Tuesday 27 November 2012

Another Majority of Vandals?

Despite what the CONs say, Canada is a progressive country.

Yet, with our fucked-up electoral system, the majority vote is split so that the CONtempt Party squeaks in.

This must stop.

Look at yesterday's by-election results.

In Calgary Centre, the CON got 36.9% of the vote while other (variously progressive) parties combined for 61%. Numbers sound familiar?

They should. They are very close to the overall ranking in the 2011 federal election.

A party with less than 40% support is now vandalizing a progressive country to the shock and disgust of the majority.

I am not a partisan but I was delighted to hear someone actually in politics say out loud what ordinary people are increasingly focussed on.

We must stop the CONservative vandals.
Liberal MP Joyce Murray launched her bid for the leadership of the federal Liberal Party on Monday with a call for “one-time” only cooperation among the three major opposition parties in the next federal election in order to defeat Prime Minister Harper and bring in lasting reform to Canada’s electoral system.

Pointing out Mr. Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) and his Conservatives won a majority government with only 39.6 per cent of the vote, Ms. Murray (Vancouver Quadra, B.C.) said her campaign will include a new proposal for the kind of cooperation discussed since the 2011 election by Liberals, New Democrats and Green Party figures.

Many, including former NDP leadership candidate Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley, Valley, B.C.), have said the only way to defeat Mr. Harper’s election machine is by joining forces to field only one candidate from all three opposition parties in ridings the Conservatives won with less than 50 per cent of the vote.
A one-time only deal. Worked out at the riding level. Perhaps with a run-off vote among the non-CON candidates in advance to determine the best chance to beat the CONs.

Then, election reform.

Now. How do we do this? We've got two years.

On Twitter, Sadie Tucker says she has been phoning and writing riding offices and talking to friends.

Let's get this show on the road. Canada cannot withstand another majority of vandals.

ADDED: Elsewhere our polyboggous (h/t deBeauxOs) bud, Mandos, has an interesting analysis of the mess Canadian politics is in and wonders if an Amerkican-style two-party system is inevitable.

ADDED: Pundit's Guide says it won't work. Lotta reasons, too. *sigh*

6 comments:

thwap said...

Exactly. The time is now. This is required to save what limited democracy Canada could claim.

Anonymous said...

I think they talked about it in Calgary for this by election but egos and politics prevailed.

Námo Mandos said...

So, I fear the same considerations hold as last time. Can the lion lie down with the lamb in order to breed the chimera that will halt the untimely return of the dinosaurs through the weakness in temporal subspace barriers? I'm not so sure.

Especially considering that certain people are thinking that they can bring back Trudeaumania and restore the playing field magically to another halcyon time.

fern hill said...

I know, I know. (Beautifully put :D)

The nostalgia for Trudeaumania is really nauseating. He's an airhead.

Niles said...

Our house called that Calgary by-election prediction with the inevitability of the sun rising on Monday, which is when the prediction was made.

The only reason Joe Clark took a Calgary riding downtown away from Harper's first push was because people united behind him regardless of their 'party' inclinations.

It's why Harper devoured the Progressive Conservatives, to stop the splitting of the vote on the right. It's why he's been able to run potted Palin plants like Crockett as no-shows in their own freaking riding and still win. He knows the progressive vote is split even wider.

Harper was allll for vote reform until he actually got into power. Then he was allll for turning us into the US two party system at most.

But the turnout was still abysmal. Nobody learned nuffin from the US election where nonCons moved their posteriors to polling stations and kept them there until it counted. They could have voted Green if they wanted to protest...but noooooo...

Bleatmop said...

Can't see this working. The CPC came to power because they were a lot of peoples second choice after the LPC. Not the NDP, not the Bloc, not the Greens. The CPC. Further removing choice in elections will only further polarize the electorate and drive MORE people to the CPC.

There is the LPC, NDP, and Greens because all three of these parties have irreconcilable differences with each other. I would expect the people who split into these other parties to either not vote or to not vote for whom you think they might if you remove their choice from them.

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