Running only one progressive candidate per riding removes voters' right to choose.
by Bill Tieleman
The reactionary is always willing to take a progressive attitude on any issue that is dead.
– US president Teddy Roosevelt 1901-1909
“Unite the left! Have all progressive parties defeat Stephen Harper’s evil Conservatives” is the rallying cry of a coalition of increasingly angry agitators.
But my reply is simple: Unite progressives my posterior!
The reality is that neither the federal Liberal nor Green parties is “left” or “progressive” — and certainly not a merger match for the New Democratic Party.
And despite calls for lowest-common-denominator politics to defeat Harper, there’s a fundamental problem even bigger than creating a co-operative voting coalition for just one election.
Believing all NDP supporters would vote for a Liberal or Green candidate requires an ideological leap of logic.
It’s that the "Anyone But Conservatives" movement is based on removing voters’ right to choose the party of their own liking.
This coercive and anti-democratic impulse is driven by the deluded desperation of Harper haters. That’s why it will never work.
But it hasn’t stopped Vancouver-Quadra MP and Liberal leadership contender Joyce Murray from promoting the idea of joint nominations for the 2015 election, followed by electoral system reform.
The concept is flawed, because believing all NDP supporters would vote for a Liberal or Green candidate requires an ideological leap of logic.
And even if the three parties came to an agreement, it’s likely some supporters would rebel and create other parties that matched their perspective.
As for the Liberals' compatibility in an electoral coalition, look at Liberal MP and dauphin Justin Trudeau’s most recent pronouncements.
Trudeau supports the Chinese state-owned CNOOC oil company’s proposed takeover of Calgary-based oil and gas producer Nexen because it’s “good for Canada” — without addressing the sell out of our resources or the issue of a Communist dictatorship increasingly owning big chunks of our economy.
Then there’s Green Party leader Elizabeth May’s constant contradictions on ecological and progressive issues.
How can any self-respecting Green look himself or herself in the environmental mirror after their calculating candidate in the Victoria byelection opposed a plant to treat the 130-million litres of raw sewage dumped into the ocean daily?
And Trudeau agreed with their twisted position!
What’s even worse than another Harper Conservative government is a country where high-minded elites deprive voters of a full range of political parties in the next election.
About Bill Tieleman
Bill Tieleman, president of West Star Communications, is one of BC's best known political commentators and communicators. Read political commentary from Bill every Tuesday in 24 hours, Vancouver's free weekday newspaper (also online) and in The Tyee — BC's award-winning online magazine.
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