The Nanaimo-Cowichan federal riding will be headed by either NDP Jean Crowder or Conservative John Koury.
During the 2008 election, Crowder received 45.18 per cent of the votes, while Conservative Reed Elley got 37.59 per cent. Green Party candidate Christsina Knighton followed far behind, with 9.56 per cent of votes.
Liberals followed with 7.37 per cent, and trailing in far behind was the Marxist-Leninist Party.
This isn’t indicative of how many people support the three long-shot candidates. Strategic voting is afoot.
The reasoning is simple: Why throw a vote away voting for an underdog when the one thing you fear most is a Harper majority government? Vice-versa, a vote for the Conservative candidate is the most effective means of preventing another NDP seat in the House of Commons.
The intention of pointing this out isn’t to encourage people to vote NDP or Conservative, it’s to point out that there’s something wrong with the Canadian democratic system.
Democracy shouldn’t be people voting for the lesser evil.
Not only that, but it justifies voter apathy.