Why progressives need to vote as a bloc?
During a show that ran after the 2006 federal election, it was mentioned that the voters selected a minority government once more. I remember one of the guests as saying that the voters have no way of deciding collectively on their next government. As each voter is casting her ballot in a riding hoping that her candidate will be the winner and not sure how the whole electoral map will look like because of her vote. This statement, which struck me as true, proves that while the progressive vote can and should be able to decide the election, and not to fight a riding to the level that allows it to go to the consolidated and organized minority parties (the BQ and the Conservative). This scenario happened in 68 electoral districts and changed the results of the election from a minority Liberal government to a minority Conservative government, and could, this election cycle, change the result from a minority Liberal government to a majority Conservative government due to the ever increasingly fragmented progressive vote.
"This consolidation is not going to be a good thing for the Canadian democracy"
How this website can help?
In each riding this website is suggesting only one progressive party to vote for, the N.D.P., the Greens or the Liberals, while in the same time, keeping each party’s share of the vote to the same level it was in the last federal election. Voting as a block not only will allow for the 68 seats to be won by one of the progressive parties, but also will cast a real challenge – to the Conservatives and the BQ - in some ridings that have not been contested before. In those previously uncontested ridings the progressive bloc vote will pose a real threat, and leave almost no riding as a conservative or BQ guaranteed riding. It will also encourage more progressive voters to participate knowing that no ballot is wasted and there will be no guaranteed ridings any longer.
What if progressives did not vote as a bloc?
In short, the progressive majority will never govern this country again until a consolidation, like the one that happened on the right, takes place. This consolidation is not going to be a good thing for the Canadian democracy. The two-party system is a system that works for everyone except the voter, just look south of the border. The Canadian democracy is much better with voices like Alexa McDonough, Jack Layton and Elizabeth May. We need those voices in the political debate. Progressives stay divided and the far-right will govern this country with a 36% minority while giving lip service to the progressive conservative values.
Is strategic voting legal?
Yes it is. Check the CBC website (www.cbc.ca) for stories about strategic voting