Frequently Asked Questions
Check out The Plan for an overview of what we're doing
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The Liberals and NDP hate each other more than they hate the Conservatives. What makes you think they will work together?
We'll be frank; there is no guarantee that they will work together. But we know there are many within each party who are open to the idea, and by speaking up loudly and frequently within each party, at every opportunity and at every level, we help empower those within the party who want change to push back.
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Throughout Canada, party HQ had been overruling local riding associations in many, many cases. That isn't democratic. The more we can do to empower local riding associations, the better.
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In any case, the next provincial election is not until October 2029. What else are we going to do?​
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What if only one party agrees to cooperate? How can that work?
It's not quite as easy, but it's still possible to defeat Ford if only the Liberal or only the NDP agree to cooperate. Here's how:
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One party (let's call them Team Buffy) makes a genuine, good faith offer to work with the other party (let's call them Team Spike) and is turned down. This is the most winnable strategy, so it really must be a good faith effort.
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Team Buffy cooperates with the Green Party and very publicly announces that they are putting people before politics and are not running candidates in certain ridings where Team Spike is more popular. These are ridings Team Buffy aren't going to win anyway, so it doesn't hurt them at all to let them go. Team Buffy also cedes Parry Sound-Muskoka and perhaps another seat or two to the Green Party. Team Buffy hammers the message home talking about how partisanship has destroyed the USA, and how as Canadians, we need to do better by working together.
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Team Buffy tells everyone what they are doing and all about their good faith effort to make a deal with Team Spike. Allow details to leak to show the concessions Team Buffy was willing to make so that a deal would happen--another reason why it truly must be a good faith offer.
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Allow public scrutiny to skewer Team Spike into co-operating: Ford loses, a co-operation government wins.
ALTERNATIVELY: Team Spike still refuses to co-operate and the public sees them as petty and partisan in the fight against Ford, especially given the details about the excellent deal they could have made. Team Spike still takes some ridings away from Ford, since Team Buffy has stepped away to prevent a split vote.
But the positive campaign by Team Buffy, aided by the Greens stepping down and helping to campaign in close races, plus the resources saved in not fighting the unwinnable races, pushes Team Buffy over the edge in ridings where Team Spike would have split the vote. Team Buffy either wins, or finishes in a strong second place to a Ford minority--which puts them in a better position to lead a cooperative coalition.
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Shouldn't we be working on Electoral Reform instead?
Electoral reform would certainly solve the problem of "Doug Ford wins due to vote splitting" and as such, we're fans. But according to Fair Vote Canada, proportional representation has almost always been accomplished through multi-party cooperation. Plus, while we're working on pushing the parties to work together from the inside, we can also work on pushing the parties to push electoral reform to the top of their policy platform.
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We are hoping to add electoral reform to the Liberal Party policy resolutions, a process that requires as many local riding associations as possible to get involved. (The NDP already has this in their resolutions.)
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Okay, what exactly do you need people to do?
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Join the party--Liberals or NDP--that you feel most aligned with, and get involved with the local riding association. Let us know where you're getting involved by emailing admin AT notoneseat.ca
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Advocate for a cooperative approach at every opportunity you can. Use the Open Letter as a starting point. It may feel like what you're saying falls on deaf ears, but you'll be saying what needs to be said: Ontarians want the Liberals, NDP and Green party to work together as a united front against Doug Ford.
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If you make connections to the riding association executive, talk to them about us. If they seem interested in learning more, get in touch with us so that we can set up a conversation.
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What if the Liberals elect a new leader?
We've been hearing rumours about Nate Erskine-Smith stepping down as a Federal MP to run for leadership of the Liberal party; in the last leadership race, Nate was the frontrunner until he was narrowly defeated by Bonnie Crombie's last-minute entry. Our understanding is that Nate is open to the idea of cooperation. If so, having more of our people inside the Liberal party across all ridings could help tip things his way.
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But right now, we have no idea if there is any truth to these rumours or not. If Bonnie Crombie is ousted by the party, we don't know who will run to replace her. That said, Bonnie Crombie brings a lot of fundraising might that may be attractive to the party, and she may stay on as leader. If so, we need to push her and her supporters to take a more co-operative approach while the threat of losing the leadership hangs over her head.
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Why all the focus on the Liberal Party? I don't want to join them.
That's okay! We don't want anyone to do anything they feel uncomfortable with.
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We're talking about the the Liberals, because we see immediate opportunity for change. In the last election, they gained a lot more votes but not many more seats, and their new leader failed to win her own seat. There's rumblings within the party to possibly oust her at her leadership review this fall, and so we hope we can use the current discontent in the party to make changes.
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If you feel more aligned with the NDP, we still need to work within the local riding associations to push the idea of working with the Liberal party. This will be a tough fight, since the NDP seem happy with their leader and happy that they've held on to their position as Official Opposition, even though they lost a lot of the vote; parties that are satisfied with their results are not likely to change. But we can and should keep pushing them from the inside, since things can shift through sustained effort.
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What about the Green Party?
The Green Party has been very open about working with the other parties. We're big fans of their pragmatic approach. If you're a Green supporter feeling bad about joining another party to positively influence them, remember that a cooperative approach will help the Green Party.
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​What if Ford steps down to run for the Federal Conservatives?
This is not our preferred way to get rid of Doug Ford. *shudders*
But even if that happened, who would replace him as Premier? The PC caucus doesn't offer much hope for better. We still need to fight this fight.
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Surely, Ontario won't let Ford win a fourth majority, right?
Three majority governments in a row in Ontario is rare; four is even rarer. Still, there was a time when the Big Blue Machine ran things for decades in Ontario.
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It's possible that the next election in Ontario will be a change election--much like the election that brought Ford in the first place when the Wynne Liberals were decimated in 2018. We often see fatigue for the ruling party setting in after a while, and then electorate demands change no matter who they end up with. Still, a lot can happen between now and 2029. (It's certainly been a wild time in Federal politics, so clearly, never say never.)
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We are going to work with the known knowns. What we know is that presently, the political situation at this moment is not much different than the situation during the 2022 and 2025 elections. That is, if an election were held today, it's likely that the vote would split and we'd be right back in this.
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If the situation changes, we will adapt accordingly. We would love to spend the entire election simply making fun of Doug Ford on social media knowing that he and his party are a rapidly sinking ship, but until that glorious day, we are going to assume we're in for the same old, same old again. ​​​