Quote:
Originally Posted by Soundy
This is one of the things that really scares me about the whole #StopHarper campaign and people getting out to vote who are more interested in voting AGAINST someone than FOR someone.
Sure the Liberals probably have a better OVERALL chance than the NDP... but what about in your dad's riding specifically? If the NDP is running a stronger candidate there than the Liberals, or the NDP has a stronger base, then his vote is essentially useless toward his goal.
Extrapolating this, assuming this was a solid Conservative riding before and a number of people who would previously vote Conservative IN THAT RIDING, vote Liberal instead, because they have the stronger chance nationally... but the hardcore NDP supporters still vote NDP as well. You could then end up with less separation between the losing NDP and Liberal candidates, or may a reverse in who comes second, while still ending up with a winning Conservative MP... and thus one more seat for Harper in Parliament, one closer to keeping them in power.
To be clear, I'm not overly impressed with Harper and a lot of his policies, but I'm not rabidly anti-Harper like most of my Facebook feed. If anything I probably lean more toward the Liberals this time around. I'd be just as happy seeing Harper out of the PM's chair, if for no other reason to shut up all the whiners who base their whining more on fearmongering, conspiracy theories, and a general misunderstanding of how our system of government works.
I'd much rather see people understand how it works and vote FOR an appropriate local candidate... not AGAINST a party leader, which is something they don't get to directly vote for in the first place.
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The current MP (Stewart Kennedy with NDP) is running in a different riding due to the changes in the boundaries.
There is a new Liberal and NDP candidate in our riding and both are pretty good based on the debates we have seen. That said, this has historically been a NDP riding. My dad is definitely not voting blindly, he is well versed in the policies and ideologies of each party. I could see him sticking to the NDP come voting day also.