That was a hell of an exciting election I thought. I talked politics with people for days and days and it was actually very inspiring. In addition, during pre-election week I attended a talk on "Bioregionalism" which really ties into our ideas of goverment and democracy as well as our "place" and what we make of it. Since I've been thinking politics so much I decided to start another blog just so that I could talk about it without cluttering up my personal blog.
The election results are much what I expected. I'm actually quite pleased. Yes, I know. Harper won and that's obviously disturbing, but it's really much to be expected. Given that the bulk of Canada only considers there to be three real options as far as voting goes, and given the tremendous job the Liberals did of making themselves look like assholes, needing little help from the smear campaigns of their opposition, it's no suprise that people were not feeling the love for one of the two parties they deemed would win. From my travels through cyberspace I gathered that a good deal were voting Conservative just because they were outraged by the Liberal party's behavior of late. Thieves that they are 'n all. And it's understandable too. Additionally people focus on a few elements of a policy. If they don't agree with one of those policies (such as the right to carry firearms), they will not vote for that party. Some go as so far as to not vote for any party as they are in serious disagreement with all of them. So anyway, now for the good news:
Only 36.3% of Canadians voted for the Conservative party, and the percentage of those people who did so because they actually support Harper or his backwards ideas is actually much smaller. In spite of their determination to come off as total jerkoffs, the Liberals still got 30.2% of the vote and ended up with only 21 seats less than the Conservatives. I would imagine that most of the votes they got were either tradition votes or votes from the people who would rather have had them over the Cons.
Also good news is that the NDP got 17.5% of the vote, leaving them with 29 seats. 11 more than before! So we actually have a fairly nice mixture of seats going on considering what we had to work with. Obviously I'm disappointed that the Greens didn't manage to secure even one seat with over 650,000 votes, but it's actually pretty amazing that they got that many votes considering the fact that they are all but completely invisible, got pretty much no media coverage, had little local presence in most places, and are a new party that many people don't even realize exists. I even talked to people who didn't know that the Green party was in fact NOT the Marijuana party. And I'm talking native Canadians with University degrees here. Oy vey.
More good news is that while the Greens got 4.5% support overall in spite of their invisibility and the improbability of their triumph, in British Columbia that number jumped to 5.3%. And I'm proud to say that in my riding, where Libby Davis of the NDP rules (with a 56.6% vote this time around), the Green candidate got a whopping 6% support and 2536 votes. This in spite of the face that Libby's mug is posted ALL over town and she herself is extremely active and visible in the community and even stood at the skytrain station and probably other places handing out candy and badges (optional) during the pre-election week. And in spite of the fact that no ones ever seen or heard of Christine Ellis who is brand new to politics and as far as I know hasn't really been out engaging with the community very much. I've never seen a picture of her anywhere but the Green party website. 2536 votes! Fabulous. Go Vancouver East!
Voter turnout was at 65%, 5% more than last election. And there was so much discussion and debate going on between people in person and on the Internet. It was great. I would have liked to conducted a poll to find out how many people were actually true supporters of each party if the strategy was removed and people were just voting based on ideas and ideals.
My feeling about the Greens is that they have a long ways to go in terms of selling themselves but it's getting more and more feasible. I've read inspiring things about local community groups supporting the Greens and the increased voting that results from this. Clearly they need more of a presence and they need to start engaging with the communities with charisma and conviction. There are many people out there who are supporters of their ideologies and those people need to be reached out to particularly. Those people like me. I think change has to start with the younger generations as well. The most support for the Green party will come from young people and University attendees of various sorts. There is a large percentage of youth who currently do not vote at all, due to either apathy or disenchantment with the choices put forth to them. These are the people who will most likely support the efforts of the Greens. They have not developed voting habits and routines, are most open to change and most likely to have the freedom of mind to be able to vote Green.
In the time between now and the next election I think there is room for the Greens to really get organized, develop a strategy and start educating people about their presence and ideas. I really believe that they have the potential to vastly increase the percentage of the vote they get in a short amount of time if they really apply themselves. I think Canada is ripe for that kind of a change. There is a social environment of increased awareness and consciousness, and our peaceable attitude create an atmosphere that is ready for mind-expansion, openness of discussion and debate and the introduction of new ideas. I have hope for us yet.
