Canada: Do The Right Thing

I pointed out yesterday that voting strategically is a win-win-win situation. Today, at least to an extent Elizabeth May has agreed with that assessment and I feel the need to expand a bit on what we gain this time through strategic voting. As I said yesterday, strategic voting means more seats for the NDP than they would otherwise have, it means at least 1 seat for the Greens which they would otherwise not have, and it means a Liberal minority government. With only 5 points (and a margin of error of about 3 points) separating the Conservatives from the Liberals this is do-able. I know that many people find strategic voting objectionable, but this is no time for that kind of sentiment. There is too much at stake and everyone in Canada, except the Conservative Party, would gain from it.

On the Environment: If you have grown up in the last 50 years you have heard that the environment is important. That we need to do something to protect it, reduce emissions, stop global warming ... but it has always been something we should do someday, eventually, in the next 10 years or 20 years. Well the time has come to do something, not someday but next Tuesday. Stephen Dion's carbon tax plan is actually modest by carbon tax standards, but it's a start. I know Mr. Layton prefers 'cap and trade' but environmentalists and economists almost universally support the carbon tax model to get the most benefit while doing the least harm. If you'd like a few examples - try Al Gore, Kenneth Green (of the American Enterprise Institute), David Suzuki, Elizabeth May and of course, as of yesterday, 230 of Canada's top economists.

I know people will say that the timing isn't right, what about the economy, etc. but if you'll notice the timing is never right to do something about the environment. If they economy is strong they say 'you'll sink the economy' when the economy is weak they say 'not right now, wait for the economy to improve.' The reality is we've already put this off for far too long, this is a revenue neutral plan which means that the average Canadian won't pay any more than they already do (they'll just pay in a different way) and many will actually save money. The time to do something about the environment is Tuesday.

Beyond the Environment, Mr. Dion has stated that the Liberals would
restore and increase arts and culture funding, boost higher education, provide funds for infrastructure improvement (helping Canadian cities and boosting the economy by creating jobs), provide funds to re-invigorate manufacturing, provide 1.2 billion to help farmers modernize and improve efficiency, and he has said he'd move quickly to insulate Canada as much as possible from the coming economic storm.

This may not be everything on the wish list of the NDP and the Greens but it's a pretty good list and far better than we'd get under Harper. The reality is that neither the NDP nor the Greens are going to form the next government (unless it's by coalition) The NDP (as of this morning) is 13 points behind, and the Greens are 20 points behind and no party has ever covered that kind of ground in 5 days. But the NDP and the Greens can both be in Parliament, with a larger number of seats, helping to craft legislation IF and only IF enough people do the responsible thing, vote strategically and get Stephen Harper and the Conservatives out of office, otherwise we do nothing on the environment (for who knows how long) and everything that I listed above is off the table.


Below is a Widget from anyonebutharper.ca to help you vote strategically. If you don't like this one have a look at voteforenvironment.ca and see what they have to say.