How to cast your vote on May 2? Voters need to ask themselves which is the most important of these three questions:

1. who is their local MP,
2. who is the official opposition, or
3. who runs the government of Canada.

If your answer is 1, you obviously have no clue how our system really works. Your local MP is essentially a bum in a seat in Parliament, a cipher in the tally that determines how the blocks of whipped votes add up in the chamber. Even if your MP’s bum sits in the ranks of cabinet, their role is to obey the edicts of the Prime Minister’s Office.

If it’s 2, you’re not much ahead of No. 1. The ultimate Canadian trivia question would be to name past Leaders of the Opposition.

If the question that matters to you the most is 3 — who has control of the Canadian state apparatus — if the Conservatives have a crack at planting one of their bums in your local seat, the only rational approach is to vote for whoever is most likely to prevent that from happening.