Grassroots organizations are getting creative to help you vote wisely this election – and avoid the risk of a split votes between the NDP and Liberals and returning the Conservatives to power. From vote-swapping to drumming up enthusiasm from youth, here are five orgs that are ditching partisanship to protect the greater good.
Who Leadnow
What Founded in 2010, this non-profit for “people-powered change” began with a few young individuals dedicated to “a strong democracy, a fair economy and a clean environment.”
How Votetogether.ca is the group’s focus this election campaign. Leadnow has identified 72 swing ridings across the country where it’s asking people to vote together for the best local candidate to defeat the Conservatives. So far more than 65,000 have signed Leadnow’s pledge to do so. Among the targeted Toronto-area ridings: Don Valley North, Don Valley West, Don Valley East, York Centre, Etobicoke Centre, Etobicoke-Lakeshore, Scarborough North, Scarborough-Rouge Park, Scarborough Southwest, Eglinton-Lawrence and Willowdale.
Who Youth Vote Canada
What Youth-led collective made up of Canadians between 15 and 24 exploring ways to promote issues affecting them.
How Youth Vote hosts community events and online group discussions at YouthVote.ca. The group stresses the importance of educating through articles, organized rallies and discussions in a blog and community forums, as well as on Facebook and Twitter. Its motto: “It’s about more than voting, it’s having discussions [and] staying informed.”
Just 38 per cent of the population aged 15 to 24 voted in the last Canadian election, and 71 per cent say they are uninterested in Canadian politics altogether.
SHITHARPERDID
Who Shit Harper Did (SHD.ca)
What Comedy team boasting credits from Just for Laughs, CTV, NFB and CBC. Brigette DePape, the former Senate page who came to national prominence in 2011 when she held up a Stop Harper sign during the Throne Speech, is ShitHarperDid’s lead community organizer. The group also includes Mike Bonanno (aka Igor Vamos), one part of activist duo the Yes Men.
How Comedy brings people together, so why not homemade videos and wisecracks about the government to get people thinking? That’s exactly what the artists and activists of SHD did, and it’s working. With almost 50,000 Facebook supporters, millions of YouTube views and hundreds of donors across the country, they’re making some noise, specifically with the younger crowd, with comedic videos like their popular Ryan Gosling Not Endorsing ShitHarperDid.com.
“I think if you care about telling someone something, you will work hard to wrap it up in a package like a joke, a well-made video or piece of art so they can unwrap it and sit with it and let it impact and change them,” says Emma Cooper, a comedy writer and volunteer coordinator for SHD.
Who Voteswapping.ca
What Anybody But Harper initiative headed up by former Green Party of Canada head Jim Harris.
How Simply put, NDP partisans in ridings where their candidate has no chance promise to vote Liberal, and vice versa. Elections Canada has expressed concern about identity theft and trusting fellow swappers to vote for your desired candidate. But for many it’s the only option until we get rid of our first-past-the-post system. For example, 1 million people cast votes for the Greens in the 2008 election that resulted in zero seats in Parliament. According to a recent Nanos poll, the Anybody But Harper sentiment is particularly strong this time, with 57 per cent of Liberal voters saying they might vote NDP and 50 per cent of NDP supporters saying they could vote Liberal.
Who Project Democracy (projectdemocracy.ca)
What Started in 2008 as voteforenvironment.ca, a go-to site that helped some 440,000 visitors decide on candidates with the best shot at defeating the Harper Conservatives.
How The volunteer group relies on online communication, including the Impressum forum on PD’s meme-riddled Facebook page, where current topics of interest from government actions to social and environmental issues get treated with a mix of comic and serious articles and updates.
website@nowtoronto.com | @dianawsmith
