Federal Election 2015: Strategic voters challenge democracy
CBC Radio | Posted: October 15, 2015 12:13 PM | Last Updated: October 16, 2015
Knock, Knock.
You may have had a lot of people knocking on your door this election campaign, wanting to talk politics.
And perhaps you even had someone from an organization called Lead Now come by or maybe someone with a similar campaign to get Canadians to vote strategically -- casting your ballot not necessarily for the party you love... but for the one with the best chance of preventing another Conservative government.
Of course, strategic voting isn't a new phenomenon.... but with a hotly contested election coming right down to the wire, we're asking today whether strategic voting is truly healthy for democracy.
- Amara Possian is the election campaign manager for the political advocacy organization Lead Now. She joined us in our Toronto studio to tell us how Vote Together, its strategic voting project works.
- Michael Byers is a professor of political science at the University of British Columbia. He feels strategic voting turns voting into a negative instead of positive experience.
Will you be voting strategically this election? Do you think it helps or harms our democratic process?
You can tweet us @thecurrentcbc. Or post on our Facebook page. And as always feel free to send us an email.
This segment was produced by The Current's Pacinthe Mattar and Marc Apollonio.