Lively Thought

Canadians will go to the polls on Tuesday to elect a new federal government. It is a cliche to suggest that whatever election happens to be going at the moment is “the most important election of our lifetimes,” but this is an important election. For the first time in our history we have major parties that have recognized the environment and climate change as central campaign issues and who will make reducing carbon emissions a fundamental part of their governing strategy.

The problem, however, is that even if you are concerned about the environment there are a number of parties you could legitimately choose to vote for and in Canada’s first past the post system, voting for your first choice of party can easily help hand the election to exactly the people you don’t want to win. Deciding how best to use your vote can be complicated. Luckily a couple of websites have popped up to help make your decision easier.

• Vote for Environment - When you enter your postal code on this website, you’ll get a break down of how best to use your vote for the environment in your riding
• Pair Vote - Every vote a party gets matters, even if they don’t win the riding, their future funding is directly related to their total vote tally. With Pair Vote, you can vote strategically and still help make sure your preferred party gets all the votes and funding it deserves by swapping votes with someone in another riding.

Use them. And use your vote wisely.

[UPDATE] Unfortunately, it is now too late to sign up for Pair Vote. You’ll have to find a way to vote strategically on your own.

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