As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, this election is out of the norm. It is exceptional and we cannot and should not apply traditional rules of behaviour to it. The real ballot question — whether it is for you or not – is the removal of Stephen Harper and his party from government.

What was confusing for most of us, once we got past our certainty that Harper must go, is whether to vote NDP or Liberal.

SHORT VERSION:

If you don’t want to read any further and just want to know whether to vote Liberal or NDP, go here: http://www.strategicvoting.ca/swingdistricts.php

Locate your riding (it’s on the voter card your received by mail), and they will recommend whether you should vote NDP or Liberal, in order to unseat Stephen Harper.

Done. You can stop reading and go vote tomorrow, Monday October 19th, 2015.

LONGER VERSION:

Strategic voting is tricky, and a misnomer to begin with. I can’t fully get behind it in principle, and I have outlined why in the past. As explained in that article, most people don’t do it correctly. Fortunately, if you wish to do it, the people at the site linked about have done all the calculating, understanding and heavy lifting, and you can simply follow their recommendation.

This will, indeed, insure that your personal vote is going towards unseating Stephen Harper. So to re-interate:

1. Go here: http://www.strategicvoting.ca/swingdistricts.php
2. Locate your riding (it’s on your voter card you received by mail)
3. See the recommended vote and make your decision.

The confusion that most of us felt between NDP and Liberal is mainly due to the fact that both parties became too much like each other, something I suspected might happen as far back as three years ago.

If you live in a riding where the Conservative candidate is not a strong contender (e.g. the contest is between the Liberal and NDP, or NDP and Green), you can vote your heart and head. Your vote too will be removing Harper from office.