We Can Take the Country Back

Most of the clichés that have been applied to the election of October 2008 happen to be true. It is the most important election in a generation. Canadians will be given a clear choice between two visions of the nation.

Unfortunately, if current polls are even close to being correct, the majority of Canadians won’t elect their preferred option. Instead they will get an ideologically-driven government supported by a minority of voters. The Stephen Harper government of the past two years was only a warm-up act for the performance that will begin on October 14 if the vote goes as currently anticipated.

There is no doubt that a consolidation of centre and centre-left parties is going to occur in order to bring the federal political system back into balance. The only question is when. A Conservative majority on 14 October will create conditions drastic enough to force an amalgamation of the Liberals and New Democrats at some time between 2009 and 2012, probably with the Greens joining in. A Conservative minority after the October elections will produce an opposition that cannot continue the pathetic performance of the past two years. There is too much to gain by joining forces in the form of a coalition government established to replace a defeated Conservative minority. When one compares the quality of any potential Conservative front bench with the sort of cabinet that could be put together by other parties—starting with people like Michael Ignatieff, Bob Rae, Joe Comartin, Libby Davies, Martha Hall Findlay, Ujjal Dosanjh, Ralph Goodale, Jack Layton, Stéphane Dion, Elizabeth May, and maybe even Thomas King—the public support for such a coalition would be unquestioned.

The next week is by far the most opportune time for a consolidation of the 60% to 70% vote that will go to parties of the centre and centre-left, but we cannot expect the parties involved to do much about it. The Liberals, New Democrats and Bloquistes have too much historical baggage invested in their party organizations to admit the coalescence of their support. Liberals will not admit that they have lost most of their hereditary voters and their traditional ties to the big money industries, while New Democrats still delude themselves about the unwavering support of the trade unions and the Bloc is increasingly alienated from its separatist backers. The party leaders lack both the will and the authority to suggest that their unique platforms are, in fact, very much the same, and that the voters would do well to vote strategically for the centrist candidate most likely to win in each riding.

The politicians cannot save our country, so we will have to do it ourselves. Fortunately, and for the first time, we have the tools to do so. The internet provides everything needed for a strategic voting event based on the individual decisions of a few million voters. We don’t even have to assemble a consensus as to which of the many web-sites devoted to strategic voting that we should use as a basis for decisions, since most of them present very much the same picture of individual ridings. My personal favourite is the mathematically-based system that can be found at www.voteforenvironment.ca. The voting recommendations suggested by this site are designed to elect a government that will be friendly to environmental concerns, but the same decisions will also elect a minority or coalition government that will share the views of the majority of Canadians on matters of the economy, social justice, international affairs, and our participation in the Afghan war.

We have the power to elect the government that most of us desire, and that most of us believe will produce a better world for Canadians. We don’t even have to organize. All we have to do is visit the internet, make our decision, and then take that walk to the polling station.

Pass it on.