Doug Ford
Doug Ford is basically Ontario’s version of Donald Trump. He defiles the truth, is ambivalent towards reality, and stokes partisan anger for his own benefit.
The party that supports him has about 40% support, and currently has a 90% chance of winning a majority government.
https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/onvotes/poll-tracker/
Note that 40% is significantly less than half. The NDP is currently in a strong second place with about 30% support.
This message is for the Ontario Liberal and Green party voters out there; they have the remaining 30%. You, most of all, are going to decide who gets elected to power in two weeks, and possibly how your province will elect its leaders in the future.
You only have two choices: Doug Ford and the PCs, or Andrea Horwath and the NDP.
If you’re a Liberal or Green voter and prefer Ford/PC over Horwath/NDP, then you’re (probably) OK to vote however you like. Your party won’t win power, but you like Ford enough that you’ll be fine with the results.
But, if you’re a Liberal or Green voter, that’s probably not the result you’d be happy with. You may not like the NDP, but they’re a lot closer policy-wise than the PCs this year.
If you want to be relatively happy with the governance of your province for the next four years, and want to help your preferred party get support in the next election, here’s what you can do:
- Call up the NDP Candidate (or their election team) for your riding.
- Tell them you’re a Liberal/Green supporter who doesn’t want the PCs to win.
- Tell them that you want electoral reform and preferential voting systems to be a top issue for a potential NDP government.
- Tell them that you’re willing to vote NDP in this election if they make electoral reform a priority.
The NDP are desperate for a win. They’re coming from behind and are within striking distance, but they will definitely not win without getting a lot of votes from people who are planning on voting Liberal or Green. They know that their policies are far more palatable to these voters relative to the PCs, so they know that they have a chance at this.
In the current Ontario (and Canadian) political climate, the “left”-leaning vote is split, but is still bigger than the “right”-leaning vote. The “right” is a solid minority block; they benefit from factionalization on the left, and will definitely not push for voting reform (since they win without it).
If you’re any sort of left/centrist political persuasion, then the best thing you can do for yourself this election is to vote NDP and press them hard for electoral reform. Even if they get a majority, the NDP know that they’ll have squeaked by based on support of Liberal and Green voters. They won’t be able to rely on that support in four years, so preferential voting reform (where they’re the 2nd or 3rd choice for a large number of voters) will benefit them.
As I’ve said before, this sort of strategic voting sucks, and is not what we want from a political system. But the only way to change the system is to have a party in power that wants to change it. There’s no better opportunity in Ontario for this than right now.
I don’t think I have many Ontario listeners, but perhaps my friends will reshare this post (or it’s general message) with some. Ontario is the biggest and most important province in Canada – even for this Albertan!. It’s important to me that they have a responsible, effective government and a voting system that lets people vote the way they truly want.