After attending the “all” candidates debate for the Burnaby North-Seymour riding at SFU and observing the Green, Liberal and NDP candidates undermining each other (while the Conservative candidate was notably absent), I would like to put this question to all candidates who are currently running as “progressive” alternatives to the Harper Conservatives: Are the specific details of your party’s agenda worth risking four more years of degradation of our society?
I ask this because I am very concerned about how the values and priorities of the majority of Canadians (including myself) are not in any way represented (or even respected) by the federal Conservative party, which in fact only represents a minority of those who vote, yet has total legislative power in Parliament (and the Senate) due to our flawed system.
I have listened to what the Liberals, Greens and NDP have offered as solutions to what they have all in various terms identified as "the erosion of Canadian values in our democracy". This theme was particularly strong at the local candidates' debate that I attended last night, but it has also received a fair amount of attention from the national leaders of those parties.
After listening to the various ideas and plans proposed by the candidates opposed to Harper's (lack of) vision for this country, I was left wanting to vote for all three... each for different reasons, based on parts of their party's platform as well as their own passion for change. I was also left with the distinct impression that the NDP, Liberals and Greens overall agree on more topics than they disagree on.
Of particular interest to myself, as well as many others, was the fact that all three local candidates indicated that they (and their party) supported moving our current system of governance to some form of proportional representation. Furthermore, they were all clearly in favour of reducing the power and influence of big oil companies in decisions regarding energy infrastructure, shifting to a “green” renewable energy economy, and respecting the wishes of local citizens and First Nations. The means by which they propose to achieve these goals vary, but their overall position on these topics appeared very similar to me.
So this leaves me with one fundamental question: What will it take for the various “progressive” political elements in this country to cast aside ideological semantics and take the more pragmatic approach that the political “right wing” of Canadian politics did nearly a decade ago – to unite under one banner?
If these three parties were to build a united platform based on their ample common ground, and were willing to work collaboratively toward compromises regarding their different approaches to specific problems, then there is not a doubt in my mind that they would form government with a very strong mandate - because the resulting entity would actually represent the values of the significant majority of Canadians who bother to engage in the political process.
My fear is that it will take another four years of Harper’s Conservative government (elected to power by less than 40 per cent of the popular vote again) before the “progressive” elements in our political landscape are willing to temporarily put aside their ideals and confront head-on the unfortunate reality that our system is broken.
This is why, in the meantime, I intend to do my part by voting as strategically as possible (and encouraging everyone I know to do the same) in order to remove the federal Conservatives from power before we travel any farther down the rabbit hole into Harperland.
If the so called "progressive" parties won't take the necessary steps to form a united body that represents the majority of Canadians, then the only other option I can see is for us as citizens to vote strategically to remove the federal Conservatives from power. Hopefully this will create a situation where these same three parties are forced to work together to move this country forward.
Strategic voting seems to me a somewhat crude but potentially effective tool to effect change in many swing ridings. If combined with increasing the turnout of previously disenchanted voters, it could be just the right tactic to initiate the re-establishment of a functioning democracy.
At this point in the game, I’m convinced that the best representation we can hope for is a minority NDP or Liberal government that is committed to working with the other parties to pass legislation that is actually supported by the majority of voting Canadians. Wouldn’t that be a refreshing change?
Andrew Simpson
