Ian Gartshore

Here on Vancouver Island there is a lot of talk about the “need for strategic voting” in order to prevent any Conservatives from winning seats. Even though it is rather obvious that on the national stage it is the NDP and Liberals who are splitting the non-Conservative vote, here on Vancouver Island many NDP’ers are again (falsely) accusing Greens of doing so. Their anti-Harper cause is being boosted by third-party organisations using questionable polling results to encourage all but those in Elizabeth May’s riding to vote for the NDP. In some ridings the NDP are even using election data from four years ago to boost their fear-campaign. Back then they and the Conservatives received over 80% of the vote. By ignoring the surging Greens (and improving Liberal support) their strategy intends to sway voters into believing that one has to vote NDP in order to stop the Conservatives. (Using old data to suppress or sway the voters of another Party is, frankly, manipul

  Source: http://paulmanly.greenparty.ca/content/conservatives-are-about-be-pummelled-bc-voters-greens-surge-vancouver-island As a former political candidate I, of course, monitor what is going on politically. Not only does this personally interest me, I am also aware that just one change in policy by some government can wipe out all that I have done to improve our environment, the quality of life, the economy, and our collective future. I have been aware for some time that here on Vancouver Island (and spreading across Canada to some extent) there is a sea-shift going on. Both the provincial and federal Green Party's are being taken far more seriously. They are capturing the imaginations of many who have not voted for some time (if ever). Elizabeth May and Andrew Weaver have proven this because there the voter turnouts were extremely high. What’s more, many who have voted for other parties are now seriously considering voting Green. I have heard so many peopl

Now that it appears Thomas Mulcair is pulling out of the consortium's televised debates (thus following Stephen Harper's lead) the net result may be that Canadians do not get a chance to hear Elizabeth May in the debates. I wrote to the Globe and Mail last month, encouraging them to include her. Here is my response to theirs (their response can be read by clicking on this link ): Quoting one paragraph from their response: David Walmsley, The Globe’s editor-in-chief says, “We’ve set up the debate this way because we believe that by limiting the format to Canada’s three main party leaders, we will create a truly focused, successful discussion about the state of the Canadian economy.”  I responded: "As all three party leaders are fundamentally all neo-liberal in their world view (Mr. Mulcair was a cabinet minister in Quebec’s right-wing Liberal government) the debate may indeed be 'focused,' but sadly lacking any real diversity. With Mr. Mulcair no

As the Harper-led (dictated?) Conservatives continue on their path of wrecking the Canada we once knew by destroying both our economy and ecology, our peace-making place on the world stage, ripping up public support for the people of this land while handing the country over to corporations and China, instituting a secret police act that is reminiscent of Nazi Germany, plus far more, the hand-wringing among most informed Canadians is reaching a crescendo in this election year. A concerted effort is now underway to convince all the other political parties to cooperate in order to prevent another Conservative-controlled government. Sadly the egos of all parties but the Greens are preventing this kind of cooperation. So, it is thought, the next best option is to convince the electorate to vote for the party that stands the best chance of defeating the Conservatives. This is called “Strategic Voting.” Problem: it didn’t work the last time. In fact the Conservatives actually won more sea