I'm going to vote Liberal simply because in my riding for the provincial election the Liberal candidate did better than the NDP candidate I voted for.
I wish I lived in a Green riding. But my ABC vote is going to be needed, my riding is double Conservative right now.
My riding is strongly Liberal, but I'll be voting NDP. I don't vote against parties, I vote for specific candidates. My philosophy has always been to elect good people to government.
If people properly investigated who their local candidates were and elected them as people, we wouldn't have the PP's as possible world leaders. He got elected before his brain even fully developed, and he got elected probably because a whole bunch of people voted for a party and not a person.
I understand the rationale to vote for or against a party, but it's just not how I personally vote, and likely never will. That said, nothing mobilizes voters like having a "bad guy" to vote against, and I would rather people vote than not vote, so I don't have an issue with ABC voting, it's just not for me.
For the Ontario election I went your route, hoping that this good NDP candidate could turn a Conservative riding. Didn't happen.
If I saw a poll that my local NDP federal candidate has more chances than the Liberal candidate, I would again vote NDP. But odds are they won't.
And there are always party concerns. Would you vote for who you thought was the best candidate if you were in Quebec and the best candidate was BQ? I've been in that situation.
It's nuanced. If their values align with a lot of the more problematic BQ values, then I'm not going to judge them as the best candidate. But if they're a passionate rebel within the party building up values I support, then that's another matter. Also, if I cannot in gold conscience vote for the other candidates, then I'm pushed further to consider a BQ vote.
It would all come down to the values the candidate held. I would like more non-racist, non-separatist elected members of the BQ, our entire country benefits from that party being more heavily on the really awesome characteristics of QC culture rather than the nastier elements.
Granted, I don't live in QC anymore and have never been put in that situation.
I think because my family has been involved in campaigns my whole life, I just have such a strong sense of the need for good
people in government, and that the people ARE the parties.
That has never been more clear than seeing the ugliness take over the conservative party.
Now, I profoundly dislike PP on a personal and political level. Any way I vote will be a vote against him, but I'm always going to vote for the person I want representing me most, even if that's not strategic.
Because when people vote against something, that's how we get the PPs in government in the first place. I doubt anyone but his mom actually voted
for him when he was elected. His constituents voted for Harper, and really, they voted
against the Liberals.
I doubt anyone met that sniveling little shit and thought "this is a great man, and I want him to represent me."
