In case you are completely disconnected from what is going on around you (as too many of my friends are, sadly), there is a federal election happening next month in Canada. I gather that the majority of my readers are Canadian, but I know a lot of you aren’t. Right now we have Canada’s equivalent of the Republicans in power, so I am obviously not too thrilled about that. Polls show that they will win this next election, possibly gaining seats in the process, which depresses me to no end.
Anyway, if you wanted to know where Crommunism sits on the political spectrum, CBC has helpfully provided an Electoral Compass:
Click on the image to try it out for yourself and see where you fall. Some of the positions are Canada-specific, so if you don’t know about a particular policy issue, just skip it.
If you live in Canada, vote!
N.B. Pat Dixon has made a good point, one that I meant to put in the article. You should be voting for whatever party has the best chance of beating the Conservatives in your riding. Sadly, we live in a country that has 3 left-wing parties (although I doubt the Green Party would consider themselves as such), and only one right-wing party. This results in vote splitting that allows the minority group to enjoy majority rule. Vote for whoever is likely to beat the Conservatives.
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It’s depressing to me how many people are disconnected and not following the election issues. Every poll I see has the Conservatives way ahead and, as you said, quite possibly gaining seats. This website even has them within one seat of a majority. How a government can be found in contempt of parliament, subsequently fall on a confidence motion related specifically to that contempt and GAIN seats in the election is completely beyond me – that makes me uber-upset.
I do what I can to keep the few people in my sphere of influence interested in politics, but it seems like a losing battle at times.
As for the compass…. I did it last week and came out right in the middle between the Greens and the NDP (pretty much where I figured I would be).
I’m going to keep harping on it to those in my social circle, but that’s less about this particular election (in which my handful of knucklehead friends won’t make a difference) than it is about apathy in general.
CBC’s ‘Vote Compass’ is cute and fun, but I hope to hell no one will vote on that basis. My own results were similar to yours — but I’d have to be a self-defeating dreamer to vote that way — I’m voting Liberal in my riding, because it’s the logical way to go if I want to defeat Harper. Where the NDP candidate in a riding has a better chance than the Liberal, then the NDP would be the better vote. The idea is to defeat the Conservative candidate wherever possible. And then the mistake we always make is to just replace the governing party, and think that’s enough. I would strongly urge all logical, thinking caring voters to actually join either the Liberals and the NDP, learn, and try to influence change. Canadians on the “left” need to merge into a new larger, healthier party – maybe “The Canadian Liberal Democratic Party” or something like that. We need to stop treating our preferred party like a fundamentalist religion and develop new, healthier politics. If we don’t do something like this, history and logic tell us we’ll become more and more dysfunctional as a nation.
I’m voting NDP – not because I think they have the best chance of defeating the Conservatives though. Unfortunately, I’m from a Nothern Alberta town that’s been Conservative Blue for many years. (Though I will be moving to Vancouver for school in the fall) Frankly, the Liberals and the NDP don’t stand a chance in hell, and we only have a Green candidate about once every 3 elections. So I’m voting for the party I most align with, so my vote can get them more federal funding in the next election.
That’s a totally reasonable position, given the circumstances. I once voted Green for that exact reason – the Liberals had a mortal lock on my riding, but I wanted to support the party.
Thanks for commenting!