I'm very happy to see the NDP surge, but I'll be holding my breath until Monday night. The proof will be in the pudding. At first I was worried that the NDP votes would just water down the Liberals', split more ridings, and give the CPC an easy ride. But the surge might be momentous enough for that to be not much of an issue.
Anyway,
Rex Murphy couldn't have said it better - "vote for the candidate, or party, or leader you want to vote for". Even if you support your party in a riding where they have no realistic opportunity to win, your vote is still helping them out since party subsides are determined by share of the popular vote.