1> The conservatives believe in an "each to himself" type of economy, which means you pay for everything yourself. Ultimately, that increases the overall cost to the education, healthcare, and administrative infrastructures. To see the effects of such policies, just look south where people pay low low taxes, but receive no services except (abstract) military protection. This is especially true of health care and education where the rich continue to enjoy the benefits that we in canada all more or less share, and the poor and working poor get NOTHING and are in NO POSITION TO BETTER THEIR SITUATION.
2> Notice i said "each to HIMself" above, as many in the conservative party adhere to ideologies of masculine dominance over the public and domestic sphere. It's not simply about taking away a woman's right to abortion or proper health services specific to their needs. It's also about allowing equal rights in corporate and employment ethics, it's about having a progressive police and legal system, which currently still has a way to go to recognize some issues that women still face everyday.
3> The conservative party wants further economic and legal integration with the US. this would destroy the country at this point in time. America is on the verge of countering almost every civilized country on the planet, who are at this time working together to the greatest extent in human history. America has undermined every international treaty, disregarded international laws when they are against "american" interests, and opposed the formation of internation courts (largely because those courts would find many senior american officials guilty of serious criminal offences). The US is a sinking ship, and i hope they learn to fend for themselves in a positive way, but right now Canada should solidify relations (trade, legal, etc) with Europe, Latin America, and Asia to secure economic growth. America will begin to disregard its trade imbalance with more and more violent and depressive results as it's economy continues to slide over the next few years. If you don't know what that means, i'm sure Mr Andreas Link can be of service.
4> The conservatives seek a domestic social policy that is highly regressive, turning time backward against the positive human rights issues that have been worked out over the past few decades, such as worker rights, ethnic equality issues, homosexual equality, and intelligent (ie sane) drug policy. Many of their members have a fundamentalist christian ideological background that DOES NOT SERVE THE INTEREST OF CANADIANS, and is highly oppositional to a humane and civilized country. We must lead this country with rational and emotionally sensitive policies which look to material consequences on human terms, not abstract sense of "morality" which can in no way be seen as universal or transcendental.
5> Harper has repeatedly said that he wishes to give a lot more power to the provinces. That should be looked at from two sides. there are reasons to do this, such as regional economic issues (maritime vs prairie). At the same, the real reason that he is doing this is to allow Alberta to follow it's own economic and domestic policy, which is decidedly against what Canadians have repeatedly said they would like to see for the country. This is the first stage of what might be referred to as a big fight for Canadian oil reserves (Dick Cheney has already visited...)
6> Every time there is a Conservative scandal, it is one of monumental proportions, like making ethnic or gender slurs. There is also a high degree of monetary corruption in most conservative parties throughout history. I am not saying this to get the Liberals off the hook, as they took a lot of conservative policies and made them their own, including huge fiscal kickbacks. Every government has a scandal of some sort. The point is, is it relatively harmless to the citizenry, or is it one akin to the PC government in Ontario saying that it was balancing the books when in fact it was selling off assets. It's kind of like the difference between Bill Clinton lying that he got a blowjob from Monica Lewinsky, which was argued as a cause for impeachment, and George W. Bush lying to congress, the senate, and the entire world about information which has so far led to the murder of nearly 100,000 people. It's a matter of degree. Hey look, I just saw a Conservative MP get arrested for smuggling booze into the country! Hey, didn't another one just accuse a woman of doing useless work? How will justice be able to precipitate from people who think in such superstitious and backward ways?
7> The Liberals are indeed just cruising along, and for that they deserve at best a minority government yet again. I really would like to see them in coalition with the NDP, as such a government would benefit Canada quite well while allowing some progressive trends.
8> That being said, I think that the NDP and the Green Party would be a very viable opposition if they don't quite make it to power. The NDP have already proven that they can get work done while everyone else is just trying to topple the government. Stop wasting our time Conservative party. Those tactics you employed in delaying any action in parliament -- that's childish playground antics that do not have a place in a professional house of representation. Frankly, I hope you do get a minority government so that we can knock you on your ass with a non-confidence motion within a few weeks of gaining office.
Long story short, vote how you want. Just do a little research behind the scenes and don't just get excited by the fact that you think Conservatism means good economic policy. Frankly, if you look over their platforms, it's the NDP and the BLOC that have the most fiscally responsible plans. The Conservative plan is the most expensive. Odd isn't it...
