London NDP Candidate Drops Out of the Race to Support the Liberals

Elgin-Middlesex-London NDP candidate Ryan Dolby announced yesterday that he was dropping out of the election race, and encouraged supports to rally to the Liberal cause in order to beat the Tory candidate. While it is sad to see the NDP taking the fall, such a thing would not be necessary if Canada had an electoral system that actually reflected voter interests and political beliefs. London NDPers should have the chance to vote for their candidate. No one should have to vote strategically to avoid getting the government they don't want, instead of voting actively to get the government they do want. Unfortunately, right now, this is the reality of the system. The system needs to change, but won't until those who benefit from it are removed from power. Vote ABC!

http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2011/03/30/17815371.html

Harper's Hypocrisy

In the self-serving fashion of Our Glorious Leader (props for this monicker go to John Doyle, TV columnists and the most progressive commentator currently employed by the Globe and Mail), it seems rules only apply when they benefit the CPC. On Harper's endorsement of coalitions, see Terry Milewski's latest post on the CBC. http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canadavotes2011/story/2011/03/30/cv-milewski-harper-coalition.html

Still, in the spirit of giving credit where credit is due, Harper and Flanagan actually made a good point back in 1997 when they advocated coalition as a way of breaking the factionalism, sniping, and general short-sightedness and immaturity of contemporary federal politics: the winner-take-all system is out-dated and needs reform. This election began because Parliament found the Harper government in contempt. Let's, therefore, make this election about electoral reform so this can never happen again. Harper seems to think that a minority government polling 33% of the votes is more legitimate than a coalition that fosters cooperation and can claim the support of not only the majority of members of parliament, but also the majority of voters. This is ludicrous and would not be tolerated in any mature democracy. A coalition that reflects the actual voting trends of this coming election would be a start, but more permanent change is needed; the replacement of the first-past-the-post system with proportional representation that actually reflects voter intentions. Even a Conservative can't be wrong all the time, and back in 1997 Our Glorious Leader got it right--the system has to change. Now, however, its him that has to go in order to allow that change to happen.