So tomorrow I have to vote. I don’t support the liberals. My conservative MLA has done squat for this riding and I would really like to punish him, or at least let him know that the conservatives can’t just assume every riding in Alberta will support them.
For the last few elections I have supported the Green party. How can you not like them, and they appreciate every vote.
But, in my riding there is an NDP running, Linda Duncan. The newspaper did an article on her last month and I like a lot of what she is saying. The thing is that I don’t like the NDP. They couldn’t balance a budget with an army of accountants. (Plus the cost of that army would almost certainly unbalance that budget.)
I’ve been going with the assumption that my vote doesn’t count. Then Jack Layton announces that this is the riding in Alberta where he thinks he will finally get his second NDP MLA elected. And he’s speaking historically with that last statement, not currently. The NDP really aren’t loved in Alberta.
So if I vote strategically, I should go for Ms. Duncan. That makes sense, doesn’t it? I have a plan, I am content.
Then Mr. Layton goes and ruins it. He declares that people shouldn’t vote strategically. You should vote for the party that is going to do the best for Canada, instead of the party that isn’t the worst. Otherwise Canada will never get the best.
Please realize I am paraphrasing from memory here, so it isn’t an exact quote.
Now what? Was he speaking on a riding basis or a Canada basis? I don’t know! The former would mean I should vote NDP, the latter Green.
Any advice now would be greatly appreciated.