TGI-the-last-F Before the Election: Strategic Voting, Candidate Endorsements & More

So today we're quaffing more than the work week woes with our TGIF beers. After all, we're also nearing the end of the sprint that is a Canadian election campaign. The election was called on September 7, just 33 days ago, and we head to the polls on Tuesday October 14.

Since I last posted on election-related issues, there's been a ton of work done by arts groups across the country to bring out the vote against arts-fund-cutting PM Stephen Harper. Theatres coast to coast hosted an event called "The Wrecking Ball" on Monday night, while yesterday in Toronto (and other times elsewhere) artists joined in creating concerts titled "This is Not A Conservative Party". Both generated considerable media coverage for their cause.

Yet what will the election turnout actually be? It's still a bit of a nailbiter, particularly in light of the fact that the newspaper many artists consider their fave, the Globe and Mail, released an endorsement for Harper today.

Interestingly, over at the Toronto Star, there's an editorial from a former Conservative cabinet minister, Sinclair Stevens, that quite effectively argues why Canadians should vote against Harper. What Stevens reminds us is that while Harper strongly positions himself as a "law-and-order" candidate willing to send 14-year-olds to jail, he himself broke the law by calling this election. And it's not like Harper didn't know he was doing it; he's the one who introduced and pushed for the law, for crissake! All hypocrisy, arts and environment arguments aside, I'm not keen on having a prime minister who breaks the law when it suits his purposes--in this case, obtaining a majority government.

A variety of strategic voting (ie. how to make sure a conservative doesn't get elected in your riding) websites have sprung up in the past few weeks to prevent just such a majority from happening. A note, however: Longtime Toronto-area political activist David Meslin recently has been trying to get the word out that strategic voting, while it might be useful this election, is only a band-aid solution. What's needed, he says, in the long term, is a move to proportional representation. So here is a list, cribbed from an email from Meslin, of some strategic voting sites as well as sites on proportional representation and electoral reform.

Strategic Voting & Vote Swapping:

VOTE FOR ENVIRONMENT
http://www.voteforenvironment.ca/

VOTE FOR CLIMATE
http://www.voteforclimate.ca

VOTERS TAKING ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE
http://www.vtacc.org

ANYTHING BUT CONSERVATIVE
http://www.anythingbutconservative.com

PAIR VOTE - Strategic Voting for 2008 Canadian Federal Election
http://www.votepair.ca/

ANTI-HARPER VOTE SWAP CANADA
http://www.voteswapcanada.ca/


Electoral Reform:

FAIR VOTE CANADA
http://www.fairvote.ca

Open letter from Fair Vote Canada to strategic voters and vote-swappers
http://www.fairvote.ca/en/open-letter-to-strategic-votes-and-vote-swappers

ORPHANVOTERS.ca
http://www.orphanvoters.ca/

BRITISH COLUMBIA REFERENDUM CAMPAIGN
http://www.stv.ca


I guess former Conservative cabinet ministers can be right sometimes, huh? Happy weekend!

Stencil of Stephen Harper from the Canadian Association of Income Trust Investors Weblog