Natasha Bulowski
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Canada’s National Observer
The Green Party has filed a complaint against the NDP with Canada’s elections watchdog for spreading misinformation through a website that is excluding some election data when advising Canadians how to cast their vote.
The homepage of the Progressive Vote Guide says its purpose is to tell Canadians which ridings the Conservatives are weak in so they can vote NDP without fear of splitting the progressive vote.
Its advice for the Nanaimo-Ladysmith riding on Vancouver Island — where Green candidate Paul Manly received over 25 per cent of the vote in 2021 — shows NDP incumbent Lisa Marie Barron in a tight race with Conservative candidate Tamara Kronis and Liberal candidate Michelle Corfield trailing in third. Manly is not included in the results at all.
A poll by Oracle Research, commissioned by the Greens, has Manly at 27 per cent among decided voters and Barron at 13 per cent.
It polled 600 voting age residents in Nanaimo-Ladysmith in person-to-person telephone surveys between April 16 and April 17 with a margin of error of 4 per cent.
The Green Party press release says NDP staffers “actively promoted” the strategic voting website.
On April 21, Peter Julian — the NDP’s incumbent MP for New Westminster-Burnaby — posted a link to the website on the social media site X, urging people to check it out.
The homepage says it is “powered by Elections Canada official final results of the 2021 general election adjusted to new boundaries by Elections Canada.” Nanaimo-Ladysmith is one of the ridings with boundary changes.
Canada’s National Observer asked the NDP for comment on the situation and later that day posed the question to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh in a virtual press conference on April 22.
Singh did not directly respond to Canada’s National Observer’s question, nor its follow-up question about the Green Party’s complaint.
Instead he said many strategic voting websites regularly promote the Liberal Party and that “if you want to stop Conservatives, vote New Democrat. If you also want someone that’s going to … stop liberals like Mark Carney from cutting the things that you need, vote New Democrat.”
An hour later, an NDP spokesperson contacted Canada’s National Observer but did not offer a statement. Instead, they sent information “on background” — indicating it shouldn’t be attributed to the NDP — that pointed out the federal Green Party was sanctioned by Elections Canada in 2016, and said “that website isn’t ours.”
(Canada’s National Observer did not agree to any terms related to receiving information “on background” instead of an official statement or interview. The Green Party has not claimed the NDP owns the website.)
Sonal Champsee of Cooperate for Canada, a volunteer-run organization that aims to promote electoral cooperation among the progressive political parties, defended the Green Party in an emailed statement.
“Progressive voters are increasingly reliant on polling information to make strategic voting decisions because they feel their voice is otherwise unheard in our first-past-the-post system,” Champsee said.
“Unfortunately, when parties that largely agree with each other are left to compete instead of cooperating, transparency becomes the first victim. It’s ironic that Green Party Co-Leaders Elizabeth May and Jonathan Pedneault had reached out to the Liberals, NDP and BQ to open the conversation on cooperation prior to the election, and now they appear to be the most targeted by the lack.”
In her statement, Champsee called on “other Centre/Left parties to leave the divisive, American-style politics behind, and do better.”
The Commissioner of Canada Elections’ office could not provide comment due to confidentiality provisions in the Canada Elections Act, but if it falls within the commissioner’s mandate a review or investigation will take place.
