Low support for Greens and NDP on P.E.I. came as no surprise to local candidates
Strategic voting, fear of a Conservative win drove down support for smaller parties
It came as little surprise to two federal candidates on Prince Edward Island that the Green Party and NDP received such low support in Monday's federal election.
All four of the Island's ridings remained Liberal red on election night, with the party gathering 58 per cent of the popular vote. The Conservatives also made gains to earn 37.24 per cent of the vote, while support for smaller parties like the Greens and NDP shrank.
On P.E.I., the NDP had garnered about 2.5 per cent of the total vote by late Tuesday afternoon, with some poll results still to come, and the Greens had about 2.25 per cent.
In the 2021 federal election, the New Democrats earned 9.2 per cent of the popular vote on P.E.I., and the Greens placed even higher with 9.5 per cent.
Anna Keenan, who ran for the Greens in Malpeque, finished third in the central P.E.I. riding with 1,020 votes. She trailed Liberal incumbent Heath MacDonald, who received 14,864 votes, and Conservative candidate Jamie Fox, who earned 9,639 votes.
"I think we could see this coming from the very start of the election campaign. It was a very strong strategic voting election," Keenan told CBC's Island Morning.
"I had hundreds of people tell me… 'I think you're the best candidate to represent the riding, but I'm not voting for you, and the reason is because I'm terrified of what a conservative Pierre Poilievre-led government would mean for Canada.' And the votes from [the Greens and NDP] all flowed very, very directly to the Liberals."
Joe Byrne, who ran for the NDP in Charlottetown, described a similar experience. He said voters were motivated by fear and uncertainty — not just of Poilievre, but also of U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war and threats to annex Canada as the 51st American state.
"These are polarizing times in a country that has been experiencing increasing polarization," Byrne said.
"I had the same experience as Anna, people telling me, 'You did great, I want to vote for you, but I have to vote against Poilievre.'"
NDP, Greens facing major losses
Late Monday night, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announced he would be stepping down from the federal party's top job.
Singh not only finished third in his own riding of Burnaby Central, but his party was on track to lose more than two-thirds of its seats. The New Democrats will also lose official party status in the House of Commons, falling short of the 12-member minimum.
Byrne said he's already spoken to key stakeholders within the party.
"The critical piece on this is, you know, we have to keep working," he said.
The Green Party faced its own setbacks. While co-leader Elizabeth May held onto her seat in British Columbia, earning her fifth term, the party's other co-leader, Jonathan Pedneault, placed third in his Outremont riding in Quebec.
Earlier this month, the Greens were dropped from the leaders' debates for failing to meet participation requirements.
"It was an error for him to choose that particular riding," Keenan said of Pedneault. "I think his exclusion from the leaders' debate was extremely unfortunate for our party, but also unfortunate for Canada, to be missing that strong voice for the environment and for action on climate change
She also raised concerns about Liberal Leader Mark Carney's remarks suggesting renewed openness to pipelines.
"I really hope that there is somebody who's going to hold him to account. And I'm really glad that Elizabeth May was re-elected, because she brings truth and deep knowledge on this issue."
Financing rules an issue
Keenan said she wanted to see three things happen election night: to see three Green MPs re-elected, to secure 10 per cent of the vote in Malpeque, and to have the party reach 2 per cent nationally — the thresholds needed for candidates to be eligible for partial reimbursement of election expenses.
None of those goals was achieved.
Keenan said Canadian rules around election finance put smaller parties at a disadvantage.
"It makes it very hard for us to grow," she said.
Keenan said the solution to better support minor parties is to move to proportional representation — a system in which seats in Parliament reflect the percentage of the vote each party receives nationwide, rather than a first-past-the-post approach.
"If we had proportional representation, we would have a diversity of representation here on the Island. People wouldn't have felt afraid to vote and pressured to vote strategically, and we would have more balance," she said.
With files from Island Morning