As I prepare to cast my ballot tomorrow in this 42nd Canadian election, I find that it has been both liberating and frustrating to be voting in a riding where there is basically no chance of the Conservative party winning.
I am looking forward, most of all, to being finished with a choice that I find unfortunately distasteful and disappointing.
Frustrating, because I feel impotent. To the degree that my primary concern in this election is that Stephen Harper be removed from office, my vote simply doesn’t matter. No strategic calculations on my part will impact the outcome of a binary election the outcome of which is Harper either winning or losing.
Liberating, because without having to consider the impact of my vote on the outcome of the election, I am free to vote my conscience. I get to vote for Daniel Green and Elizabeth May because I believe in their sincerity, in their desire not to wield power but to influence the future of this once-great country. I get to vote for the Green Party because I agree with their platform, one built not on campaign promises that pander to their constituency but on the best policies, regardless of where on the spectrum they fall. They don’t want to govern, they want a mandate to hold the Government to account. And given what I see as a weak best-case scenario for the next Government, that’s a policy I can align with.
Neither of the main “progressive” party leaders have evoked any emotion in me besides incredulity at best, and disgust at worst. Tom Mulcair has demonstrated that he, just like all the others, is concerned only with #winning, and Justin Trudeau has done nothing to dispel the image that he brings no real experience to the table. I don’t believe either are worthy of leading our country, and I’m tired of voting for the least of all evils. And while there are a few candidates who I find sincere and inspirational enough to deserve my support — notably the NDP’s James Hughes — I can’t say that of any of the candidates in my riding.
If you don’t live in a riding like mine, and there’s a chance the Conservative party might win your riding, you have a different context within which to make the same decision. Unlike me, you have to consider the merits of voting strategically. Read the piece posted by Ali Kashani last week about how to guarantee Harper’s defeat if you live in one of 16 key ridings.
Whatever your decision and your reason’s for making it, most importantly, go vote. It’s your right, your privilege, and your obligation. Unless you’re voting Conservative ;)
