A Divided Vote Delivers
by Kevin Logan

Tom Flanagan, Harper's equivalent to Karl Rove, concludes in his new book Harper's Team: Behind the Scenes in the Conservative Rise to Power, "No matter how well designed our campaign had been, it would have been hard for us to win if the NDP had not held up its end."

 

 

Canada's centre/left in its current disarray is accomplishing little, except delivering Harper the divided vote he needs to maintain power. This in turn ensures the success of agendas ranging from nuclear power proliferation and waste management, to deeper integration of Canada into the continental void dictated by the Security and Prosperity Partnership.

While our opposition parties embroil themselves in meaningless partisan fiddling, the country falls deeper and deeper into crisis. Seemingly unaware of the potential devastation ensuing with agreements like TILMA, Canadian political parties have not identified or worked to prevent the two prong attack on our nation's sovereignty that TILMA and the SPP present.

The vote split is the obvious underpinning to the success of this agenda, yet even after Flanagan's very public claim, the point hardly reverberated throughout the echo chamber of Canada's national media, and there is even resistance to this reality among the more partisan practitioners dictating the respective party lines.  Nevertheless, the vote split is alive and well and is playing out from coast to coast and in Toronto too.

 

 

The recent group effort to stop the vote split and defeat the Conservatives recognized that of all ridings in Canada, Saanich-Gulf Islands presented a unique set of variables to start the campaign.  All three opposition candidates are current or former Green Party members and activists.  And all three are about to split the vote and ensure the citizens of S-GI receive no green representation.  

Gary Lunn, Minister of Natural Resources, has held this riding over the last four elections upholding the long standing tradition of the riding's vote split resulting in Conservative representation. Since his party became government and he rose to senior Cabinet status, his portion of the popular vote sank to a mere 34%.  Yet paradoxically, the Liberal/NDP vote split, exasperated by the Green Party, allows for his continued stranglehold on this renowned "green" riding.

At the onset of the Shun Lunn campaign's web site, the Victoria Times Colonist's was quick to jump on the story and button hole the candidates on the issue of the vote split. The headline blasted in the mainstream paper's editorial pages, "Parties Ready to Gang Up on MP Lunn."  Which suggested the strategy for avoiding the vote split presented in S-GI was gaining traction among the respective candidates.  Finally, a foot hold in reality and an opportunity to push back on the Harper agenda.

Alas, according to acclaimed Green Party candidate Andrew Lewis, his "principles" will not allow him to undertake the democratic exercise required to stop the vote split in S-GI and defeat the Conservative incumbent. 

 

Since beating rivals in his own party who asked him to bow out of the election all together, Lewis is adamant despite having lost 40% of his own support over the last two elections, this time he is "on the verge of breaking through."

Mention strategic voting and you will be met with moans and groans and claims varying from the arcane to the insane.  Point to deals brokered by party leaders past and present, and people bemoan the undermining of democratic values.  The Shun Lunn Campaign works to address these shortcomings by offering a democratic solution: a simple pre-election vote among the opposing candidates, resulting in only the successfully elected candidate actually entering the election. 

 

If the people support it, the parties should agree to it. It is a democratic means to avoid the vote split and achieve proper representation for the riding's majority.


source: http://members.shaw.ca/shunlunn

 

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