The final week of an election campaign is the best way to see how each of the campaigns believe they are doing with the electorate. Confidence and desperation both can set in. The tactics change, the message changes, and the Strategic Voting straw man gets put out once again. The Kathleen Wynne and the Ontario Liberals are deploying it now against Andrea Horwath and the NDP. Ads are targeting NDP voters stating that only the Ontario Liberals are in the best position to stop the Tim Hudak Progressive Conservatives.

PHOTO CREDIT - NationalPost.com

South Dundas - June 11, 2014 - The final week of an election campaign is the best way to see how each of the campaigns believe they are doing with the electorate. Confidence and desperation both can set in. The tactics change, the message changes, and the Strategic Voting straw man gets put out once again.

Strategic Voting. What is strategic voting? The concept is that instead of voting for your party or candidate of choice, you hold your nose and vote for the party most able to win against the party you least want to win. In a sense, vote for the least offensive option to avoid getting the most offensive option in power.

It is wrong, Strategic Voting is wrong. It is a bogus concept and an affront to the democratic principles of which our electoral system is based on. It is a power grab, usually played by a party in power, which fears losing power, and will do whatever it will take to keep that power.

The Kathleen Wynne and the Ontario Liberals are deploying it now against Andrea Horwath and the NDP. Ads are targeting NDP voters stating that only the Ontario Liberals are in the best position to stop the Tim Hudak Progressive Conservatives.

Enough.

Our electoral system was set up so that voters could vote for whomever is on the ballot. At the end of the day, whoever has the most votes wins. Period. This concept of strategic voting is nothing more that allowing parties that deserve to lose at the polls for their past actions, get away with it.

If a voter wants to vote for the Green Party, then they should vote with their convictions and vote Green Party, same if they support the PC's, the NDP, the Libertarians or yes, even the Liberals.

This strategic voting nonsense is just that, nonsense. Furthermore, it's a corruption of our ability to elect the governments we want, or deserve. If more people voted with their convictions and beliefs, rather than strategically picking a lesser choice because a "talking-head" said so, more parties would get support in the province, not just the big-three. That benefits all of us, as many of these smaller parties have great ideas too.

We've all seen how well the NDP, the PC's and the Liberals have run the province. Could any of these other options really be so bad?

So when you cast your ballot, if you haven't already voted already, think about the party you want most to represent YOU, the voter. Don't think about the strategic vote, the "the-enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend" vote, or the "if-this-then-that" type of vote. Look at the parties, look at the platforms, the candidates and the leaders. Then cast your ballot for candidate and party YOU want.

Voting based on what you, as a voter, feel and believe is at the core of our democratic society, and no one has the right to corrupt that process, just to stay in power.