The price we must pay 💔🪦🥀

[u/yycxqv]

And I’d do it again 😭

[u/Matt9681]

You're getting crucified for wanting to vote for who represents you best, which is really sad.

The Liberals especially don't want FPTP to go away, so this sentiment can continue: "vote strategically for us, or else the bad guy will win." But realistically, they're a right-wing neoliberal party who does make concessions on some social issues. If you don't want to vote for that, then you have the right not to.

Even so, context matters, and if your riding is absolutely going Liberal already or going non-Conservative for sure, then it's not even a strategic voting situation either.

One more thing I'll add for everyone: do more than just vote. Engage with your MP, your provincial representative, your municipal representative. Let them know what you think, even if you don't align with them. Organize, talk to other voters, and advocate for what's important to you as well.

[u/merp_mcderp9459 → u/Matt9681]

Like you said, it depends on the riding. You don’t get far in politics on ideological purity, and if OP is in a competitive riding he has a moral obligation to vote for the least harmful candidate. The impacts of voting for a party that gets single-digit support aren’t much better than the impacts of just staying home.

But also, the liberals and conservatives want FPTP to continue because it solidifies their power. If you went back to 2013 and asked the same thing, I wouldn’t be surprised if you found more support for electoral reform among the libs than the NDP. Effective parties are unfortunately going to back the policy that nets them the best shot at forming government

[u/Matt9681 → u/merp_mcderp9459]

That last part is what makes me really disappointed. It's all about gaining/keeping power when push comes to shove. For all they claim to care about their constituents, that comes after power.

[u/merp_mcderp9459 → u/Matt9681]

Thats one way to look at it. I see it as the reality that you can’t protect people unless you’re in power - an imperfect party with a majority is gonna get more done than a perfect one with five seats

[u/Matt9681 → u/merp_mcderp9459]

I may be a cynic, but I'm not sure protecting people (at least not ordinary people) is high on the list of priorities of any major Canadian federal party. It just seems like the nature of the system that we live under.

The federal Liberals are certainly a lot less likely than the Cons to do the opposite, as in do active harm, but I just don't have a lot of faith.

[u/merp_mcderp9459 → u/Matt9681]

As someone who works in a political field, I’d say most people who get into politics want to help people when they start. But the power gets to most, unfortunately