The text below is from an email circulating amongst folks during the Ontario Provincial Election currently underway. I'm posting it here so more people have a chance to see it.
Meet Gurbax Malhi…He is the former Liberal Member of Parliament for Bramalea Gore Malton in Ontario. Mr. Malhi made headlines 18 years ago when he was first elected for challenging the antiquated rule to not allow turbans in the House of Commons. He was never heard from again outside his suburban riding.
In the last Federal election, Alice Klein (Owner/editor of Toronto’s NOW magazine) and her ilk of liberal hand wringing two-party American style advocates of “strategic voting”, encouraged progressive voters to vote for Mr. Malhi because by their brilliant strategic reckoning and “scientific analysis” they deduced that the NDP or Greens couldn’t possibly win in Bramalea Gore Malton. So they recommended we hold our nose, and vote for a candidate who supported NAFTA, extending the Afghanistan mission and doing nothing on Kyoto because in their opinion, only he could stop the evil Harper Conservative candidate who is a free trading, war mongering, climate denier.
Now meet, Jagmeet Singh. NDP candidate in Bramalea Gore Malton in Ontario. Young, trilingual, criminal defence attorney for the poor, Jagmeet represents a number of not for profits, community and youth groups on a pro bon (free) basis. Jagmeet lost to the evil Harper Conservative candidate by LESS THAN 1% of the votes cast and Alice Klein’s choice (Gurbax Malhi the other free trading, war mongering, climate denier) placed a distant third.
How many progressive people took Klein’s advice and voted for Malhi virtually delivering another Conservative victory? When will the Left have the confidence of their convictions to vote for what they believe in?
Take a look at those election night results – I thought Klein and her strategic voting geniuses said “only the Liberals can defeat the evil Conservatives”.
How many times did this scenario play itself out on election night? How much did these strategic voting geniuses suppress or misdirect the progressive vote? How many ridings did these guys get wrong and end up electing Conservatives?
Thank you Alice Klein, thank you strategic voting, Stephen Harper thanks you.
Who funds these people that wrap themselves in the cloak of democracy and urge progressive people to vote for corporate candidates? What is their agenda? Would they know if they were being duped by pros? Can you build a progressive movement if every time the opportunity to make a difference comes along, someone tells you to put your principles on hold, “just this once”?
Since 1993 strategic voting advocates have been telling us that we must vote Liberal to stop Conservatives. That is over eighteen years ago. An eighteen year old voter who embraced the strategic voting doctrine as taught by Alice and her backers back in ’93 is thirty six years old today and has voted Liberal in a dozen different elections.
Rick Salutin pushes his walker down memory lane lamenting to anyone who will listen: where did all the Red Tories go? “Where art thou Bill Davis?” Are these people serious? They use their media platforms to urge progressive people to vote for the Liberals and then lament that the political spectrum has moved to the right?
You told us to go there!
