John Baird has been a disaster for the environment. He is also a belligerent, stonewalling brute in the government- a minister of spin and disarray.
If every progressive voter- NDP, GREEN and yes, Liberal votes strategically, that blathering apparatchik can be sent packing. Check out Vote For The Environment and look into vote swapping/ vote pairing.
In British Columbia ridings many of the races are fairly competitive. Often the Conservatives have won because of a split among progressive voters. Choosing to support the most popular progressive candidate ie Liberal, NDP or Green would defeat the Tories in the ridings of Burnaby- Douglas, Burnaby- New Westminster, Cariboo- Prince George, Esquimalt- Juan de Fuca, Fleetwood- Port Kells, Kamloops- Thompson- Cariboo, Nanaimo- Alberny, New Westminster- Coaquitlam, Okanagan- Shuswap, Pitt Meadows- Maple ridge- Mission, Port Moody- Westwood- Port Coaquitlam, Saanich- Gulf Islands, South Surrey- White Rock- Cloverdale, Surrey North, Vancouver Island North, Vancouver Quadra,and West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast- Sea to Sky Country. Check your riding to see the best bet for defeating the Tories.
Especially important is to defeat Minister Gary Lunn in Saanich- Gulf islands, who strongly supports oil at the expense of the environment and who regards nuclear safety as an after thought.
Until we get proportional representation and one vote really does count, strategic voting and vote swapping initiatives have to be part of the environmentalist's political tool box.
Over at Vote For the Environment, they have some suggestions for avoiding vote splitting in the ridings of Edmonton Center and Edmonton-Strathcona. However, several other ridings in Alberta could swing away from the Conservatives if folks voted en masse for one opposition candidate.
Calgary Center, Calgary Centre-North, Edmonton East all could defeat the Tory incumbent if the opposition voters parked their vote with the strongest opposition candidate- in these cases Hee Sung Kim with the Liberals, John Chan with the NDP and Stephanie Laskoski of the Liberals, respectively.
