Strategicvoting.ca is a grassroots effort dedicated to assisting progressive voters to make a difference instead of voting just to make a statement, knowing well in advance that it will make no change to the election results. The goal is to elect as many progressives MPs as possible in federal elections through strategic voting.
The first-past-the-post voting system allows for a party support of as low as 34% to win elections when the vote is split between three parties and the other parties gain 33% each. In the Canadian political discourse, the Conservative won election with 37% of the vote while the other three progressive parties (NDP, Green and Liberal) share the rest 63% of the vote and lose the election. The policy differences between the three progressive parties are real and significant, but bridgeable and an imperfect coalition between the three parties is much better for Canadians than that of a Conservative government.
Strategic voting solves the problem of vote splitting, by voting for one candidate in each district to allow the progressive majority to win the seat. In 2008 federal election, strategicvoting.ca identified 68 districts where the combined progressive vote was greater than that of the Conservatives, if followed, at this time, we would have a minority progressive government instead of Harper’s conservatism.
The basic idea is bring a positive progressive change to government while keeping the diversity of voices on the progressive side of the political discourse. We do not think the solution is a consolidation on the left as we saw on the right. We do not think a two party system is good for the Canadian democracy.
While proportional representation is a better way to reflect the national pulse, it is up to us, the voters, to try to come up with a process that would better reflect the will of the majority in the parliament until then.
This web site is created and being maintained by Hisham Abdel-Rahman. Hisham is an IT manager and Consultant by day and aspires to help change the face of Canadian politics by night. He believes that the current state of politics is alienating everyday citizens in a harmful way, and that decisions about our country are too important to leave only in the hands of politicians. He is a proud resident of Calgary, Alberta. When he is not working with technology or running strategicvoting.ca he is spending time with his son and wife.
Do you have any affiliation with other grassroots organizations or political parties?
No, strategicvoting.ca is an independent grassroots initiative with no affiliation with any other grassroots or political organization. strategicvoting.ca is dedicated to bring awareness to the pitfalls of First-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system and the need to replace it with a form of Proportional Representation (PR). While other progressive causes are important, none could be accomplished without a progressive-led government.
I will use publicly available opinion poll results when evaluating recommendations including, of course, that of LeadNow.ca, which I am very thankful for their and their supporters’ effort to bring attention to the need for strategic voting.
What sets you apart from other organizations advocating for strategic voting?
As we did in the 2008 campaign strategicvoting.ca is encouraging strategic voting in every riding to: