I am just kidding, there is no plan. I am going to vote Liberal tomorrow. Anyone who knows me, or has read this blog knows, I am not doing this lightly. I dislike the Liberals very much and wouldn't trust them to tell me the time, even if I had my own watch to verify it. So, why am I doing it? I am voting Liberal because in my riding, Kitchener Waterloo, it makes sense. As much as I dislike the Liberals, I totally despise the faux conservative, Conservative Party and in Kitchener-Waterloo the race is between the two old parties. Last time, the Liberal lost by 17 votes and while past performance is not an indicator of present circumstances, I figure (and that's all any of us can do), that he still has the best shot at knocking off the Conservative incumbent.
If the margins last time had be different, or if the NDP had any tradition in this riding, or if we had a sane electoral system, I would be voting NDP, no question. The NDP, in my opinion, is the best party to represent my interests in parliament. It is criminal that I am being forced to vote for a party I dislike to block a party I despise, but there we are. Someday, maybe someday soon, I won't have to do this, but tomorrow is not someday.
As for everybody else, I wish you well. We live in a country with a voting system so stupid that it makes the possibility of a Harper government real. Our first and only goal tomorrow is to take that possibility away and elect as many non-Conservatives as possible. I have one caveat. My circumstances are quite specific. I don't mean for my vote to be misconstrued as a blueprint for the country. The Orange Wave is real and I want as many NDP seats as possible. I just don't think Kitchener Waterloo will be one of them.
Recommend this Post
I'm in a similar situation. I'm in Kitchener Centre, which was a close contest in 2008, and which the NDP have never placed closer than third, right back to 1940 when the CCF first contested this riding. This in spite of the NDP running spirited campaigns and putting forward decent candidates
ReplyDeleteI very much want to defeat the Conservative candidate, so I have to look back at the history and my assessment is that to bring my desired outcome about, I've no choice but to vote Liberal. So, vote Liberal I will, even though I'm more sympathetic to the Green and NDP candidates here.
Possibly if any Liberals are reading this who are in a Saskatchewan riding outside of Wascana, or in the riding of Oshawa, they might consider voting NDP, where the candidates there have a chance of knocking off Conservative incumbents. Call it a vote exchange. I'll vote on their behalf to make their votes count, and they can vote NDP in their riding to make my vote count, and together we can beat Conservative incumbents. Doesn't that sound fair?
My sympathies too. I'm in Vancouver South, where the Liberals won by 20 votes last time. Dosanji, the Liberal, is by no means the worst of that bunch, and his Conservative opponent is running on ethnic tensions (she's from a Chinese background and he, of course, is South Asian) and poorly photoshopped photos of her cuddling Harpy. It's hold my nose and vote time, and hope that the very first thing any non-conservative governing group does is bring in proportional representation (but please, no Frankenstein monster systems dealing in 1/16ths of votes.... have mail-in voting and hold a goddamned runoff election if no one gets 50%! it's only once every 4 years or so!).
ReplyDeleteI'm also tossing my vote to the Liberal incumbent in Winnipeg South Centre who's lead against Conservative candidates has been diminishing dramatically in the last three elections. The Conservatives are running a former Liberal this time and are putting lots of muscle hoping to defeat Anita Neville. I am further left than the current NDP but I will vote this way to hopefully help prevent an additional Conservative seat.
ReplyDelete