostly been established behind closed doors. Mega media corporation lobbyists have been participants in these discussions. From what has been released of the agreement, we know that Canadian copyright laws will be expanded significantly, service providers will be able to collect users’ information without proper privacy safeguards, conglomerates will gain more power to censor content they deem unfavourable, and companies will gain the right to sue countries whose laws infringe on their expected profits.

6. Bill C-51 grants greater power to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (Canada’s version of the NSA). Under this bill, the spy agency no longer requires a warrant unless breaching the law or Canadian charter when acting to reduce ‘threats’ to national security.

7. During the Conservative administration federal scientists were forbidden from talking with the media without going through bureaucratic loopholes. This includes Natural Resource Canada scientists having to seek permission from the Natural Resource Minister’s communications director. The media and many federal scientists find the rules frustrating, as they stifle the ability of the Canadian public to know what our scientists are doing.

These are only a few prominent reasons out of a vast archive. If any of these aforementioned issues sound questionable to you, I urge you to seek further information. Check out who the candidates are in your riding and see what they’re like. Come election day, please vote!