Any time someone claims “my one vote doesn’t matter” I reply with this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_close_election_results
Yes, there are a lot of elections that are decided by a very small number of votes.
As the saying goes: “The only wasted vote is the one left uncast.”
- Wayne Gretzky
Fuck that guy
Yeah, so the Conservatives won with like 80% in my riding. I voted, but I also wondered why while doing it. Man, I wish we had proportional rep.
In your riding? Is canada just larping yorkshire?
I mean, at least York is.
We also call the Conservatives Tories, and if you do crimes you get charged by the Crown.
TIL. Glad to see at least one canadian has some sense of humor.
Yikes, I see what you mean. Lemmy is feeling touchy today.
Canada out there making us feel jealous with their “multiple parties” and “meaningful votes”
I’m worried our multiple parties could disappear after this election :( I understand why it happened but I hope the trend doesn’t continue to a two party liberal vs conservative system in Canada
The Bloc isn’t going anywhere and the NDP will likely gain seats back next election with a fresh leader, especially if they pick a charismatic one.
Ya I don’t think it will. Also remember we started with a two-party system. Political parties come and go.
Keep dreaming. There’s only 2 parties that matter, Nazis and thieves. Everybody else Is just cosplaying
“don’t ever let anyone tell you voting is pointless uwu”
imagine saying this to people who took off work to vote in the Pennsylvania Fetterman vs Dr Oz race
Voting did make a difference. But sometimes brain damage turns people into fascists. Can’t control that. Can’t not vote because it could happen.
see how you’re repeating that propaganda about a stroke turning him fascist? that’s why I don’t have hope for the colonies.
Where do you think I live? 😂
i was assuming you were the 12th person from Terra Nova - Peninsulas
When will the liberal party pass the electoral reform they were elected to pass?
how come no one remembers that WE had a referendum for voting reform and WE voted it down? everyone keeps blaming the liberals when it was the dumb ass population who fucked that up.
They won’t
They will with enough pressure. This negative attitude is useless.
Pressure as it “voting for other people” and “nationwide general strike” or pressure as in “Thoughts and prayers” online?
Because the first isn’t going to happen, as evident by this election, and the second hasn’t achieved anything so far, and will continue to achive nothing because it isn’t actually pressure.
That’s such a strawman as I have never said to “only vote.” There are many things people can do to pressure the government.
I didn’t say you said to only vote. I said voting out the current two parties is unrealistic.
So what do you propose we do that will convince the government to give up their power, short of voting them out or a general strike?
I said voting out the current two parties is unrealistic.
It worked in Quebec, the bloc supplanted the conservatives and liberals in many of their ridings. We need to have more regional parties and a larger push for proportional representation from the conservatives and liberals. Blue and Red are only so powerful thanks to our donations, volunteering and positive reinforcements. Take that away and they will be shells of their formerselves.
You do realize the block lost a third of their seats? The whole problem with the current system is that unless you can get the entirely country to simultaneously change who they back, you just further entrench whichever party is worse. Your solution boils down to, “Get people to support smaller parties instead.” That doesn’t work in a two party system, as evidenced by the current condition of our voting system, and by every other FPTP country out there.
The only way the current system changes is an organized, country-wide show of resistance that actually hurts the rich and powerful. This probably means a general strike. Unfortunately, people aren’t going to be willing to rock the boat until things start to get unlivable, and by that point extremists and grifters will be firmly entrenched and will seize power instead.
And that pressure comes from the citizens who never put pressure on. I live in a fascist government situation in Canada simply because I am disabled. But people like you would tell me to stop complaining that at least I have some support. I have chased my MP to no effect or response at all. I have done the same with my MLA. I have educated my fellow Canadians. I have ranted and raved for decades and protested about how we are treated as second class citizens and you all are not standing up for us. None of you. I’m purple in the face from screaming into the void.
You expect people to stand up for you? You’re delusional. My experiences at the bottom of Canadian society tell me otherwise.
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precisely why voting is pointless
Ahh, here’s the tankie…
You’re responsible for Donald Trump getting elected because you just focused on attacking democrats relentlessly then foolishly claimed that voting is “pointless”
Get out of here with your authoritarian tendencies.
trump? i’m not even from the us, posting in a tiny ass forum.
i like how tankies are simultaneously evil and powerful to influence an election, while at the same time a puny 1% minority that does nothing. libs have to learn more before theorizing.
Thats the fun part, they never do. Then we Anarchists get blamed for not voting hard enough
Its a stretch but I’m hoping with a liberal minority there is chance the NDP could advocate for electoral reform as negotiation point. Its a stretch but I feel like its the only way it could happen.
Yeah, there were a lot of close ones this time.
I’m Indigenous and I have family and friends who live throughout the north.
I couldn’t believe the recent Ontario election for the representative for Mushkegowuk-James Bay … the NDP candidate won it by 9 votes
And I have a ton of people in all those northern communities who all don’t vote because none of them believe that it is worth it because they are Native.
Please show them these margins. it’s crazy to me how small the number of votes are per riding and really puts everything into perspective
I’m in a riding that is consistently held by the conservatives, and not by a small amount. There are something like 40-50k votes cast in my riding and the reference between lib and conservative was about 6k.
I still go out and vote, because some day the 6k difference might be 12 individual votes…
If the conservatives win by a handful of votes, and I didn’t vote, I don’t think I could forgive myself.
I heard that there were some communities where voting closed super early. Under circumstances like that, I can sympathise with people who feel that there’s no point in voting; there were people who went out to vote but weren’t able to, and that must be so demoralising
35 difference in Terrebonne riding in QC, Liberals won.
Those anarchists, tankies, fascists and authoritarians who claim this are just trying to sabotage democracy.
Or it’s people who feel disenfranchised.
Not voting makes it easier for politicians to ignore them.
If they feel disenfranchised, they are probably already ignored.
That’s a self fulfilling prophecy.
Or a pat answer to give to disenfranchised people you don’t want represented. “If we’re ignoring you it’s because you’re not involved enough!”
Those people could also set up their own regional party to get their voices better heard in parliament like the bloc have successfully done, I’m not saying to “only vote.”
There’s always some new criterion for not being ignored.
I’m a disabled dude with a family. I live on less than half of what is considered extreme poverty for a single person in my area per year not including my wife’s income. I have no extra healthcare, dental or vision care and pay out of pocket even though I worked for ~20 years before my disability and was a part of a union. I am not disabled enough according to my government but too disabled to work according to all medical professionals I have seen, so I get no more than basic CPP. I have chronic pain and neurological damage that affects Ballance and muscle control as well as my ability to walk somewhat and do basic tasks. But I can walk and drive and from the outside look “normal” to most people.
My wife works for the federal government in a public facing seasonal position. It is a contracted position now, that used to be permanent. This avoids unions, healthcare payments, full time employment, benefits and more. Again, she works for our federal government but there is not one politician suggesting that this is no better than what private industry does to people by treating them like wage slaves.
There is no politician in this country that cares about me and my family. I have three choices on my federal ballot. The politicians would all rather I be dead. I can MAID whenever I like but I am not permitted respect or a decent life and neither are my kids. My wife doesn’t deserve a full time job or benefits that would really help pull us out of poverty even though she is highly educated in her field and uses it for her work for our government. Even if I could try to work my way out of my hole I lose all support when I hit a very low income threshold ($6900/year) and should I somehow work past that threshold by convincing a public employee to allow me, on a case by case basis, I can be assured to be watched extremely closely as if I were commiting a crime and having to report regularly not just on my taxes on a yearly basis like every other citizen.
I have spoiled every single ballot I have cast for more than a decade in every single election at every single level of politics in Canada and I get derided for it. I voted against fascism this time and held my tongue but you better believe I’m on my MP already. I’m sure my email address will be banned internally and I highly doubt my calls and emails will ever get a response.
People could give a fuck though. They prove it time and time again. Tell me again who I should vote for? And why I should give a fuck about you and your politicians? People have a lot to say but it’s all bullshit. They care about themselves.
As of 2022 there are over 320,000 people on CPP disability in the country. It has risen significantly since then. That’s certainly not 22 million but we deserve as others do.
anarchists, tankies, fascists and authoritarians
Spot the odd one out!
I’ve definitely seen anarchists describe frustration with electoral politics, especially when people limit their political engagement to simply voting once every so many years. However, I’ve never seen one advocate against voting.
Anarchists are generally aware that, despite elections not being the thing that will overthrow the bourgeoisie, some parties result in less suffering for oppressed peoples than others.
There’s a long history of anarchists who oppose voting
https://libcom.org/article/why-anarchists-dont-vote-elisee-reclus
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/aotearoa-workers-solidarity-movement-why-we-don-t-vote
https://apps.lib.umich.edu/online-exhibits/exhibits/show/debatedemocracy/anarchism---anti-voting
Libs will do anything they can to avoid understanding anti-electoralism
The anarchist argument is that voting somehow endorses the state and is consent to being governed. It’s not a very good argument, but it is an argument nevertheless.
That’s not an actual argument I’ve ever heard and I’m an anarchist myself, it usually goes more like:
Voting is a waste of time especially the more disenfranchised you are, mutual aid lasts longer and does more for people around you in the short term, in the long term you can build community get organized, and bargain for more than what simply voting can get you.
Personally that’s not a bad argument, see I’m living in Israel and my town’s going through gentrification, and the state I’m living under is fascist and the fascism is so normalized, not because of people like me refusing to vote, but because of liberals who were never so different from the fascists, constantly giving them ground, always bargaining for the bare minimum.
The only people actually getting anything done that is remotely positive are activists, like the people protesting to stop the genocide, and getting involved physically with sabotaging fascist efforts to stop humanitarian aid from getting into gaza.
Or at least that’s how it was months ago, i haven’t found it in me to listen to the news on quite a while, so what do i know.
I live in Illinois. If somehow the heavens and earth move such that Illinois turned red, then there would be absolutely zero chance it would be the tipping point in the presidential election. The vast majority of people in the US live in safe states.
And for the record, I do vote in down-ballot races, the ones that actually matter, but none of you care because it’s all about genuflecting before the leader of the blue tribe. Which, frankly, just gives me more reason to refuse to.
“Democracy” doesn’t need our help to be sabotaged, it’s falling apart on it’s own. Every time someone says that the voters have to change en masse to meet the policies of politicians rather than politicians having to respond to what their constituents want, they are the ones taking the axe to democracy. Why the hell would anyone care about upholding or defending a system that we have no say in? Somehow, insisting on popular demands and trying to turn the will of the people into policies that protect the rights of the vulnerable gets translated into “trying to sabotage democracy” equating Anarchists and Marxists alike with fascists.
Congratulations on four more years of a milktoast centrist liberal, is he going to acturally fix the problems? Or is he going to be like Biden and make the big talk of peace and prosperity while sending weapons to fund genocide?
FYI the word you’re so desperate to use is milquetoast, not milktoast.
Unlike his Conservative opponent, Carney has a resume of fixing problems more than talking. He has done a lot of talking during the campaign, as one should to get elected, now Canadians have a part in holding him to account as PM.
What has he done? All I know about the Canadian Liberals is that like the American liberals they have a long history of promises and a short history of keeping them.
His headline accomplishments are leading the Bank of Canada as governor, keeping Canada out of the worst of the 08 recession, then helped ease the fall of UK’s economy post-Brexit, then in his short 1st term as Prime Minister taking over from Trudeau, he managed to shut Trump up about the 51st state stuff for nearly a month, after just one call.
I have the feeling that you would be inclined to deny the distinction between the Biden presidency and the trump presidency that followed it.
Fundamentally Trump would not have gotten anywhere without decades of milqtoast ineffective liberals and corrupt milquetoast politicans, the Democrats are at direct fault for this. They built the conditions where people demanded something new and they gave them more of the same. They fought the left viciously while giving up the fight against fascism.
I have family in this riding so I was watching it closely. It was very nerve-racking to see how close it was. It was conservative several times while they were finishing counting all the votes.
