A left-leaning organization called Leadnow is urging residents in Port Moody-Coquitlam to vote strategically in the fall federal election.
The non-aligned group has been working in the riding for months trying to convince people to sign a pledge to vote for the candidate best able to prevent a Conservative win.
The Port Moody-Coquitlam Conservative flag-bearer Tim Laidler has the best chance at winning the riding if the NDP, Liberals and Green Party split the left vote, said Leadnow campaigner Jolan Bailey and the group doesn't want that to happen.
"Based on the new boundaries, we looked at the ways the voters in those neighbourhoods voted and results from 2011 data show the Conservatives could win the new riding with 2,500 votes," Bailey said.
The other candidates in the riding are Fin Donnelly, the NDP MP who previously represented the riding before the boundary changes happened as well as Jessie Adcock for the Liberals and the Green Party's Marcus Madsen.
Bailey confirmed that Leadnow has paid staff to campaign in 12 ridings across the country — the other Metro Vancouver seat it is targeting is Vancouver-Granville — and he said there is increasing interest even among card-carrying party members to consider strategic voting.
In Port Moody-Coquitlam, the group has already obtained the necessary 600 pledges it needs to start a crowd-funding campaign on its website (leadnow.ca) to raise money for polling to determine the opponent with the best chance to beat the Conservatives.
Closer to the election, Leadnow will develop a report card on candidate issues and, if enough pledges are received, it will ask supporters if they want to recommend a single candidate from among the Liberals, the NDP and Green Party.
"One of things we know is that the Conservatives have the advantage when the vote splits between the NDP, Liberals and the Green Party. We want people to unite behind the best candidate" but Bailey said Leadnow will only back candidates the local Leadnow pledgers recommend.
Leadnow has been around since 2011 and is considered a third party under federal election rules with a limit of about $8,000 per riding to spend on advertising. Polling is not considered advertising. Funding for the organization comes mostly from members.
