Are you a Canadian Atheist? Want to run for political office in Canada? Where is the best place in our dominion to be an 'out-of-the-closet' Atheist and win? And which party would be the best to guar…
Are you a Canadian Atheist? Want to run for political office in Canada? Where is the best place in our dominion to be an 'out-of-the-closet' Atheist and win? And which party would be the best to guarantee a win?
Which Party? Which Province? Which Electoral District?
Source: PunditsGuide.ca http://www.punditsguide.ca/census
Pundit's Guide combines data from Statistics Canada and Elections Canada.
I selected Long Form, No religious Affiliation
You can check this out on the pundit's guide website to see the results for all electoral districts but I'm just posting the top 25 (of 305) here to make my point.
Canada has three parties: Liberal, Conservative and NDP, which is similar to the U.S. Progressive Democrats, or British Labour.
With few exceptions, the further east you go, the more religious things get in Canada.
British Columbia is the province with the largest number of non-religious. But in my opinion Alberta (AB) and the Conservative party would be the best option because they have a high number of non-religious and those Conservatives will basically vote for any Conservative, even an Atheist.
Personally, I always vote NDP but the margin of victory is too low. Too many religious NDPers could decide to switch parties.
Based on the following information, what are your thoughts? I may not have explained things clearly so feel free to ask questions.
% No Affiliation Electoral District Last Contest % Margin of Victory
1. 47.4% 50,420.0 Vancouver East, BC NDP-Lib 37.2%
2. 43.5% 49,825.0 Vancouver Kingsway, BC NDP-Lib 6.1%
3. 43.4% 45,415.0 Vancouver Centre, BC Lib-Cons 9.4%
4. 42.5% 48,980.0 Nanaimo – Cowichan, BC NDP-Cons 7.6%
5. 42.4% 46,135.0 Vancouver Island North, BC Cons-NDP 4.4%
6. 40.6% 42,965.0 Richmond, BC Cons-Lib 19.0%
7. 40.5% 41,155.0 Victoria, BC NDP-Cons 17.0%
8. 39.2% 43,215.0 Esquimalt, BC Lib-Cons 0.1%
9. 38.8% 43,525.0 Nanaimo – Alberni, BC Cons-NDP 14.9%
10. 38.8% 40,235.0 Prince George, BC Cons-NDP 46.0%
11. 38.6% 42,915.0 Kamloops , BC Cons-NDP 10.3%
12. 38.5% 43,050.0 Vancouver Quadra, BC Lib-Cons 8.7%
13. 38.2% 42,510.0 Vancouver South, BC Lib-Cons 0.0%
14. 38.0% 36,105.0 Southern Interior, BC NDP-Cons 11.7%
15. 37.9% 42,055.0 Cariboo – Prince George, BC Cons-NDP 29.5%
16. 37.5% 46,355.0 West Vancouver, BC Cons-Lib 18.0%
17. 37.5% 40,870.0 Pitt Meadows, BC Cons-NDP 18.8%
18. 36.8% 39,925.0 Okanagan – Shuswap, BC Cons-NDP 32.0%
19. 36.2% 38,950.0 Burnaby – Douglas, BC NDP-Cons 1.7%
20. 36.0% 39,180.0 Port Moody, BC Cons-NDP 32.3%
21. 35.2% 38,405.0 Saanich – Gulf Islands, BC Cons-Lib 4.1%
22. 35.2% 30,935.0 Kootenay – Columbia, BC Cons-NDP 36.9%
23. 34.9% 38,480.0 Langley, BC Cons-NDP 44.7%
24. 34.1% 36,550.0 New Westminster, BC NDP-Cons 3.0%
25. 34.0% 40,705.0 North Vancouver, BC Cons-Lib 4.9%
Which Party? Which Province? Which Electoral District?
Source: PunditsGuide.ca http://www.punditsguide.ca/census
Pundit's Guide combines data from Statistics Canada and Elections Canada.
I selected Long Form, No religious Affiliation
You can check this out on the pundit's guide website to see the results for all electoral districts but I'm just posting the top 25 (of 305) here to make my point.
Canada has three parties: Liberal, Conservative and NDP, which is similar to the U.S. Progressive Democrats, or British Labour.
With few exceptions, the further east you go, the more religious things get in Canada.
British Columbia is the province with the largest number of non-religious. But in my opinion Alberta (AB) and the Conservative party would be the best option because they have a high number of non-religious and those Conservatives will basically vote for any Conservative, even an Atheist.
Personally, I always vote NDP but the margin of victory is too low. Too many religious NDPers could decide to switch parties.
Based on the following information, what are your thoughts? I may not have explained things clearly so feel free to ask questions.
% No Affiliation Electoral District Last Contest % Margin of Victory
1. 47.4% 50,420.0 Vancouver East, BC NDP-Lib 37.2%
2. 43.5% 49,825.0 Vancouver Kingsway, BC NDP-Lib 6.1%
3. 43.4% 45,415.0 Vancouver Centre, BC Lib-Cons 9.4%
4. 42.5% 48,980.0 Nanaimo – Cowichan, BC NDP-Cons 7.6%
5. 42.4% 46,135.0 Vancouver Island North, BC Cons-NDP 4.4%
6. 40.6% 42,965.0 Richmond, BC Cons-Lib 19.0%
7. 40.5% 41,155.0 Victoria, BC NDP-Cons 17.0%
8. 39.2% 43,215.0 Esquimalt, BC Lib-Cons 0.1%
9. 38.8% 43,525.0 Nanaimo – Alberni, BC Cons-NDP 14.9%
10. 38.8% 40,235.0 Prince George, BC Cons-NDP 46.0%
11. 38.6% 42,915.0 Kamloops , BC Cons-NDP 10.3%
12. 38.5% 43,050.0 Vancouver Quadra, BC Lib-Cons 8.7%
13. 38.2% 42,510.0 Vancouver South, BC Lib-Cons 0.0%
14. 38.0% 36,105.0 Southern Interior, BC NDP-Cons 11.7%
15. 37.9% 42,055.0 Cariboo – Prince George, BC Cons-NDP 29.5%
16. 37.5% 46,355.0 West Vancouver, BC Cons-Lib 18.0%
17. 37.5% 40,870.0 Pitt Meadows, BC Cons-NDP 18.8%
18. 36.8% 39,925.0 Okanagan – Shuswap, BC Cons-NDP 32.0%
19. 36.2% 38,950.0 Burnaby – Douglas, BC NDP-Cons 1.7%
20. 36.0% 39,180.0 Port Moody, BC Cons-NDP 32.3%
21. 35.2% 38,405.0 Saanich – Gulf Islands, BC Cons-Lib 4.1%
22. 35.2% 30,935.0 Kootenay – Columbia, BC Cons-NDP 36.9%
23. 34.9% 38,480.0 Langley, BC Cons-NDP 44.7%
24. 34.1% 36,550.0 New Westminster, BC NDP-Cons 3.0%
25. 34.0% 40,705.0 North Vancouver, BC Cons-Lib 4.9%
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Comment by Dave Mann on October 14, 2010 at 8:48pm -
The formatting was no good and the top 25 electoral districts are all in BC so here is a picture list 26 - 50 with some Alberta electoral districts.
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Comment by Dave Mann on October 14, 2010 at 8:49pm
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Conclusion: We need to get an Atheist nominated as a Conservative in #34 Calgary-Centre-North.
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Comment by Kris Feenstra on October 14, 2010 at 10:03pm -
I wonder if most Canadians can even tell you the religion of the major party leaders let alone of the candidates in their ridings. I'm not even sure that I can off the top of my head.
Harper: evangelist
Ignatieff: Russian orthodox
Layton: presbyterian
Duceppe: irreligious
May: anglican
And for my own riding of East Van
Libby Davies: ??? no religious affiliation that I'm aware of
Has it really been that important of an issue to voters in recent history? I imagine, when atheists are elected, no one even knows (or cares) that they are atheists.
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Comment by Dave Mann on October 14, 2010 at 11:16pm
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I agree what you say is true; however, if a candidate says they are Presbyterian no one bats an eyelash. If someone says "as a Christian I believe" then they may lose some votes but not many. Atheists are tolerated as long as they stay "in the closet." Sven Robinson being the exception. But there are dozens of ways in which religion is given preference in Canada, our head od state for example is the head of the Church of England. And no politicians suggesting a reform that will diminish the privileges the clergy. It took all three political parties in NL "conspiring together" to reform the school system and the churches almost succeeded in stopping them. So I do think we need Atheists running for office. BTW: Isn't Libby Davies a Sunni-Marxist (bad joke?).
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Comment by Kris Feenstra on October 15, 2010 at 3:08pm
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Atheists are tolerated as long as they stay "in the closet."
I have a somewhat skewed view here. My social circles, just coincidentally, have always been either predominately non-religious or neutral, so the mentalities I am largely exposed to would either be supportive of an atheist candidate or indifferent. I do find it odd that religious politicians declare their religious affiliations openly, whereas non-religious politicians tend to make no declaration. I can speculate a few reasons for this, but I can't settle on one. Fear of losing votes is certainly one possibility.
While I remain philosophically indifferent to the religious affiliation of candidates, there are some issues regarding religion that I would like to see addressed. An openly atheist MP would be the most likely candidate to address these issues; however, I would support any politician that would take them on.
Some of them are more a matter of principle than anything else, like the abolishment of blasphemous libel. At first I thought it would be a waste of time in practice, but if issues like making the national anthem gender neutral are even being mentioned, I think there's time to clear the attic of an unethical law or two regardless of whether it is used or not.
But maybe I'm drifting off topic here. Regarding the numbers listed, that looks like the 2001 census data. I suppose a few factors would need to be taken into consideration. Immigration is one. Immigration impacts the religious demographics of a given population, and over the span of a decade, that may have created some significant shifts. The average age of a population is another. I don't have the numbers to back this up, but I'd wager that older age groups have a tendency to be more religious.
The reason I'd consider those two factors important is because I read recently that naturalized citizens are more likely to vote than native citizens and older citizens are more likely to vote than younger. So, you could have a population with a high percentage of non-religious eligible voters, but many of them may not actually be active voters. Sadly, I'm basing this statement from what I read in a book I no longer have on hand. It's possible I'm a touch off the mark. Who We Are by Rudyard Griffeths.
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