John Horgan, leader of the BC NDP, and Sonia Furstenau, leader of the BC Greens: Please cooperate to increase your wins in the October 24 provincial election.

• Agree not to compete in at least two sets of paired ridings.
• Expected Result: Greens get 2 additional seats & NDP gets 2 additional seats.

We ask that NDP and Green party leaders work together to hack the FPTP system and reduce Liberal wins so voters are better represented. Candidates can withdraw up to Oct 12th (48 hours before advanced voting starts on Oct 15), so there is a window in which cooperation is possible. Please seize this chance.

The NDP's lead in the polls is shakier than they would like to believe, so every seat counts, especially if an NDP-Green coalition is needed. We simply can't afford inaction on the climate crisis and money laundering crime, or further bilking of BC crown corporations, under a wacky Liberal government that wants to vanish the PST for a year! 

The NDP should officially step down in 2 ridings and the Greens should officially step down in the other 2 ridings. This would be announced by a joint press release to ensure a clear agreement. These 4 ridings would then have a fair chance of electing a progressive candidate. (See the example in the Table below.)

The BC Green and BC NDP parties and voters share many values, despite some differences. Left-leaning voters in BC ridings often face a difficult task of choosing between two excellent, left-leaning candidates. Voters try strategic voting to avoid electing a right-leaning candidate, but this strategy can fail. Vote-splitting between similar parties is an unfortunate feature of the antiquated First Past the Post (FPTP) electoral system, which works best for a contest between only two parties. The will of the voters is thwarted when the least popular candidate wins due to voters with similar values spreading their votes between parties with similar values. For example, in 2017 Liberal candidates won 17 seats with less than 50% of the votes due to vote-splitting between other parties.

We have chosen 2 ridings where Green support was strong to pair with two ridings where NDP support was strong (see the Table above) as a logical example of progressive party cooperation. The 2017 election results suggest that the NDP candidates should step down and endorse the Green candidates in Parksville-Qualicum and West Vancouver-Sea to Sky, while in Fraser-Nicola and Richmond-Queensborough, the Green candidates should step down and endorse the NDP candidates. A single progressive candidate in each of these four ridings would allow for a “fair fight” between progressive and conservative candidates. FPTP was built for this kind of 1 to 1 election.

Though the BC NDP is currently leading in voter polls, victory is not secure. The polling data from 2017 to 2020 (see the graph above from the Wikipedia page “2020 British Columbia General Election”) shows that about 10% of voters intend to vote Conservative, but many of those voters may decide to vote Liberal, and if they do, the NDP lead over the Liberals will disappear.

Please seize this chance to reduce Liberal wins and maximize Green and NDP seats.

Signed Sincerely,

Progressive Voters of BC

Supporting References and Source Data:

“Candidates may not withdraw within 48 hours before the start of advance voting for the election.” Therefore candidates may withdraw earlier than 48 hours before the start of advanced polling. (https://elections.bc.ca/docs/guidebooks/856-Guide-for-Candidates.pdf, page 9)

Elisabeth May: “We'd be prepared to talk to anyone about any form of electoral co-operation that would give Canadians a Parliament that would reflect the way they really voted… Electoral co-operation could mean parties would agree not to compete against each other in certain ridings.” (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/elizabeth-may-pitches-electoral-co-operation-for-next-election-1.2712904)

Sonia Furstenau: “We do not need to accept it when career politicians tell us that our goals are impossible. Outdated ways of thinking and partisan divisiveness are standing in our way.” (Quotes from the video at https://www.soniafurstenau.ca/about/ )

Graphic source A: In the 2017 BC General Election, Liberal candidates won 17 seats (of a total of 87 provincial seats), with less than 50% voter support. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_British_Columbia_general_election )

Graphic source B: Voter Intention Polling summary leading up to the 2020 BC general election. (From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_British_Columbia_general_election)