This is another tool that takes some of the guesswork out if you don’t want to do the sleuthing on your own! votewell.ca

Final final thing — it’s totally fine if you don’t want to vote strategically! You do you 🥰 this is just a general approach and PSA for those that do (and live in a riding where it is even possible). No matter what, get out there and vote!

Final caveat to say that I hate that this is even a conversation. I’ve been working for the better part of a decade on advocating for a better electoral system, most recently in the courts with @charterchallenge.bsky.social! Check them out if you’re interested in proportional representation.

Here’s the general decision tree:

CPC has never done well in your riding? Vote for whichever party you feel most aligned with!

CPC typically wins but not by a landslide? Watch the polls and see if a candidate seems to be in the lead.

CPC typically wins by a landslide? Vote your values anyway!

So here’s the step by step plan:

1. Find your riding:

www.elections.ca/scripts/vis/...

2. Search your riding on Wikipedia and click “election results” to see how things went in the last handful of elections.

3. Get to know your candidates and look at local polling (if available)

Another example from my new riding in Calgary Confederation. This one is kind of grey, but it’s possible that consolidating the “left” vote here could be valuable. So I’ll be keeping an eye on it as the candidates start campaigning to see how it shapes up 👀

(Side note as someone who lived in that riding for several elections… nothing grinds my gears more than the Liberal candidate telling voters they need to choose them to prevent a CPC government. Disingenuous and gross 🤮 but I digress…)

Here’s an example from the riding of #Halifax:

The conservative candidate was a distant third in the 2021 election and in most elections over the last two decades. This seat is very likely NOT going to contribute to a CPC government, so here, your choice really is between the NDP and Liberals.

In any election, the only thing you are doing is voting for who will represent you in your local district or riding. That person will earn a seat in the House of Commons. The party with the most seats will form government. The only thing you can control is the outcome in your specific riding.

There is no blanket way to vote strategically. People who vote for smaller parties often hear that voting Liberal is the “strategic vote” if you want to prevent a conservative government. This is NOT true. Why? Because of how our electoral system works ➡️

In fact, though this is not widely known, most or all private weather companies in U.S. (including forecasts that you see on TV or your favorite app) are built directly atop backbone of taxpayer-funded instrumentation, data, predictive modeling, & forecasts provided by NOAA.
7/11

Miss you!!

So excited to hear this, Hannah!!! You made my Monday!

Miss you!!

Surprised you lasted this long smh

Mine would be Billions right now because we just finished it… so much sneaky content in it for film/music fans!

Unrelated to your point but “engineersplain” is the word I didn’t know I needed. Perfection.