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elcome to the longest federal election in modern Canadian history! While that fact will make many groan, it is nonetheless an opportunity to build momentum for change. One Cowichan recently did a survey of our supporters about the election. While the results weren’t scientific, they did find a whopping 94% of people saying that “it’s time for a change.” What does change look like though? That’s where it gets interesting. Our federal riding boundary has been altered, along with dozens of other ridings across the country. Our riding now excludes Ladysmith to the North, but includes Langford to the South, and runs all the way out to Port Renfrew to the West. If you run the 2011 election results from the neighbourhood level through our new riding boundary, the NDP would have beat the Conservative candidate by just 253 votes. Now, that’s just a snapshot in time. A real poll we did with the company Insights West in May of this year found the NDP beating the Conservatives by 10%, but also found the latter ahead in the older demographic that tends to show up to vote. The Greens and the Liberals are also looking for a better showing than last time, making for a very fluid situation. Unfortunately, for this election we are stuck with the archaic “first past the post” electoral system, where each riding can
New electoral boundaries for Cowichan -Malahat -Langford
Get Active This Federal Election have only one winner, and where one party can therefore win 100% of the power with less than a majority of the vote – last time the Conservatives had 39% of the vote, and just 26% of eligible voters. The good news is that all of the opposition parties are promising to reform our voting system to make it fairer. That’s one great starting point for change, improving our democracy so that Parliament better reflects the will of the electorate. When we asked in our supporter survey what other kinds of change people wanted to see, they weighed in on answers ranging from a fairer economy to better protection of our environment to safeguarding
healthcare. So, a question: what is the positive change you want to see? This election, One Cowichan supporters will be carrying that question to the doorstep in order to engage people in the election and to boost progressive voter turnout. Many see this election as a critical one, and I would encourage you to embrace this opportunity to be active for change. If one of the parties appeals to you particularly, get involved there. If not, we’d welcome you as part of our campaign. Visit OneCowichan.ca for more.
Matt Price is a director with One Cowichan and well known for organizing social change across Canada.
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