Let’s face reality: the Green Party isn’t going to win the 2013 BC Election. They might win one or two seats. They’ll probably get 9-10% of the popular vote.
And that is why I’m voting for the Green Party on Tuesday.
I don’t like the first past the post elections we have in BC and Canada. It penalizes smaller parties and rewards larger ones. We always have calls by the NDP to not split the anti-Liberal vote or calls by the Liberals to not split the anti-NDP vote.
I think smaller parties deserve better say. It’s a shame that the electoral reform referendum failed in 2005 and again in 2009.
I’m voting for the Green Party in hopes that the smaller parties’ voices get a little louder. Getting 10% of the vote but 0% of the seats isn’t fair.
So why the Green Party and not the BC Conservatives? Greens are more leftist, and they don’t promote a future that’s based on fossil fuel burning. Vancouver is aiming to become the world’s greenest city by 2020, and BC should aim to become the greenest province.
They have some wingnut ideas about Smart Meters and BC Hydro (they say they’ll instruct BC Hydro to provide customers with various concerns with a wired-in Smart Meter, then say they’d place BC Hydro under the BC Utilities Commission so that the provincial government can’t interfere in the operations of BC Hydro — these two things appear to be at odds with each other), but I’m willing to let those slide.
It’s a strategic vote. I know my candidate won’t get elected, but I hope that enough people province-wide will vote Green (and enough people on Vancouver Island vote Green to elect a couple to office) so that smaller parties can get a little more recognition.
Why not the BC NDP? when I did the CBC Vote Compass the Greens and NDP were tied at the top for my results. The NDP are going to win my riding whether or not I vote for them. My Green vote is a safe one. If I lived in a riding where the Liberal stood a chance, I’d probably vote NDP, but I don’t, so I won’t.
Of course, the election isn’t for another couple of days, so I might change my mind…