Strategic Voting Raises Its Ugly Head Again

There are many people in Kitchener–Conestoga who align with the Greens, but not so many who vote Green. Farmers using sustainable land practices, and families using renewable energy. Yet I’ve been hearing many people say that in this 2018 election that in spite of their values, it’s most important to keep out certain parties or leaders.

See other articles on Strategic Voting In “strategic” voting, you cast your ballot for a candidate representing a party or leader you don’t want, in order to keep out a party or leader you want even less. But by voting for something you don’t want, the best result is that you’ll get something you don’t want! That’s not strategic at all.

In our electoral system we elect one local representative. When there are six candidates (as we have in KitCon) it is possible that each could receive about 1/6 of the votes, yet a candidate with only one vote more than the others would be elected. This means that it is possible some 5/6 of the voters do not get the representation they vote for, and none of those votes have gone towards strengthening the party or bringing more members to the legislature. This can be fixed with proportional representation in a multi-member riding, where every vote cast contributes equally and results in someone representing you. The Greens will work for fair representation and electoral reform.

The Green Party has a policy of “No whipped votes”. Other parties require their members to vote according to party policy; if their members don’t, they risk being removed from the party. This means those members can’t represent you in the legislature, they can only tell you what their party says. But as a Green, I have an obligation to listen to the constituents and represent your views, even when that’s contrary to party policy. I’ve done exactly that in support of High Performance Rail instead of High Speed Rail.

The ballot doesn’t have an option to choose a minority government. It only lets you choose one of the local candidates, so I urge you to consider the candidates themselves. If you missed the debates, you can view one online:

Vote for the candidate who will best represent your views in the legislature. That candidate may not become the MPP, but you’ll know you’ve made the best choice for you, your business, and your family.

–Bob.

(By the way, any party that gets 2% of the overall vote receives government support, about $2.50 per vote. If all other considerations are equal, you can support a party financially with your vote. But I wouldn’t put that ahead of all the other issues)