Public input and regulation of the "airwaves" is one of cornerstones for a well-functioning democratic country. We learn much of what we know about the world around us from the mainstream media. We are even more in tune with what's going on with the advent of the internet.

Photo montage by Mitch Harrison for Catch 22 Harper Conservatives.

Cross-posted from my blog - Prorogued.

Last night I had the pleasure to be invited by CAPP-Waterloo, Fair Vote Canada-Waterloo and Civis Mundi to a debate on "Strategic voting - What's a voter to do?". About 50 people were in attendance including a number of candidates from the two Kitchener ridings that have been identified by Catch 22 Harper Conservatives as winnable (for the Liberals). I was debating Scott Piatkowski who was participating as an individual although he did identify his NDP creds.There was some good discussion and questions after the speeches which kept coming back to the issue of electoral reform as well as disagreements over strategic voting by some of the partisans attending.

The Catch 22 Harper Conservatives strategy is to target winnable ridings, recruit volunteers and communicate with voters before the next election is called. The rationale for this strategy is based on understanding Canada's "single member plurality" voting system and factors such as voting patterns, voter attitudes, campaign dynamics and local issues.