TORONTO, May 8, 2025 – Cooperate for Canada (C4C) has revealed that 29 Conservative wins were not due to a surge of Conservative support in certain ridings. Instead, they were caused by the Liberals, NDP, and Greens splitting the more progressive vote.
“While some observers have been giving Pierre Poilievre credit for increasing the number of Conservative MPs,” said Barbara Schumacher, Cooperate for Canada, “our dysfunctional first-past-the-post system was a significant factor in generating the increase in seats.”
This means that the majority of citizens in 29 ridings will be “represented” by a Conservative, even though their values differ greatly.
The riding of Nanaimo-Ladysmith is one example of this egregious misrepresentation. Only 35.2% of voters supported the new Conservative MP Tamara Kronis while LPC, NDP and GPC candidates split the vote. In North Island-Powell River where NDP was the strategic vote, CPC Aaron Gunn won a seat with 38.8% of the vote. For Kitchener Centre, the strategic vote was Green, and had a few more than 423 voters switched from Liberal to Green, Mike Morrice would have been re-elected. Calgary would have had two more Liberal MPs if the centre/left hadn’t divided the vote.
“It is infuriating that dozens of ridings, including mine, are now represented by MPs who embody the antithesis of the Canada the majority of us envision,” said Marilyn Hay, Cooperate for Canada. “We need an electoral system that doesn’t skew the voting results. The new Carney government must introduce electoral reform.”
About Cooperate For Canada
Cooperate for Canada (C4C) is a grassroots movement to promote electoral cooperation among the progressive political parties, with an aim to prevent the Conservative party from winning due to vote splitting. Learn more at cooperateforcanada.ca
Media Contacts
English
Barbara Schumacher
bschumac@uwaterloo.ca
226-753-9861
Français
Marilyn Hay
haymarilyn7@gmail.com
226-972-3699