So we all agree on one thing, then … our electoral system needs fixing

Bob Hepburn’s article, “Should the Greens Just Fade Away”, highlights the problem, but offers the wrong solution.

“First-past-the-post” is un-Canadian in the extreme.  Never is the diversity of this country more evident than in the fact that grassroots parties flourish and grow, despite an electoral system so heavily stacked against them.  Let’s not forget the NDP struggled for seats not so long ago — now they “can rightfully argue it should remain a separate party”.  Should we all just pack up and shut up because the current system distorts our voice?  Since when is giving up on democracy something we should even consider?

And as for strategic voting and vote-swapping:  this is a short-term solution, knee-jerk reaction at best, and gambling at worst.  The ABC or ABL or AB-Anything party that gets those votes has no way to see them for what they are (desperate AB votes) and will just continue to misinterpret them as support for their platform.  And vote-swappers should be reminded that, like everything else online, you never know who’s on the other end of the mouse.

These desperate attempts by Canadians to find some measure of power and meaning in their vote only serve to further emphasize that our system needs some fixing.

And I suspect, if asked a clear question (sound familiar?), all Canadians would agree that before we get to down to issues and platforms, we really need to start working on a better, functional democracy.  One where every Canadian can vote their conscience with confidence.

The story I want to read about on October 15 is the one about how Canadians finally refused to be intimidated.  Where we refused to play along in a system that puts us all between a rock and a hard place.  Where we swallowed our frustration and apathy and demanded to be heard.  Where no vote was a false vote, because we all stood up for democracy and voted our conscience.  Where we were finally counted — and counted accurately.

Because no matter who wins the ridings remember one thing:  the media always report the popular vote.  We are all heard, one way or another.

And if the results are ugly enough — if the results are so egregiously skewed — maybe we will finally get down to seriously examining electoral reform. 

So let’s drop the tactics, start voting and start voting honestly — for whatever Party that might be. 

Be heard on Election Day.

Be heard.

The alternative is more of the same.