Ways to Get Rid of Harper: Voting NDP Straight Up, or in a Vote Swap?

Yesterday I had the pleasure of seeing an NDP welcome for Jack Layton spill out of the Westmount-Ville Marie election office and take over Sherbrooke street. The election tour bus—painted with big NDP graphics and driven by a smartly dressed female driver—attracted quite a bit of attention, and the crowd on the sidewalk straining to get a glimpse of Layton, Anne Lagacé Dawson, Thomas Mulcair and other NDP candidates was clearly upbeat. This election is an important one, and I think people in Quebec and elsewhere are looking around for some way to put the country back on track. As I’ve said before, unhappy Liberals should vote NDP because that is where principled positions and solid leadership is.

An attempt to start a “swap vote” campaign is also an interesting development. Having voted for losing candidates in many, many elections for reasons of principle, I’m quite comfortable usually with voting my heart and not strategically. But in this important election, the Anti-Harper Vote Swap Facebook group bears watching. This morning it has 675 members, and aims to match up voters who want to stop the Harper Conservatives. Under it a Liberal living in a riding where the NDP has a good chance to win would agree to vote NDP in exchange for a NDPer voting Liberal in a riding where the Liberal is in a tight, but winnable, race against a Conservative. Check the group out.