BC Lags Behind Other Provinces in Life Satisfaction

[Blaster86]

John Rustad is not a great speaker. Stuttering, talking over himself, misspeaking. All while every other statement about the NDP being a lie or saying things that are usually political suicide.


But here we are...

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

There are something like 10 ridings where the Green/NDP vote share is way above the BCC candidate. This is the same story from 2013 and 2009. Green voters are people who want a right-wing government but want to maintain the moral high ground over people who openly vote for right wing parties.

I voted Green. It was a safe NDP riding and they won, but I wanted to send a message to the NDP that I wasn't happy with their shift to the right and their union-busting tactics last year.

[Blaster86]

"I'm not happy because I feel the party I voted for did some things that I wasn't totally onboard with, so I am going to cast a vote that could possibly see a party that openly advertises being far worse on these particular issues because that will show them."


Left wing voters actively vote or refuse to vote in an amazing act of self-destruction on a regular basis. Fall in love vs Fall in line. Maybe I am too willing to make compromises to keep idiots out of power, but here we are.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

"I'm not happy because I feel the party I voted for did some things that I wasn't totally onboard with, so I am going to cast a vote that could possibly see a party that openly advertises being far worse on these particular issues because that will show them."


Left wing voters actively vote or refuse to vote in an amazing act of self-destruction on a regular basis. Fall in love vs Fall in line. Maybe I am too willing to make compromises to keep idiots out of power, but here we are.

The Greens support a better expansion of safe supply. If they can force the NDP into agreeing to make that program better in a minority government, it'll save lives.

[rubecube]

Jesus ####ing christ. Conservatives have broken their own brains. A bunch of lunatics yelling about dominion voting machines and the election being rigged.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Jesus ####ing christ. Conservatives have broken their own brains. A bunch of lunatics yelling about dominion voting machines and the election being rigged.

That's basically conservatism these days. BC's conservative movement seems to be a coalition of true believer MAGAs, cynical conservatives who are happy to exploit the ignorance of that first group, traditional conservatives for whom extremism and conspiracy theories aren't a turn off, and super low information voters who are probably going to be confused why Trudeau is still Prime Minister. Trump-style conservatism seems to be popular with all those groups.

[Jason14h]

But those same people previously voted NDP and Green and Liberal in past elections ?

I guess they all changed to be crazies when they voted for a different party ��

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

But those same people previously voted NDP and Green and Liberal in past elections ?

I guess they all changed to be crazies when they voted for a different party ��

That's not really the case at all, outside of 2020 when turnout was exceptionally low. The people voting Conservative now are basically who was voting BC Liberal (which was a conservative party) in the past. Here's the main right-leaning party's vote share in BC over the last 30 years:

1996: 42%
2001: 58%
2005: 46%
2009: 46%
2013: 44%
2017: 40%
2020: 34%
2024: 44%

And I wasn't saying that every last Conservative voter fit in that group; just that that's their base now. Socially liberal moderates don't have a place in the current BC Conservative party.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

"I'm not happy because I feel the party I voted for did some things that I wasn't totally onboard with, so I am going to cast a vote that could possibly see a party that openly advertises being far worse on these particular issues because that will show them."


Left wing voters actively vote or refuse to vote in an amazing act of self-destruction on a regular basis. Fall in love vs Fall in line. Maybe I am too willing to make compromises to keep idiots out of power, but here we are.

He already said he was in a safe NDP riding. So no matter how he cast his vote, it wouldn't matter to the outcome. In those cases, it's fine to vote alternatively.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

He already said he was in a safe NDP riding. So no matter how he cast his vote, it wouldn't matter to the outcome. In those cases, it's fine to vote alternatively.

His riding was a NDP vs Green race, not safe NDP.
The green party leader ran there; it could have gone Green and lost the NDP a seat.

I'm not criticizing his vote, I think people should vote for who represents them best. Just clarifying that riding situation was a battleground, not a tossaway alternative vote.

[blender]

I have always believed that in our style of democracy, the electorate generally gets the government they deserve, for good or for bad. And yes, strategic voting can be effective, and if things are tight like now, seeing vote splitting happen in real time can be maddening. But, the other side of the argument is that unless the Conservatives pull off the majority, which looks unlikely at this point, the Greens will hold the balance of power in propping up an NDP government which, from a Green perspective, is the best possible outcome.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by blender

I have always believed that in our style of democracy, the electorate generally gets the government they deserve, for good or for bad. And yes, strategic voting can be effective, and if things are tight like now, seeing vote splitting happen in real time can be maddening. But, the other side of the argument is that unless the Conservatives pull off the majority, which looks unlikely at this point, the Greens will hold the balance of power in propping up an NDP government which, from a Green perspective, is the best possible outcome.

What have we done to deserve such terrible options?

[activeStick]

Wow, quite the results. You always hear that your vote matters, but I don't recall ever seeing the resulting numbers actually show this convincingly, but with a number of ridings in BC last night showing that 150 votes could have changed things either way, those absentee voters definitely would have changed the results.

[Winsor_Pilates]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...-now-1.7357615

Probably a week before we know final results.

[blender]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

What have we done to deserve such terrible options?

A ton of misinformation spreading through social media, a lack of a mature public discourse, misidentification of issues, general fear and uncertainty, divisive rhetoric becoming the norm and going unchallenged, a stark lack of general knowledge, even among politicians of how our system of government operates, apathy, low voter turnout, lack of quality candidates in public service positions, erosion of trust in social institutions....

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by blender

A ton of misinformation spreading through social media, a lack of a mature public discourse, misidentification of issues, general fear and uncertainty, divisive rhetoric becoming the norm and going unchallenged, a stark lack of general knowledge, even among politicians of how our system of government operates, apathy, low voter turnout, lack of quality candidates in public service positions, erosion of trust in social institutions....

Most of what you posted here is systemic of very loud people on the fringes dominating online discourse and politicians pandering to them.
I don't think the majority of people in BC deserve the poor options we had and we are victims of the things you've mentioned, not perpetrators.

I see people engaging in mature public discourse about various issues every day, you just won't find it on the internet or social media.

So maybe the collective "we" deserve the terrible political landscape we have, but I don't think most individuals do. This extends to the federal as well.

[blender]

It's interesting to consider that this may actually turn into a decent outcome for the province as a whole. Everyone wants their party to win, but an NDP-Green minority, with a strong Conservative opposition may be desirable if the Parties can work together moving forward.
NDP provides stability and moderate policy, Conservative supporters have a voice in opposition, and Greens are empowered.

Could be worse

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by blender

It's interesting to consider that this may actually turn into a decent outcome for the province as a whole. Everyone wants their party to win, but an NDP-Green minority, with a strong Conservative opposition may be desirable if the Parties can work together moving forward.
NDP provides stability and moderate policy, Conservative supporters have a voice in opposition, and Greens are empowered.

Could be worse

I'm not so sure. The current environment encourages constant fighting from the right or they don't get elected. We're not in a compromising environment.

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/b-c-politics-h...-ndp-1.7080141

Should the NDP win a minority, Rustad said, the Conservatives will do whatever they can to prevent the party from doing "any more destruction in the province."

[blender]

^^^
StreetPharm, you may well be right, but even so, there are a lot of people who support the Conservatives, and while many of us would presumably prefer they were swept aside convincingly yesterday, we all know that wasn't going to happen. Rustad is full of rhetoric, but that party has lots of career politicians in prominent roles that know how to work within the system. I guess we will see.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

Most of what you posted here is systemic of very loud people on the fringes dominating online discourse and politicians pandering to them.
I don't think the majority of people in BC deserve the poor options we had and we are victims of the things you've mentioned, not perpetrators.

I see people engaging in mature public discourse about various issues every day, you just won't find it on the internet or social media.

So maybe the collective "we" deserve the terrible political landscape we have, but I don't think most individuals do. This extends to the federal as well.

People can have all the mature public discourse they want. But if extremism isn't a deal breaker and they'll still happily vote for people who espouse crazy, fanatical views, then you're naturally going to get extremists.