Keep voting Green. It works.

I received this email from a respected scholar and promoter of sane environmental and health policy.  The subject line was  “Make your vote count for the environment plus”

I am advising people who have a good electable incumbent NDP to work and vote for them but if not, I don't think its wise not to vote Liberal  (hold your nose if you must) or we run the risk of Hudak.

In this equation, as much as we may want to support them, a vote for the Greens is a wasted vote and may benefit the Conservatives - Just my advice, good luck to us all

and provided this response which I would like to share:

I certainly have learned a lot from you and your many years of experience in fighting for what is right for the environment and human health, but this is clearly a misguided set of recommendations.

What is lost in the commentary of this election is how the Green Energy and Green Economy Act came to be.  Everybody is attributing to the Liberals, but it was not included in their 2007 platform.  What WAS included in their 2007 platform was $26 billion dollar investment into nuclear.  How somebody with your pedigree could EVER recommend voting for a party that is STILL pro-nuclear is frustrating to say the least.  I know that this is a 'lesser of two evils' strategy but more on that in a moment.  

The Liberals sat down after the last election and planned out how they could possibly get a third majority.  They knew it would be a long shot, but you have to have a plan.  It took them about 60 seconds to come up with 'We have to look Green."  The Green Party of Ontario was the only party to have any momentum after the 2007 election.  The NDP got their 10 seats again, the Liberals lost some seats and the PCs didn't gain enough to make any difference. 

The Green Party of Ontario went from less than 3% to 8% in the last election IN SPITE of:  many respected people encouraging people to abandon their Green vote because, as you say again, it will be 'wasted'; hardly any sort of a budget compared to the other parties; no participation in the pivotal Leader's debate; and very little coverage in the main stream media. 
Simple math.  If the Greens carried on with this trend in a linear fashion (and momentum usually means a steeper curve), they would be at 13% or more and cutting deep into the bones of the major parties.  The percentages always add up to 100%, so somebody is coming down that critical 5%, or more.

The Liberals started by making sure that the ban on Cosmetic Pesticides, bill 64 would have its first reading on Earth Day 2008.  They managed to push that through procedurally in spite of a record number of submissions to the EBR that took a lot of time to deal with.  That was their main environmental initiative in their 2007 platform (and first proposed by the Green Party in a press release in February of 2007). 

That taken care of, they needed something big, really big to look Green.  They needed something that would rally the environmental NGOs around them.  When Rick Smith, a long time NDPer, of Environmental Defense started talking Liberal this summer and criticizing the NDP, the Liberal strategists were grinning ear to ear.  They quietly thanked the political gods for sending them the Green Party 2007 for a road map to a third majority.  It will be close but if you asked them November of 2007 if they would be pleased to be neck and neck with the PCs with a few days to go (which means more seats for the Liberals because the PCs tend to have large margins of victories in the rural ridings), you would have heard a resounding 'yes'.

So, thus the Green Energy and Green Economy Act, the defining act of this last four years in Ontario. 

This did not come about because people voted Liberal in 2007.  This did not come about because people voted NDP in 2007.  This came about because 354,897 people, as you now advise against, wasted......wasted......WASTED their vote on the Green Party of Ontario.  This act was passed without the Greens EVER HAVING A SINGLE SEAT.  

Your assertion that the NDP will be staunch defenders of the environment is flawed as they will push for 'cheap energy for all.'  Gluttony on energy consumption is the chief driver for climate change.  Other than opposing nuclear, they do not have the political will power to take the principled stand that the Greens do on energy.

You are falling into the same trap that the two traditional power parties love to see.  We are all doomed if so and so gets in, so hold your nose and vote for party B to stop party A.  (substitute Liberal or Conservative, federal or provincial, any year that had either type of election will do).

This strategic voting backfired miserably in the federal election.  Almost all Conservatives that were targeted actually increased their vote total from 2008.  The public is just sick and tired of being told to abandon their first choice.  They know that it is the other major party, which they are equally sick of, that will always benefit.

Where is the doom and gloom in Toronto now that Rob Ford is elected?  Turns out he has egg all over his face because there wasn't a gravy train after all and his own core of support isn't quite so core any more.

But the more telling political event that should dispel any myth that we are all doomed if we don't 'stop Hudak' is what happened in B.C.  The people rallied to oust a multi-term premier who had a majority government. 

So take heart and vote with your first choice.   If indeed you value the principled and long term approach of the Greens, then vote Green and watch the tail wag the dog once more.

Mark MacKenzie