Friday sucked for me last week. While most were waking up smiling ready for the festivities of the weekend, I was just waking up from a terrible night's sleep to a shower with no hot water.

What's worse is I had to take my 153 signatures that myself, my friends, and supporters collected in support of my nomination as a candidate for Vancouver Centre and decide to throw them away. These 153 signatures were the result of a lot of time knocking on doors and talking to people (many who did not want to talk to us, and made that very clear) and I had to call them up and tell them "hey, you know those signatures you got? I am not turning them in."

The truth is today I am happy and I know I made the right decision.

Current Vancouver Centre Liberal MP Hedy Fry has been in office almost longer than I have been self aware. She was elected the same year Beanie Babies came out, and it's cool you guys thought it was going to be a thing but at this point it's time to sell your collection—the bubble has popped and they are not coming back. I am sure you are regretting 'N Sync, the Spice Girls, and the macarena so why are we still voting for the Furby of politicians? Sure, she's cute (at Pride) but she also can be really creepy (Bill C-51 anyone?).

We need new blood, and while I have the youth thing going for me, I don't think at this point I can argue replacing a woman with another white dude. 

The only thing I care about this election is Canada getting rid of this archaic first past the post (FPTP) system. Any system where a minority of people elect a majority of its representatives is a broken system. I think every person can and should agree with that.

FPTP is not only bad for progressives; it's bad for conservatives too. Political parties are smart enough to start strategically running candidates or even merging parties if they have to and then we just have a polarized American-like system. How many of you Liberals and Conservatives were former Progressive Conservatives? Don't you want that back?  

I am tired of going on and on about how awesome basic income is, and how it can save Canada over $6 billion a year while providing a strong safety net for all Canadians. I am so let down listening to all the amazing things that the Green Party has to say knowing they are going to get shut down in practically every riding. Almost a million people voted for the Green Party (seven percent of all votes cast across our great nation) in 2008 and got zero seats. Oddly enough they got only four percent of the vote in 2011 and as you know gained a single seat (0.32 percent of Parliament). I didn't get a degree in any form of math, but that seems wrong. 

The truth is Vancouver Centre only has a single candidate who can win and also wants proportional representation; lucky for us not only is she a strong, confident black woman, but she also is gaining massive support in key Hedy Fry demographics. Go talk to people down on Davie Street. They are not talking about Fry; they are talking about Constance Barnes. I haven't had the pleasure of meeting Barnes but I am sure we will eventually. I don't need to know all the things she is going to do better for Canada; what I know is her and her party will implement true proportional representation.

Look, I am not a big fan of the NDP. It's not my intention to give them my unconditional support. Since Tom Mulcair has taken over, the party has taken a turn to the centre that leaves progressive Canadians baffled. It's almost 2016 and our progressive party isn't even in favour of decriminalization of marijuana? We have other countries already realizing the benefits of harm reduction in general and we can't even get unanimous support for marijuana? Give me a break.   

However, I can't encourage people to turn out to vote with the message "hold your nose and vote for a brighter next election". So let me end with these words instead.

To regain the true Canadian glory that we once held, it's time we stand up together as one and demand that no party that gains even 40 percent of the vote should control over 50 percent of our government.

We must stand together and demand to end any system which makes you pick between the party you like and the party you think has the best chance of winning.

We must stand together as Canadians and say "this is our country, these are our politicians, they represent us—and we want that representation to be proportional to our beliefs".

Canada. Fuck yeah.