Reply #37: A question from an American [View All]

[Jim Lane]

You write that "the NDP split the vote in unwinnable ridings." I can certainly understand the point about a third-place no-hope NDP candidate siphoning off enough left-wing votes to let a Conservative win with a plurality short of a majority. My question is: Did it also happen the other way? Were there ridings where the Liberal candidate came in third, but where those votes, if cast for the NDP candidate, would have given the NDP candidate the seat?

My guess is that the blame for the split on the left can't be placed entirely on either party.

I'm reminded of an incident from the early career of John Kerry. His Congressional district was represented by a conservative Democrat, Phil Philbin. Many Democrats in the district thought Philbin was too conservative and was therefore vulnerable to a challenge in the 1970 election. Kerry was one of several people who planned to run against him in the Democratic primary.

Their problem was that the primary, like the Canadian general election, was a first-past-the-post vote. It was easy to foresee that, if several progressive politicians pursued their individual ambitions and ran in the primary, while the conservatives were united behind Philbin, Philbin would win with a Harperesque 40% of the vote. In fact, Philbin had won in 1968 precisely because of a split on the left.

The various would-be challengers had the sense to realize that this would be a disaster. They agreed on a caucus to select a single progressive standard-bearer. After three ballots, no one had received the requisite two-thirds support. The leader was Robert Drinan, with Kerry in second place. Under the agreed-upon rules, Kerry was entitled to continue fighting for the endorsement. Instead, however, he gave priority to the goal of a unified opposition to Philbin. He withdrew in favor of Drinan, who was thus endorsed. Kerry received a standing ovation. Drinan went on to beat Philbin and served with distinction for several terms.

Obviously, it was easier to unify in one left-leaning district than it would be to pull off the same feat all across Canada. Still, might there have been a way to figure out which left party had the better chance to win each riding, and for each to agree to bow out of the other's turf? The left parties' failure to emulate John Kerry's public-spiritedness has brought disaster upon Canada.