It's not just about policy

I've finally started looking at the party platforms for Canada's big political parties.  I wouldn't really consider myself conservative or liberal; I'm kind of middle of the road, and maybe totally out there on a few issues.  (For example, I think I'd like to shrink the economy.  Without sacrificing jobs or significantly reducing economic freedom, of course.  But that's a topic for another day.)  I don't know about you, but I find it hard to know which policies are good ideas.  For example, both the Conservatives and Liberals are proposing improved benefits for people caring for sick family members.  The Liberal plan seems to provide more, but then that could make it harder to eliminate the deficit.  So which approach is better?

Some policy ideas could be good if they're implemented right, bad if they're implemented badly.  And the party platforms go into very little detail.

So when I'm judging parties' policies, I think I should base my opinion more on the few issues that I'm more familiar with than the ones I'm not so familiar with.  But beyond that, there are some pretty important other factors.  So here are some things I'm thinking about, including some criteria I'm using to judge policies:

• Leadership skill - Can the leader get the team working together effectively?  Do they make smart decisions when faced with unforeseen issues like recessions, wars, disasters, or smaller day-to-day issues?
• Integrity - How much corruption goes on under their leadership?  Do they keep their promises?  (I think I'm actually more concerned with corruption than with keeping campaign promises.  For one thing, unforeseen circumstances can make keeping a promise a harmful course of action.)
• How much of a history of fear-mongering do they have? It's hard to know if the stuff they're afraid of now is legitimate or not, but we can look back at their past records.  For example, when those boats from Sri Lanka arrived in Canada full of refugees a while back, did they find evidence that any of them were terrorists as the government suspected?
• Are their policy priorities in line with my values?  It's hard to evaluate how they plan to act on their values, but its nice to know if their principles are similar to mine.
• Are the policies that I understand best based on evidence of what works, rather than just ideology or impressing voters?

I'd like to give a couple of examples on that last one.  The Liberals want to cancel the planned corporate tax reduction.  They think the tax reduction would reduce revenue by $5-6 billion per year.  The Conservatives claim that some experts say canceling the tax reduction would cost many jobs.  (I'm not sure if there are experts speaking out in favour of the Liberals' plan.)  Overall, I'm not sure where I stand on the tax reduction, but I do believe the loss of revenue would be less than the Liberals predict.

On the other side, many critics think the Conservatives' "get tough on crime" plan will actually make Canada more dangerous.  Here's an article from February critical of the idea, and here's an article that cites some statistics from the US suggesting that this is a bad idea.  Even if some of the Conservatives' other plans actually do something to address the root issues behind crime, their plan to build more jails and toughen sentences could undo some or all of those improvements.  Maybe a few of their "tough on crime" measures are good ideas, but by and large, I'm not optimistic.  And sometimes the opposition has supported these measures.

So do I vote for the devil I know or one of the devils I don't know?  Or do I vote for a party with no realistic chance of forming a government in the hope that voices outside the political establishment will gain a stronger voice?

I'm pretty sure I won't be voting for the devil I know.  But which alternative will I pick?