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LETTERS: Past results, show way of the future

It seems Canadians just can’t bring themselves to vote strategically.

Looking at the results of the last two federal elections and the poll results for this campaign, it is obvious that somewhere between 60 and 70 per cent of the Canadian electorate do not want the Conservatives governing the country.

So why are they in fact the current government? It seems Canadians just can’t bring themselves to vote strategically so the anti-Harper vote gets split amongst the non-Conservative alternatives. It seems we would all rather stick with the party we’ve supported all our lives than change our vote, even when changing our vote would increase the chances of bringing about a desired outcome.

Take our new riding of South Okanagan-West Kootenay as an example; because it is a new riding it is a little more difficult to see what would have happened if this riding had been in existence in the last federal election. Fortunately, Elections Canada has done all the work for us.  If you go to their website you can see what the results would have been in the last federal election since they have taken the vote from each individual polling station and put them together according to the new riding boundaries. The Conservatives would have come out the winner by a small margin with the NDP very close behind.  The Greens would have been a distant third and the Liberals an even more distant fourth.

According to the Elections Canada results from the last election, the Liberals would have to increase their vote by almost 700 per cent in order to win the riding and the Greens would need about a 600 per cent increase in their vote whereas the NDP would need only about a 12 per cent increase in their vote to win.

So, which do you think is the most likely thing to happen?

I know where I’m putting my vote. In our riding it is very easy — you either want the Conservatives and Harper or you don’t. If you don’t, then for once let’s unite our vote and get rid of the Harper gang.

If you are a Green, remember that the NDP has promised to bring in proportional representation so next time you can actually win some seats.  This time around, in our riding, a vote for any party other than the NDP is actually a vote for Harper.

Robert Handfield

Kaleden