Electoral Cooperation

Feb 19, 2025

A growing mass of people support the concept of electoral cooperation. This is being promoted by Cooperate for Cana da.ca (C4C). The idea is that the centre/ left parties should stop fighting each other and splitting the more progressive vote. They should unite-- to stop the dangerously expanding far-right in this country. There is a difference between electoral cooperation and strategic voting. ‘Strategic voting’ relies on individuals guessing who has the best chance of winning more votes than the party they oppose—today, it is the Ford and the Poilievre Conservatives.

Electoral cooperation argues that, in ridings where the Conservatives won with less than half the votes, the centre/ left parties should cooperate this time--to  prevent the far-right from retaining or gaining power. In Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston, almost half of our registered voters did not vote.

Our local provincial conservative candidate won with only 20.92% out of our registered voters. Across Ontario, Ford was only elected with 17.9 % of eligible voters. Big news: vote. Your vote could change things. So what do the NDP, the Liberal, and the Green parties have in common, any way? Their Values. Each party believes that supporting public Healthcare is critical, and affordable Housing for all, and protecting the Environment and Climate Actions for a safer future, and funding public Education, and protecting and supporting Farmland and farmers. The differences between them are minor. Ordinary voters can see that those three major parties, the NDPs, the Liberals and the Greens, both provincially and federally, have an awful lot in common. People come first. Profit second.

When it comes to Lanark-Frontenac Kingston, whom do we support if we want change in Ontario? Well, we hope very much that the 3 parties will cooperate. Here in LFK, our 3 progressive candidates are friendly with each other, no mud-slinging.

CooperateForCanada.ca uses polling data for general trends, but looks care fully at the new candidates, and listens to people on the ground locally. This creates a fairly accurate picture of whom they feel would be the closest to a “unity” candidate for that region, a person who best represents the values of the 3 progressive parties and has a good chance of winning in a traditionally conservative riding. I suggest that those of you who have driven to a local Emergency Room only to find it closed, who don’t have a family doctor, who understand that the Climate Crisis is not going to stay in B.C. and Al berta, who care about affordable Housing that suits our rural communities, who want support for farms and local business— those of you who want a change in the Ontario legislature —have a look at the CooperateForCanada.ca page for the On tario candidates.

Let us not split our votes, again. Ford praised Trump, until the tariffs. Ford is forcing Wilmot farmers to sell their farmland for more "development", closed a rural hospital, and wants to use our tax dollars to pave over protected wetlands and build a tunnel? Really?

VOTE. Help your aunts and neighbours to get to the polls. Tell our young adults aged 18-25 to vote, even from afar. Nearly half of our LFK Ontario electorate did not vote last time. These votes can help create positive change.- Jerri Jerrtet