[All] GREN Provincial Election Update

Wed Apr 13 23:56:22 EDT 2022

Hi GREN folks,

Over the past week I have attended a significant number of conference calls, Zoom video meetings, and webinars regarding the pending provincial election.  While GREN has is non-partisan, we have always worked to ensure that citizens are engaged in our civic processes and that we have candidates aware of the environmental issues that we work on and helping towards the needed solutions.

To say that it has been a very challenging four years for the environment with our current provincial government is an understatement.  Never before I have seen so many different groups or initiatives outside of the usual political parties with efforts underway to try to ensure better future government.

Below is a list of organizations and resources that are being assembled by citizens, community groups, and environmental groups across the province. I urge you to spend a bit of time to review these materials.  Find groups or resources that resonate with you and get involved in reaching out to those around you to engage people in the June 2nd provincial election.

1) Green Prosperity - 15 large environmental groups banding together to ensure environmental issues are prominent in the Ontario election.  This booklet by them is an excellent overview of key issues that I have walked a number of candidates from several different political parties through to ensure that they have a plan to address these issues.

You can also learn more at: www.greenprosperity.ca <http://www.greenprosperity.ca/>

2) Climate Calamities - a wonderfully impactful short video summarizing the damage the current provincial government has done to the environment by Hamilton350.org.  This video shows that even small, local efforts can make a big impact.  There is huge potential for social media like this to go viral - particularly if you help to share it with friends and family.

	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg15O9vVCKY <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg15O9vVCKY>

3) Not One Seat - this incredible group of activists has done the math and figured out that if the current governing party is shut out of Toronto they are quite likely going to be shut out of a majority and will have to govern very differently as a minority government.  They are aiming to ensure that none of the 25 Toronto ridings are won by the current government.

They are running a very sophisticated campaign using manpower from Bernie Sanders team.  Their plan utilizes diverse grassroots teams of creatives, influencers and supporters.  They are making all their materials open source and are hoping that other communities across the province leverage them too.  They plan to assess each candidate and determine who is best positioned to defeat the MPP in each riding and then provide toolkits and free resources to unite and organize behind a single candidate best aligned for change in each riding in a fully transparent manner.

Watch their great video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onMHx-pDue4 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onMHx-pDue4>

Learn more at: https://www.notoneseat.ca <https://www.notoneseat.ca/>

4) Ontario Climate Emergency Campaign - this alliance of more than 40 community and environmental groups is a non-partisan collaboration concerned about the climate crisis and is identifying candidates that are committing to a 12 point plan of actions endorsed by the IPCC for needed climate action.

Learn more about the organization and the 12 point plan at:  https://www.ontarioclimateemergency.ca/copy-of-group-sign-on <https://www.ontarioclimateemergency.ca/copy-of-group-sign-on>

5) Kitchen Table Climate Conversations - part of Climatefast.ca <http://climatefast.ca/> this group aims to encourage voters to act by having people host small kitchen table meetings to discuss key climate issues.  With lots of materials and resources they hope to raise awareness on climate actions, biodiversity and strong communities in a fun and friendly manner.

Learn more at: https://provincialkitchentableclimateconversation.wordpress.com <https://provincialkitchentableclimateconversation.wordpress.com/>

6) Unions and Labour - as anticipated the union and labour movements are really mobilizing be it teachers, healthcare workers, or others so impacted by decisions made in the past four years.  They are running an entire program called CutDougOut.ca <http://cutdougout.ca/> with all sorts of videos and information that can be shared on social media, events (May 1st rally at Queens Park, May 14th rally for nature at Queens Park), and lots of other materials/events.

Share their video, plan to attend rallies (there will be busses from Waterloo for some of them) and learn more at: https://www.cutdougout.ca <https://www.cutdougout.ca/>

7) Climate Pledge Collective and Ontario Voters Coalition - is a volunteer, people-powered movement to elect a well-informed and responsible government by targeting 14 priority ridings in Ontario where the current government stands the greatest chance of being unseated.  Four of the 14 ridings they have identified are in the Grand River watershed.  Their focus is on deep canvassing to connect in a meaningful way with at least 1,000 undecided voters or people who don’t usually vote in each of these closely contested ridings.  Their math and focus could make it quite possible to shift these ridings and turn the provincial election.  Bottom line is that having conversations with neighbours in swing ridings where every vote counts could be the best way to achieve optimal environmental and climate change outcomes.

Learn more and download resources at: https://ontariovoterscoalition.ca <https://ontariovoterscoalition.ca/>

8) GreenPAC and 100 Debates on the Environment - hoping to make the environment the leading issue in the Ontario election, these groups (including GREN) plans to host debates between local candidates focussed on environmental issues.  GREN has helped to organize debates in previous elections along with other area environmental groups that have been tremendously successful with significant attendance and media coverage.  Once again GREN Executive member Susan Koswan is heading things up and planning meetings with other area environmental groups are already underway.  Online/virtual options are being considered this time because of the pandemic which could also help to reach a much broad audience.

Learn more at https://www.100debates.ca/ondebates <https://www.100debates.ca/ondebates>, or https://www.greenpac.ca <https://www.greenpac.ca/>

Please contact Susan Koswan or myself if you are interested in helping with these local debates: susankoswan at execulink.com <mailto:susankoswan at execulink.com>

Hopefully each and everyone of us can undertake actions in the weeks ahead to ensure the best possible outcomes for the environment in the coming years.  There is no shortage of organizations to help volunteer with or resources that you can use on your own to reach out to candidates, friends, family, and neighbours.  

Please let me know any questions, ideas, or other election resources that should be shared.

Cheers,
Kevin.

-------------------------------------

Kevin Thomason

1115 Cedar Grove Road
Waterloo, Ontario Canada  N2J 3Z4

Phone: (519) 888-0519
Mobile Phone/WhatsApp: (519) 240-1648
Twitter: @kthomason
E-mail: kevinthomason at mac.com

-----------------------------------------
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20220413/b4545c37/attachment-0002.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 2021 platform ideas final REVISED.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 10024267 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20220413/b4545c37/attachment-0001.pdf>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20220413/b4545c37/attachment-0003.html>