• Jack_Burton@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      edit-2
      1 day ago

      Unfortunately they weren’t an option though. NDP members even encouraged NDP voters to vote Liberal to stop the Conservatives. The NDP should have been an option, but they weren’t. The NDP were only an “option” this election in the same way the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada or the Animal Protection Party were options; they exist.

      I have hopes (probably unrealistic) that the NDP comes back swinging HARD, screaming about social services, programs, and taxes on the wealthy, and not shutting up leading up to 2029. I hope Mamdani in NY can prove in his first 3 months leading up to when the NDP has their leadership vote that if social programs can work in the US, we can significantly increase those structures here.

      The NDP can be relevent again for the next election (I hope), but they just weren’t for this last one.

      • Soup@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        22 hours ago

        Still not an excuse. They were on the ballot, and all we’re doing is kicking the can down the road. The race was way too tight already, next election is going to be rough and the only people we’ll have to defend us are the fucking Liberals.

        Vote for the party platform that most closely aligns with your values or don’t show up at all. A vote cast against yourself weakens your representation and strengthens those who don’t give a shit about you after they’ve ripped off your vote.

        • Jack_Burton@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          20 hours ago

          There were polls suggesting a Conservative super majority. For many NDP voters the risk was just too great. There was a time not long before the election that had the Libs polling so low, and the Cons polling so high even if the NDP kept their seats the Cons would still win majority.

          I agree we should vote for the platform we most closely align with, but that said, this election was not a normal one. The US had just broken trade deals and started a trade war while talking annexation. For many, our sovereignty was at stake, and the NDP had no chance of saving us from that.

          • Soup@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            16 hours ago

            That’s the same lame excuse every single election. I remember in 2019 when the only ads I ever saw from the Liberals were about how we had to unite against the Conservatives and I remember last week when the same shit was going on in the Montréal municipal elections. It happens all the time and the excuse isn’t worth dirt.

            I’m sick and fucking tired of it. If you can’t use your vote responsibly don’t cast it. I would like people to use their power to vote and we know that anyone who says they’re “strategically” voting is well aware of the poison they’re putting in the system and that they know whonthey would otherwise vote for. If they actually deserved to use the word “strategy” they’d know that some things take time and letting another party steal your vote is just reactionary panic and has nothing to do with anything intelligent.

            Your vote is your only real voice. If you aren’t going to say what you mean and mean what you say then shut the hell up.

            • Jack_Burton@lemmy.ca
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              8 hours ago

              I understand where you’re coming from but this election did not use the same excuse, or I guess it did but this was the only time it’s really been valid. We were just threatened with annexation by our former ally, the most powerful country on the planet. We’ve never had an election with this much at stake, and voting NDP was literally risking losing our country to the US.

              The wolves were quite literally at the gate. We could vote to open it (cons), keep it closed (libs), or work on getting rid of the wolves (ndp). NDP is clearly the best choice in this scenario, but you know full well they’d never get enough support to win, and if too many of us tried, the Cons would win and open the gate.

              We need an election where Canadians take a BIG swing for chance to get out of the abusive 2 party cycle we’re in. This was not that election. I’m not arguing that Canadians are completely screwing ourselves every election, we absolutely are. What I am saying though, is given the circumstance voting Lib in the last election was the smart play. The smart play doesn’t always mean good.

              Unfortunately, the NDP just weren’t an option this time. If I can’t pay my rent I have options. 1 - get a job/pick up hours at the job I have/get a second job. 2 - Sell things I own to get enough money. 3 - become rich. Although 3 is technically an option in that it is a possibility, the fact that it ain’t gonna happen right now removes it as one. Although all 3 could be possible, for rent this month only 1 and 2 are really options.

              • Soup@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                7 hours ago

                PP was not going to let the US annex us as much as he probably cums all over himself thinking about it. Hell even right now his polling is dogshit and if he tried to actually make Canada a 51st state he’d get crucified(if he didn’t then we’d fucking deserve it anyway).

                The NDP is only not an option because we say and act like it isn’t. They run plenty of candidates and a vote cast for them is worth the same as a vote cast for anyone else. The Liberal voters could have just as easily “strategically” voted for the NDP but nooo we always have to vote Liberal as the default. That’s fucking stupid as hell and you can’t ignore that fact and expect me to just go “oh right I forgot that this only works in one direction!”

                There is nothing strategic about strategic voting. It is only done when the centrists threaten the left, and it only works in one direction. It’s an obvious trap that we fall for every time because no one actually thinks before they do anything. We could change our behaviour so easily.

                Did you know that in the election before last, even with all the shit messaging from the Liberals, the NDP got more than half their votes? They HAVE support even if our system meant that the seats weren’t there. Someone admitting that they didn’t look at the numbers with any depth isn’t a gotcha.

                • Jack_Burton@lemmy.ca
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  6 hours ago

                  If the NDP had formed government before I’d completely agree. There’s just no way the last election would go to an untested party during a time we’re being threatened by the US, and fascism is building up at our doorstep.

                  This term is arguably one of the most difficult scenarios for a gov’t to deal with in our history. I don’t blame Canadians for wanting a gov’t that, though both good and bad, has proven they actually can govern.

                  This election had a lot of the markers of the WWII era when both Canada and the US voted for a gov’t and leader with experience, King and Roosevelt respectively. We didn’t have the option of a tested leader, but we did have the option of a tested party. This effectively removed the NDP as an option.

                  I do however think you’re right that the things you’re talking about should have been done years before, and we may have effectively screwed ourselves by not making those changes when we had the chance over the last few decades. We may never get that chance again.

                  My hope is that the NDP elects a strong, charismatic leader and they come out of the gate loud and hard. Scream about social programs, services, taxing corps and the wealthy, and they don’t shut up for the next 3 years.

      • Soup@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        22 hours ago

        Yea, says who? It’s not a probability thing and our voting system might suck but if they get more votes then they win and that’s the end of it. Vote for whoever aligns with your values or don’t show up and definitely keep your mouth shut when the center-right government that stole your vote starts doing exactly what any dumbass could have predicted they’d do.