When Sue Smith was a McGill University undergraduate, her major was political science, her passion theatre.

Not just any theatre, but improv, where thinking on your feet and quickly coming up with quips and spur-of-the-moment statements is key. Little did Smith know that the knowledge and skills developed then would serve her well in the broadcasting career she has developed so successfully.

Though she has worked extensively in television here and in England, many of us became aware of Smith while listening to Homerun, the CBC’s afternoon program on the air at 104.7 FM from 3 to 6 p.m., which she began hosting this fall.

“Let’s rock the boat!” Smith said in a recent remote broadcast session at Place Ville Marie.

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Of all the concerns of Canadians, health care may be the most pressing.

Early in his campaign, before the leaders’ debates, Irwin Cotler, Liberal candidate for Mount Royal and former minister of justice and attorney-general of Canada, told voters that this would be the issue he would most speak about in Parliament. “Health care is, in my view, an overriding issue. That’s what affects people in their daily lives and in everything they do,” he said in an interview at his campaign office.

“I regard this as the most important priority, that we have health care in all its aspects.”

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Whatever their political leanings many people, women in particular, were disappointed that Elizabeth May’s voice was missing from the televised leaders’ debates.

Afterward, May commented on what she called “orphan issues” that had no place during the candidates’ heated confrontation.

The Senior Times asked 36-year-old Jessica Gal, Green Party candidate for N.D.G.-Lachine, what some of these issues were.

“It’s inexcusable not to address climate change in this campaign,” Gal said in a televised interview. “It’s such a serious threat to our well-being and security.” Gal says The Green Party is the only one that continues to make climate change a priority while it seems to have fallen off the agenda of other parties.

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For many of our readers, the choice will have been fairly obvious as decision day neared for the May 2 federal election.

The ridings where The Senior Times is read have been well-served by Liberal MPs. The program adopted by the party promises substantial improvements in social policies, pensions, a broad package to boost aid for post-secondary education and more support for culture. The Conservatives are committed to spending that could reach $35 billion to purchase F-35 jets, to building more jails at a time when the crime rate is decreasing, and to further cutting corporate income taxes, already substantially lower than in the U.S. The direction is clear and it is not one we support.

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Writing about a federal election a few days before the poll is as risky as Rollerblading on the autoroute, especially in this election, where the polls have been all over the map.

Not only that. The Quebec polls have the parties so topsy-turvy that it’s hard to give them much credence.

Perhaps we should not be surprised that an election that started in such a muddle was ending in a muddle. This was the election that nobody wanted. Conservative leader Stephen Harper didn’t want it because he wasn’t sure he could get a majority, and a majority is all he has ever wanted. Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff didn’t want an election because his brain trust told him the party wasn’t ready.

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