I was disappointed when Nathan Cullen announced that he wanted to make joint nominations between Liberals, NDP and Greens an option in future elections if he became leader. Prior to this point Cullen was my first choice for leader.
Cullen’s plan makes the mistaken vote that a Liberal would vote NDP before they vote Conservative, and that a New Democrat would vote Liberal before voting Conservative. I personally think neither of these are true. I also believe that not running a candidate in every constituency limits voters choices and is something that a serious party running for government cannot afford do. I can understand the arguments at the provincial level in Alberta for example to not run candidates in every constituency in order to save resources (not because of the mistaken Liberals would vote NDP and vice-versa idea) but I don’t agree with the party that is currently the official opposition in the Canadian parliament and is trying to be a serious contender for government taking this action. Sadly this means that Nathan is going to have to move down on my leadership list.
