In three weeks, Canadians will go to the polls federally for the third time in four years in an effort to determine (for the third time in four years) who we want running the country, preferably for the next four (up to five) years.

I'm a fairly intelligent guy, well-educated, I care about the people and environment around me, and have accomplished a reasonable level of personal and professional success in my 23 years.

So why can't I find a party to vote for in the upcoming election?

I live in one of the 'battleground' ridings of the Oct. 14 election, Surrey North.

There are nine candidates running in my riding: one from all four of the major parties, the Conservatives, Liberals, Greens and NDP, along with five long-shots from the Canadian Action Party, Progressive Canadian Party, Libertarian Party, Christian Heritage Party and one Independent.

The incumbent MP, Penny Priddy, was by all accounts well-liked in the riding, and she did an excellent job as a community representative following the death of Chuck Cadman, a great man who had time for everyone that waltzed into his office. His wife is running under the Conservative banner this time around.

Priddy is retiring after 20 years as a representative at all three levels of government, so the riding is wide open.

Kevin Pielak is the only candidate left from the 2006 election, representing the Christian Heritage Party, he garnered 411 votes, or 1.2 per cent of ballots cast, in 2006.

The four major parties are running untested candidates, with Dona Cadman running for the Tories, Marc Muhammad (who fired an interesting shot over the bow at Cadman Wednesday) running for the Grits, Rachid Arab running for the NDP and Dan Kashamanga running for the Green Party.

I have some biases, namely that I haven't gotten the large income tax cut the Conservatives always seem to be promising, the Liberals and NDP are fighting over the same voters and losing influence, and I wouldn't trust the Green Party to organize a bowling league, much less a country of 33 million people.

That said, what are the issues in my riding?

There's two that spring to mind immediately: crime and poverty. Two issues that are interlinked in North Surrey with little hope of change unless there is a radical shift in policy at both the federal and provincial levels.

Contrary to the beliefs of many power-brokers in the region (notably the Whalley Business Improvement Association -- pardon me, the Downtown Surrey Business Improvement Association), the area is not improving. It was announced a few months back that Metro Vancouver wants Whalley to become the region's second 'downtown' area.

The social and economical problems in this area need to be fixed. A re-branding of the area only serves business, and by extension, political interests.

Whalley has become a boon for developers in recent years, with the Infinity and Quattro condo projects being constructed. Infinity is at the King George SkyTrain station, which is, other than Surrey Central, the most dangerous stop on the line.

But these projects have done nothing to address the lack of affordable housing in the area (for both renters and buyers), and the small pockets that are affordable are run by less-than-ethical landlords.

Take 50 paces (usually less, rarely more) from any of Surrey's SkyTrain stations (or, coincidentally, the Infinity and Quattro projects) and you will find either a homeless camp in the bushes or someone under the influence of narcotics. This has to change.

In fact, many of the units in the one completed phase of the Infinity project (two other towers are under construction) are currently for sale, with 55 units on the market, most of those are owned by speculators and are unoccupied.

Those are my issues. I am still undecided on whom I want to vote for and I invite the readers of this space and this site to lobby me.