By Frank Moher
Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad the Wicked Witch is dead, and may now return to his true calling running far right-wing lobbying organizations and sitting on the boards of oil companies. However, I voted strategically to ensure that happened, and, even though the local candidate I voted for won, I am left with little else than the end of the Harper Government™ to celebrate.
Mind you, I live in an unusual riding, Nanaimo-Ladysmith, on and around Vancouver Island. Here, the Green candidate was a contender. But a vote for the Greens, strategic-voting-logic went, was a vote for the Conservatives. The only safe bet was to vote NDP. Which I usually do anyway, so that sounded okay to me.
I had no enthusiasm for the candidate. I would rather have seen the Green, Paul Manly, in Parliament. In fact, he had the stronger NDP credentials; his father, Jim Manly, is a former Vancouver Island NDP MP, and Paul originally tried for the NDP candidacy. But he was denied it because his father had once sailed on a ship to Gaza and was arrested and Paul thought perhaps someone should speak up in his defence — like, say, his NDP MP. But that turned out to be too much for the aborning leadership of Thomas Mulcair, and so Manly the son could not be the candidate.
So I voted for the one who was.
However, as we saw last night, Mulcair’s centrist strategy has failed — spectacularly. And I am left having voted for a candidate for whom I have no enthusiasm in a Party that has no power.
In most other ridings, voting strategically would have meant voting for the Liberals, which I almost certainly would have done. And at least my guy would be the PM now. But to vote for the Liberals would also have been to vote for nothing much. Yes, the Liberals gave us multiculturalism, which has made Canada a much better and more interesting country, and which was under attack in this election, and so a vote for Trudeau was a vote for that. But otherwise the Liberals are now our federal government because they are the not-Conservatives.
I should have voted with my heart. Many of my friends, many of the people I most trust and admire, told me that, but I thought they were being sentimental. They were being sentimental — but they were also right. A lot of us who voted strategically in this riding thought we were being pragmatic and clear-eyed by not voting Green, even though we would have preferred to, but in the end it was the Liberals — rarely even contenders here — who rode Trudeau’s tailwinds to second place. The Conservatives came third; they were, as it turned out, never really a threat.
We thought we could read the portents, we thought an election could be predictable, and we were wrong. It’s called hubris. Meantime, my friends who voted Green at least woke up this morning having done what they wanted to do. That’s called hope.
Perhaps the Liberals will keep their promise to introduce proportional representation, so we don’t have to go through this dance again, though given how well the current system served them last night, that seems about as likely as their inviting Stephen Harper to their Christmas party. But I am done predicting the future. I’m not unhappy that Justin Trudeau is the PM, and I am unhappy the NDP is so reduced. I suppose I did my small part to help shore up their fortunes. But next time, I will vote with my heart. No more strategizing. Next time, I will vote for what I want, not against what I fear.
Next time.
Glenn says
I suddenly realized I was not going to vote for someone I did not like or want in just to keep someone else I did not like or want in from getting in. What had we become. I voted for who I thought best for the Country, my riding and who I believed was the best candidate for me, and that’s how I voted. I will not bow to fear mongering.
Trudeau promised PR so lets see if he delivers, that is what this country needs and never again make Canadians vote out of fear.
Richard Austen says
I don’t think you can blame yourself for the issue of strategic voting. If you take the online quiz as I did https://canada.isidewith.com/political-quiz you will probably see that the Green, the NDP and the Liberals are all fairly close on virtually all the major liberal minded issues. I think I was something like 97% NDP but still 90% Liberal and 89% Green and the Conservatives were around 30%.
You can’t have everything and ultimately the Liberals got in because Ontario on East are afraid to go to left of center. There are a lot of voters I suspect who are borderline conservatives and are willing to alternate between Conservative and Liberal – they won’t go any more left than that however. The NDP was becoming a little flip floppy and say anything they though people wanted to hear.
The weird issue though is the OP complains that the NDP vote will be wasted as the vote is for a third party status – but a green party vote is basically a down the drain vote even more. It’s not like NDP voters only voted NDP for strategy. The Green was never a serious vote for the majority – even if there NO conservative party – the Green would still be a massively distant third IMO.
Casey Yau says
Anyone who watched the polls closely know that Harper wont even win a minority. And even if he did, the NDP and the liberals wont support him. There were never any reason to vote strategically , and I don’t believe those who say they have to. As a result, I voted NDP in Toronto and the entire city has no NDP mps left. I am extremely disgusted about the result.
Bob Bossin says
Frank, if you are thinking about your vote as a form of self-expression, fair enough, feel as remorseful as you like. But if you were voting for the good of the country, as thousands of us, indeed many thousands of us, did, then the thing we had to do first and foremost was stop Harper and his thugs.. Which we, including you, collectively did. Myself, I feel great about that, and proud of us for pulling it off, and without help from the political parties, all of whom were too wedded to their own brand.to think straight. That I believe has been a hell of an accomplishment, one of which I’m proud…. Beyond that, the polling that guided us, at least ours at VoteSmart Nanaimo, was spot on, except for predicting the height of the Liberal wave, which crested after we had. done our last day of canvassing. The Greens, the Conservatives and the NDP all came in just about where our poll said.. We predicted the Greens had too much ground to make up and we were right… Lastly, I’ll bet you lunch that Sheila Malcomson turns out to be a strong MP and a good advocate for the coast. The NDP clearly needs to rebuild – though I am not sure they will – and I think Sheila will represent us well in that process as well as in the H of C.. Respectfully, bb.
BiggerBallsThanYou says
Voting “strategically” is for pussies and cowards!
NOT being a pussy or coward, I voted GREEN!
René Enguehard says
This is what I call wanting your cake and eating it too. It is the typical comment from someone who wants to be politically correct and has no “cojones” Next time try not to be so wishy-washy
Marjorie Stewart says
Thank you for your honesty. You are a quick learner. I thought it would take longer for people to realise that the only wasted vote is a vote for second best.
The people who voted Liberal in Nanaimo/Ladysmith were presumably mesmerised by the strategy for Eastern Canada, where Liberals are the only alternative to Conservatives.
What is horrifying is that people let others persuade them how to vote and did not trust their own judgment.
And did anyone notice the anti-niqab statement by the president of the Canadian Muslim Women’s association, making both Trudeau’s and Mulcair’s defence of it either dumb or cynical?
Daphne Catterson says
I am sure there are many feeling the way you do Frank. I am so glad I voted with my heart and voted for Paul. I am also a huge Elizabeth May fan. However, unlike you, I am happy that Justin Trudeau is our new PM…..he brings a breath of fresh air to Canada. He is youthful and sincere. I thought the mud slinging that Mulcair and Harper resorted to when they realized he could win was despicable. I think Canadians are tired of the “old boys” and he gives us hope..
Lynette Chubb says
I was able to vote with my heart (Green) because the Con in our riding had no chance. But I would have voted strategically if I had had to. The Greens would have a MUCH larger representation if everybody felt able to vote the way they really want to. Glass 1/2 full: Lets get Proportional representation for the next election… This gives the Greens 4 years to put together some strong contenders who WILL WIN some seats!
Louisa McCutcheon says
I have enjoyed these comments, most are close to what I would right, Just i say this will be the last election as first past the post,but the new method comes in many dirrent forms and we will not get to chose which one we get. Some may not be best for this Country something to ask about. I voted strategically, I shoudn’t have
Guy Langlois says
I agree totally people were duped and pressured by NDP strategic voting proponents to not vote green. People were told that if they voted Green they would be helping Harper get back into power. I have no respect for the NDP party for doing this. Strategic voting has not benefited the NDP in the past and obviously it is why they lost the election. I voted Green. Hopefully this is the last time Canadians vote based on fear.
karen louis says
i voted my heart,if everyone stopped counting numbers and just voted who they thought would do the best for Canada and the world..
Devonavar says
I share your hubris. And I wrote a similar piece here:
http://devonavar.ca/politics/congratulations-mr-trudeau-now-about-that-election-promise/
Shirleygail says
I voted strategically in our provincial election. ‘They’ said the NDP was going to take it. Instead of sticking w/my principles, I voted Liberal, hoping for, at best, a minority Liberal Government. Sadly, so did many others and Christy Clark swept the election. We didn’t actually intend to give her full mandate, we just didn’t want the NDP to have a full mandate. I stayed true for my federal vote, and though my candidate was still overwhelmed, I feel good instead of sick to my stomach!
Ryan says
I have typically voted strategically in the past. Only once – my first ever election – I lived in a riding where everyone knew it wouldn’t be close so I went with where my opinions best lined up at the time (NDP). Since then, I had voted Liberal in every single federal and provincial (Ontario) election. Some of those I did best align with them, so they weren’t all crises of conscience. Others I would have preferred NDP or more recently Green. This time, in a riding trumpeted as a bellwether key riding with multiple visits from Harper, Trudeau, and Mulcair, I voted Green. I was still considering “playing it safe” and voting Liberal as I sat in the polling station, but have been obsessively tracking polls for a while and I felt the odds were good enough of a Liberal win.
As soon as the results started coming in with the Atlantic sweep, I felt good about voting my conscience – not only did Liberals handily win the country but also my riding – but the point is that I’ve gone through this genuine ethical dilemma with you many times. If you vote strategically and then you didn’t really need to, as in this case for you, you regret that you didn’t show support for your real preferred candidate (and maybe would have even gotten a Green elected if enough other strategic voters switched). If you vote your conscience and it ends up being a close Conservative win in your riding, you regret that, too.
Here’s hoping Trudeau follows through and by the next election we have a new system that takes the whole idea of “strategic voting” out of the equation, whether that’s mixed proportional or ranked auto-runoff or what. This time I played the odds and won. Other times I played the odds and didn’t win. We shouldn’t have to think about elections as playing the odds.
Bill Jackson says
You and many others voted “strategically” according to local NDP strategy. You probably received the mailbox ad with the bar graph showing the Conservatives as a close second? That was an example of using a truth to tell a lie. Those were the 2011 numbers and every party knew, from their door-knocking campaigns, that they didn’t hold true for this year.
You were conned. Tricked out of your vote.
I hope you’re angry enough to remember this in the next election.
Tim says
A well written commentary. To me a lot of it comes down to voting from the heart, or voting from the Ego. Voting for the person you believe in, and the future you want, is heart based. Voting against him or them is negative, Pavlovian, and Ego based. The Ego wants to Win, and to defeat others so it can win, is the underlying motivations… the 4 year old child standing with it’s fist, wanting what it perceives it wants, regardless of any moral, ethical, or cooperative considerations. Childish behaviour, which we hope the child will mature out of. Some don’t, and then you have corruption in our society. Strategic voting sounds a lot like Ego based thinking to me. The Ego is in love with it’s own mentations and rationalisations. Every corrupt politician doesn’t see themselves as “bad” but as smart, crafty, clever, superior… and the public deserves to be burnt if they are not smart enough to see the deception. I would attest that every strategic voter sees themselves as being smart, crafty, clever, and superior to those non thinking dolts who vote from their hearts. To me, this is Ego based thinking is an old consciousness, that many in our society are trying to move forward from, for the Ego is of course, easily manipulated. Looking at the National Socialism in the former Weimar Republic, where we can see how easily this can be done. The heart feels the truth, the Ego only cares about winning, and then rationalises its actions later as having been justified because of (fill in the blank.”
Thanks for posting.
Alex says
There’s nothing wrong with voting strategically. Our current election systems in fact mandate it. Yes, we have to push for a change in how we vote. But that doesn’t mean come next election, we vote the Conservatives back in.
That will always be worse.
Jay Patterson says
At least strategic voting is an option.
People need to consider a fundamental aspect of our democracy and its embedded in the concession speeches of the unsuccessful which recognize the winner and concede power to that winner. That moment is the key to democracy. The opposite would be something like this:
Harper: “I reject the results of this election and have deemed them illegal. My opposing candidates have been arrested and will be executed and troops have been deployed to all major cities to maintain civil order. I will continue to serve and your prime minister as that is your true choice.”
Yes, its not a perfect system, but it DOES empower the electorate to remove a person and party from power who we deem undesirable as a nation in a citizen’s coupe every four years.
Paul Beckwith says
Whining. You’re number one priority was getting Harper out. That happened. Stop whining.
Mark says
I knew that the Tories stood no chance at getting elected in Nanaimo-Ladysmith— but many of my younger friends were set convinced that they HAD to vote NDP and my older friends were convinced that they HAD to vote Liberal to get anything from Ottawa.
Sad.
The NDP was scared that once Paul Manly got elected— it would be two guaranteed Green seats instead of just one.
And THAT was the real threat to the NDP and why they campaigned against the Greens and not the Cons on Vancouver Island.
ron stead says
My dear Brett Parnell, since when is it rediculous to stand for ones principles, especially when those principals and values are shared with their father..The last thing, I would consider as lawful, is the murderous tyranny of Israel. Since when has piracy and the kidnapping of a ships crew and passengers on the high seas, become legal. Only the most twisted mind could conjure up and accept such a concept, .as a legal act.
Tania says
I disagree with your premise on a couple counts. First… the anomaly was how well the NDP did under Layton in the last election. When dealing with averages & such, we’re always taught to take out the extremes. Do that, and you see that the NDP is continuing to go up. Second… there is no point in voting for someone whose party will not gain enough seats to have official party status. They end up lacking resources & time to get their points across in the House. You’re better off with the NDP candidate.
I like Paul as a person. But when he took the stand he did regarding Israel, he needed to accept the consequences of that choice.
Dave Ehrismann says
I appreciated these comments. Several interesting observations. If we look at the votes for Manly, approximately 9,000 new Green votes. These votes were hard earned and taken mostly from the NDP and CONS of previously supporters. Meanwhile the Liberals were handed votes from strategic voters, mostly unearned by the candidate. These were truly meningless votes and truly lack any thought, they vote for against something rather for something. The NDP vote is most likely their firm base here in this community with some new support. The CON vote is with most certain their base. So for the strategic vote to work here, it should have gone to green for any menaingful change. Also, the election was mostly fought over who best to lead for the economy. Wow, the Federal government impact on the economy is minimal. The majority of the Canadian budget is transfer payments to provinces, social payment, healthcare, armed forces. The economy, really? As we have seen during the past 30 years our economy is at the whims of larger nations, banking frauds, corporate accounting scandals, US S&L all leading to stock market collapse, The federal government could have a direct impact on Education, Healtcare, Social Consciousness, Envrionment, Arts and culture, these would most likely lead to improved jobs growth, strong economy, less crime and happier people; preventing a platform of fear on the economy, crime prevention and cultural divide. Other than being really dismissive; what has the federal government really done for you. It is your local politicians starting from municipal to federal that accomplishes your values. Start voting for what you want instead of what you don’t want.
Pete says
Ironically I considered voting Green strategically thinking they had a greater chance than the liberal candidate in my riding (could not bring myself to vote NDP) but after studying the GReen Party platform and viewing some of the causes that they supported and encouraged others to support I was unable to cast my vote their way , despite this E.May earned my greatest respect over the coarse of this election cycle and certainly do wish her well serving SGI in Ottawa
Dave Abbey says
One can second guess oneself after voting in an election….Strategic voting may make sense if your ‘heart’ candidate has no hope of winning.. and you have an overall fear of another ‘terrible’ candidate winning..
Things are never black and white
Tim McGrath says
I don’t agree with you often, but this time, this article, I agree.
I voted for the person I trusted the most, The hell with this strategic voting.
Paul Manly would have made an excellent MP, I hope he is running again on the next go round!
Brett Parnell says
Perhaps he should not have defended his fathers ridiculous actions.that are against Israeli Law
John Egan says
Thanks for posting this. First off: I’m an NDP member. Unfortunately one who votes in Vancouver Centre. Our lowest result since the party was formed out of the old CCF. Ouch!
Nora’s right on the money. We need to start reminding all the Liberals in Ottawa–from Trudeau down to every MP–that they promised to bring in a proportional system for the next federal election. The NDP has official party status still and will have dedicated time in QP to hold the Liberals’ feet to the fire on this issue: the Greens weren’t gonna get 12 seats so nothing’s changed in terms of visibility in QP.
If we focus on this one issue for this parliament, your votes for the Greens will never be wasted again. Electoral reform will change EVERYTHING for the future, since it will eliminate the 39% one party”majority” as a statistical possibility.
Hopefully we have learned from the STV fiasco in BC: people won’t go for a system too complex for them to understand. I don’t love how MMP gives more power to parties than independents, but its various forms are easily understood without “quotas” or “thresholds”.
Roger Perry says
I voted strategically, too. I voted Green. I voted for a change in the way our economy runs. I knew the Greens had no hope of forming a government. I knew that, in all likelihood, the east would have decided red was better than blue long before most British Columbians had even gotten home from voting.
We need to change. We need to get away from an economy focused on scraping expensive oil from the ground instead of providing incentives for solar or wind energy. There are countries around the world doing it. But not Canada. Our government is fighting the population to force pipelines across the land. Even the party calling themselves the only ones to offer change aren’t really all that different, either. They want refineries and other “good” (aka “union”) jobs. Their “hold your nose and vote for us” idea was, in my view, a clever strategic effort built on fear of a big bad common enemy. Same things as what the blue guys got ousted for.
Somewhere, someone said recently, that the right wing and the left wing are all part of the same bird.
But my strategy was this: If in the last election the Greens got a million votes, and if in this election they got five million votes than all parties, regardless of seats won, take notice and adjust their policies to reflect the growing voice for change.
So, I am really happy I voted my conscience. Not too happy that the NDP set the cause back four years in their attempt to score seats any way they could.
Constantine Kritsonis says
voteswapping.ca and FB group Vote Swap Canada 2015 [resent better solutions than strategic voting.
Eldon Arkinstall says
I also voted strategically – because I wanted an end to the pettiness of Harper’s people. My vote went to the Liberals because they had the best chance, We had no Green in Kelowna-Lake Country, but that would have been my choice.
The idea of strategic voting gained great momentum this election. The idea is what counted – it spurred people to do what was done. Anyone whp participated in the idea also won – their many voices made the idea thunder, and as part of the solution, it worked. well. I’m not trying to assuage any regrets, I’m pointing out the effect of an idea that everyone buys in to, to give that idea its greatest effect.
That also happens to be how politics is supposed to work, team sports, and mobs too.
sherry smith says
Dear Editor,
Please don’t feel bad about your vote. There was quite a discrepancy between the amount of votes the NDP got compared to the Greens in our riding so at least 10,000 would have had to vote along with you. I sympathize with what was done to Paul however I think that poor decision by Tom Mulcair to reject Paul as well as the poor showing of the NDP’s this time around has to fall on the shoulders of Tom Mulcair. Without sounding all ”just like the Adrian Dix” thing, politics seems like a twisted sister to me. So unpredictable and fickle, The thing that Mulcair and Dix have in common is that they are both really intelligent and know policy but what good does that do when you do not resonate with people. I think people are sick of the politics of sniping at each other. Both Mulcair and Harper were as bad as each other and I also think Mulcair was taking the party away from where we were more comfortable. Only my humble opinion. I was also pressured by my friends to vote for Paul because of the ”sour grapes” situation however I am not a Green, and aside from the environmental issue, I had to vote with my gut. I am not sorry for my vote however I think that Harper and Mulcair underestimated what ”good hair, a positive demeanor, and rolled up shirtsleeves can do in a theater of divisive politics. Justin deserved to win. Tom Mulcair should step down. If not,,,,I will be voting for someone else the next time. OMG what’s going to happen to BC this time around if they don’t have a good front man? I think the Greens should do better the next time around.
Nora Abercrombie says
If Trudeau follows through with his promise of electoral reform, you might not ever be tempted to vote strategically again., and the Greens will have our ten seats instead of only one,
Nora Abercrombie
CEO, Green Party of Canada for Battle River – Crowfoot
Steven Badall says
Personally, I feel like the issue of climate change and income inequality was just too big to focus on outdated party politics. I love Elizabeth May and the Greens but it’s hard to vote for a party when in reality it will likely be DECADES before they are competitive unless some alliances and coalitions are formed. I think voting strategically reflected the reality of our strange electoral system. I don’t regret my vote, but I would have loved to vote for the Greens as well.