In my riding, Burnaby-Douglas, the incumbent, Bill Siskay, is one of the few openly gay politicians ever to hold a seat in Canadian parliament. Siskay is the latest in a long line of NDP candidates to win this seat - however, the margin of victory has been slim over the past few elections. He won in 2008 by a mere 798 votes over the Conservative candidate, Ronald Leung. Strategic voting: Leung is the only candidate returning for his party in this riding for the 2011 election. Siskay has stepped aside, so the strongest shot at keeping this seat away from the Harper government is a new candidate for the incumbent NDP, Kennedy Stewart (I'm sure Mr Leung is a nice person, but a Harper majority is NOT where I want to see Canada go.) Ken Low is the Liberal candidate, and while his community involvement is admirable, he has little political experience. I line up pretty strongly with the belief system behind the Green Party, and Adrianne Merlo seems like a person I would like to support. Unfortunately, the Greens are politically irrelevant on the national stage, and a left-wing vote split just plays into the Conservative agenda. Sometimes I wish we would alter our system to allow for a separate vote - one for Prime Minister, and one for the local MP.
I guess I'm voting Stewart, and the NDP, in this election.
