If you haven't heard, which is likely, Guelph City Council voted to remove a councillor from a board called the "Police Services Board." Councillor Bob Bell is upset about bad government. Councillor Piper organized the motion that unseated Kovach and then was appointed to the committee herself.
My question remains: Who cares? Why aren't we hearing stories about city council finding ways to support local business? Why aren't we reading about how the Mayor appears to support big business in renewable energy over small locally-owned businesses? How is council planning on better integrating their younger community members in student neighbourhoods? As the city grows, are we ensuring that we are on the cutting edge of urban design, or are we heading towards urban sprawl?
I'd be much more interested in seeing leadership coming out of city hall, rather than watching them generate stories about political infighting.
Link to the CTV story: http://swo.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20111206/guelph-councillor-ousted-board-111206/20111206/?hub=SWOHome
And the Mercury: http://www.guelphmercury.com/news/local/article/634993--in-controversial-move-councillor-pulled-off-police-board
Building a Strong Organization
It's clear that the Guelph Green party has a lot of work to do towards building organizational capacity. We have to answer tough questions about why we exist and do a better job at communicating the answer to that question in a way that demonstrates the urgency we feel around the issues we face as a community.
In addition to that, people who believe that the Green message is important can choose to help us build a credible organization by supporting the Guelph Greens financially. We have launched two new fundraising initiatives in the past month that use one of the primary lessons learned from the Obama campaign in 2008 and from the Conservative movement in Canada: Small monthly donors can build a substantial bank account.We currently have commitments from supporters in Guelph to raise over $10,000/year, but that won't be enough to compete with traditional parties war chests in the next elections.
If you want to see a credible Green organization in Guelph, one capable of communicating our values and ideas in a way that clearly distinguishes us from traditional parties, I'd ask you to think about giving. Amounts as small as $10 month to both our local federal and provincial organizations can add up to a substantial amount for us over a four year term. With the tax refunds the provincial and federal governments give, this typically results in a net gift of $2.50 a month to you.
For more information about how we can build our financial capacity, please check out www.guelphgreens.ca/cornerstone.
In addition to that, people who believe that the Green message is important can choose to help us build a credible organization by supporting the Guelph Greens financially. We have launched two new fundraising initiatives in the past month that use one of the primary lessons learned from the Obama campaign in 2008 and from the Conservative movement in Canada: Small monthly donors can build a substantial bank account.We currently have commitments from supporters in Guelph to raise over $10,000/year, but that won't be enough to compete with traditional parties war chests in the next elections.
If you want to see a credible Green organization in Guelph, one capable of communicating our values and ideas in a way that clearly distinguishes us from traditional parties, I'd ask you to think about giving. Amounts as small as $10 month to both our local federal and provincial organizations can add up to a substantial amount for us over a four year term. With the tax refunds the provincial and federal governments give, this typically results in a net gift of $2.50 a month to you.
For more information about how we can build our financial capacity, please check out www.guelphgreens.ca/cornerstone.
Christmas is a great time to be Green!
2011 was a year of significant learning opportunities for
the Guelph Greens. The provincial and federal elections have provided a few key
lessons:
·
The Green party in Guelph has not yet
established itself as a credible organization that provides meaningful leadership
in the community.
·
Guelph is looking for a new kind of leadership.
Both the incumbents were returned in their respective elections, but declining
turnouts and obvious dis-satisfaction voiced throughout the year show us that there
is a need for a strong Green voice talking about the values our organization
operates from.
As we move into the new year, you can expect to see the
leadership of the Guelph Greens move us in new directions. We’ll be asking for
your voices, time, money and leadership to help find ways that our group can
build momentum and make a difference in the lives of people living in the
community. Expect to be asked if you can give a small monthly donation to the
Greens and if there are any challenges in your area that we can help solve.
Expect us to help you ask to be the voice of the organization in advocating for
common sense, meaningful advocacy with issues that will help to create jobs,
improve our health and lay the groundwork for a healthier environment. I continue to choose to be Green because I believe our party is the only organization that can provide a new, transformational leadership style.
Mostly: We to have fun building something powerful! We want
to have bbq’s, play sports, watch movies, have interesting discussions and
enjoy some laughs along the ride.
It’s a great time to be Green!
Letter to the Editor (Guelph Mercury)
I submitted the following letter to the editor of the Guelph Mercury today:
Where is Liz Sandals’ Leadership?
Last week the Liberal government put the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) program on hold in order to re-evaluate the feed-in tariffs being paid. These tariffs represent the fees paid by the province to anyone who puts up a power-generating solar grid and connects it to the Ontario Power Authority’s grid. Putting a hold on FIT has delivered a devastating blow to the solar industry. It is likely to be many months before solar companies will be able to tell prospective customers what the return on their solar energy investments will be. Who will buy solar panels without knowing if they are an investment that will return a profit? How many solar companies are going to shut their doors because they can't afford to function under this terrible Liberal policy? Will Guelph Solar have to resort to layoffs if solar companies do not order the panels they make? There were other options available for re-evaluating these fees that would not have been so damaging to the solar industry. I have yet to hear Ms. Sandals’ voice advocating for her constituents, let alone the NDP or Conservative MPPs providing any leadership. We should expect more from the people we elect to lead us.
Last week the Liberal government put the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) program on hold in order to re-evaluate the feed-in tariffs being paid. These tariffs represent the fees paid by the province to anyone who puts up a power-generating solar grid and connects it to the Ontario Power Authority’s grid. Putting a hold on FIT has delivered a devastating blow to the solar industry. It is likely to be many months before solar companies will be able to tell prospective customers what the return on their solar energy investments will be. Who will buy solar panels without knowing if they are an investment that will return a profit? How many solar companies are going to shut their doors because they can't afford to function under this terrible Liberal policy? Will Guelph Solar have to resort to layoffs if solar companies do not order the panels they make? There were other options available for re-evaluating these fees that would not have been so damaging to the solar industry. I have yet to hear Ms. Sandals’ voice advocating for her constituents, let alone the NDP or Conservative MPPs providing any leadership. We should expect more from the people we elect to lead us.
Sincerely,
Robert Routledge
CFO – Guelph Green Party
What the Green's Could be
I recently re-watched one of my favourite TED talk videos about leadership and messaging (Simon Sinek): http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html, and it reminded me of the two things I think we need to do to turn the Green Party into legitimate community leaders:
1) Define, clarify and communicate who we are more effectively
2) Build relationships and establish Green Party members as community leaders.
To steal the model from Simon Sinek, I would want the Green Party (Canada or Ontario) to re-organize around this:
Why: We are community leaders who are interested in identifying problems and solving them. We are fundamentally committed to leaving the world a better place than we found it.
How: We build relationships with people from a wide variety of ideologies, religious beliefs, genders, ethnicities, capabilities, etc. In these relationships we talk about how our communities could be better. We combine these conversations with sound, scientific analysis to create comprehensible policies. We work with other political parties to implement these policies
What: We want you to vote for us, to join us and to help us move away from a divided politics of fear to a politics of good ideas and solving problems.
What it means on the ground:
Practically, this means several steps:
1) Define, clarify and communicate who we are more effectively
2) Build relationships and establish Green Party members as community leaders.
To steal the model from Simon Sinek, I would want the Green Party (Canada or Ontario) to re-organize around this:
Why: We are community leaders who are interested in identifying problems and solving them. We are fundamentally committed to leaving the world a better place than we found it.
How: We build relationships with people from a wide variety of ideologies, religious beliefs, genders, ethnicities, capabilities, etc. In these relationships we talk about how our communities could be better. We combine these conversations with sound, scientific analysis to create comprehensible policies. We work with other political parties to implement these policies
What: We want you to vote for us, to join us and to help us move away from a divided politics of fear to a politics of good ideas and solving problems.
What it means on the ground:
Practically, this means several steps:
- Resources need to be shifted to hiring organizers with experience building volunteer organizations. These organizers need to be given a region that they have the responsibility to assist in developing organisational capacity.
- Candidates, campaigns, messaging teams need to be motivated to shift away from talking about why our ideas are right, and towards how our ideas connect to the "why" message above.
- EDAs and CAs need to develop the ability to identify ways their communities could be better and to find ways to help other community leaders solve those problems.
Students in the Guelph Community
With the last Ontario election we are likely to see in the next four years, I've continued to think about how I want to use my volunteer time. I've settled on a project that combines some of what I like about politics with lots of what I like about my job: I want to encourage people to be better neighbours.
Guelph has a long history of contentious relationships in student neighbourhoods, which is not unusual for a University town. The administration and the city do important work on setting expectations, policing and responding to complaints, but I'm pretty sure that we should expect more leadership from the people actually living in the community. If students could put names and faces to the people living in the houses around them, they would be less likely to vandalize their yards or keep people up with noisy parties. If long time Guelph residents spent a little bit of time building relationships with students then perhaps we'd encourage more University Graduates to stay in the city and apply what they know to develop R&D, Green or 21st century jobs in places like the Hanlon Creek business park.
So, I'm going to be using my involvement/relationships with the Hanlon Creek Neighbourhood Group, the Green Party, the University and the City to see if there aren't some relationship building events we could run to start having students and permanent Guelph residents get to know each other. I think we should demand that our leaders work to create less of these stories:
http://www.guelphtribune.ca/opinion/more-needs-to-be-done/
http://www.guelphtribune.ca/opinion/make-u-of-g-students-pay-for-their-actions/
http://www.guelphtribune.ca/opinion/student-problems-in-downtown-too/
http://www.guelphmercury.com/news/local/article/603545--university-of-guelph-suspends-men-s-rugby-team-for-two-games-over-off-field-conduct
And more of these:
http://www.guelphmercury.com/news/local/article/604610--downtown-under-control-but-guelph-neighbourhoods-get-closer-look-in-effort-to-address-off-campus-headaches-attributed-to-university-students
http://www.guelphmercury.com/news/local/article/600912--university-of-guelph-students-assist-goderich-residents-in-wake-of-summer-tornado
Guelph has a long history of contentious relationships in student neighbourhoods, which is not unusual for a University town. The administration and the city do important work on setting expectations, policing and responding to complaints, but I'm pretty sure that we should expect more leadership from the people actually living in the community. If students could put names and faces to the people living in the houses around them, they would be less likely to vandalize their yards or keep people up with noisy parties. If long time Guelph residents spent a little bit of time building relationships with students then perhaps we'd encourage more University Graduates to stay in the city and apply what they know to develop R&D, Green or 21st century jobs in places like the Hanlon Creek business park.
So, I'm going to be using my involvement/relationships with the Hanlon Creek Neighbourhood Group, the Green Party, the University and the City to see if there aren't some relationship building events we could run to start having students and permanent Guelph residents get to know each other. I think we should demand that our leaders work to create less of these stories:
http://www.guelphtribune.ca/opinion/more-needs-to-be-done/
http://www.guelphtribune.ca/opinion/make-u-of-g-students-pay-for-their-actions/
http://www.guelphtribune.ca/opinion/student-problems-in-downtown-too/
http://www.guelphmercury.com/news/local/article/603545--university-of-guelph-suspends-men-s-rugby-team-for-two-games-over-off-field-conduct
And more of these:
http://www.guelphmercury.com/news/local/article/604610--downtown-under-control-but-guelph-neighbourhoods-get-closer-look-in-effort-to-address-off-campus-headaches-attributed-to-university-students
http://www.guelphmercury.com/news/local/article/600912--university-of-guelph-students-assist-goderich-residents-in-wake-of-summer-tornado
Voting Green: Health Care
In 2009-2010 health care made up 36% of the Government of Ontario expenses (Government of Ontario). The next closest expenditure of public money is education, coming in at around 16%.
So, we can’t have a reasonable, logical, coherent election without having a serious conversation about health care. If we accept that the population of Ontario is aging rapidly as the largest cohort (Baby Boomers) is retiring we need to talk about two things:
1. What are we doing to ensure that Seniors are getting the quality care they deserve?
2. Are we being progressive and forward thinking in preventing our health care costs from drowning out education, community and social services, business and job creation, etc.
So, let’s look at why the Green Party makes sense for these two questions. Please remember that I try to focus on action oriented, tangible ideas, for the full health care platform go here:
So, we can’t have a reasonable, logical, coherent election without having a serious conversation about health care. If we accept that the population of Ontario is aging rapidly as the largest cohort (Baby Boomers) is retiring we need to talk about two things:
1. What are we doing to ensure that Seniors are getting the quality care they deserve?
2. Are we being progressive and forward thinking in preventing our health care costs from drowning out education, community and social services, business and job creation, etc.
So, let’s look at why the Green Party makes sense for these two questions. Please remember that I try to focus on action oriented, tangible ideas, for the full health care platform go here:
Seniors
1. Invest 2 Billion over 3 years in making a contium of health care more affordable for Seniors
a. Including: Home care, transitional care, assisted living and long term care services
2. Provide tax credits to family members staying home to take care of elderly relatives
3. Improve the funding of long term care homes and assist with elevating their level of care to provincial standards
a. We currently rate behind other Canadian Provinces and comparably to Mississippi
Long Term Solutions/Forward Thinking
1. The GPO ideas for health care are founded in health promotion and illness prevention, including:
a. Using zoning powers to ensure communities are walking and cycling friendly
b. Integrate the Ministry of Health Promotion and Ministry of Health and Long Term Care
c. Create a $285 Million dollar fund to improve water and sewage infrastructure
Specific Impact on Guelph
I know many families in Guelph that are faced with significant challenges around the cost and time commitment of caring for an elderly family member. Making their job even a little bit easier is a worthwhile goal of an effective government.
Elevating the importance of health promotion, ensuring the we have access to clean water and committing to providing easier access to an active lifestyle will benefit not only our quality of life but the bottom line of our government’s budget as well.
Conclusion
A candidate shouldn’t talk about job creation, energy costs, immigration, education or any other provincial issue without first being transparent about how they are approaching this problem. The Green party is transparent and realistic in it’s approach and I don’t think that can be said about the other parties.
1. Invest 2 Billion over 3 years in making a contium of health care more affordable for Seniors
a. Including: Home care, transitional care, assisted living and long term care services
2. Provide tax credits to family members staying home to take care of elderly relatives
3. Improve the funding of long term care homes and assist with elevating their level of care to provincial standards
a. We currently rate behind other Canadian Provinces and comparably to Mississippi
Long Term Solutions/Forward Thinking
1. The GPO ideas for health care are founded in health promotion and illness prevention, including:
a. Using zoning powers to ensure communities are walking and cycling friendly
b. Integrate the Ministry of Health Promotion and Ministry of Health and Long Term Care
c. Create a $285 Million dollar fund to improve water and sewage infrastructure
Specific Impact on Guelph
I know many families in Guelph that are faced with significant challenges around the cost and time commitment of caring for an elderly family member. Making their job even a little bit easier is a worthwhile goal of an effective government.
Elevating the importance of health promotion, ensuring the we have access to clean water and committing to providing easier access to an active lifestyle will benefit not only our quality of life but the bottom line of our government’s budget as well.
Conclusion
A candidate shouldn’t talk about job creation, energy costs, immigration, education or any other provincial issue without first being transparent about how they are approaching this problem. The Green party is transparent and realistic in it’s approach and I don’t think that can be said about the other parties.
Voting Green: Fear based, strategic voting
My sense is this election will boil down to the same choice as the federal election:
1. Do we want a representative from a party who believes that Government is inherently bad, wastes our money, can’t effectively serve us and should stick to mostly staying out of our way. (Conservative)
2. Do we want a representative who believes that Government can be inherently good, stand up for those without voices, create a system where jobs are created, children are taught, seniors are cared for and families are able to take care of themselves and their neighbours? (Progressive parties: Green, Liberal, NDP)
In the Federal election, the choice was resoundingly to reject the Conservative option and choose the progressive candidate who was well liked AND appeared to be the most capable of beating the Conservative.
The Provincial election has the same options, but different influences. I have heard rumours that the Green campaign (of which I am not on the leadership team this time around) is going to release polling showing them within the margin of error of the Liberal candidate, with both down a handful of percentage points to the Conservative candidate. For the first time, Guelph can be empowered to vote Green not only because they represent better ideas and better leadership, but because they are the progressive party most likely to beat the Conservatives. People who traditionally vote conservative may fear a Liz Sandals re-election and in a few weeks become worried that Mr. Schirk won’t make it. They too may end up being pushed in the Green direction.
I personally reject fear based voting and think you should vote for the party that best represents the kind of leadership and problem solving you want to see. With that said, if you are a person who subscribes to fear based, strategic voting, then now is the time for you to make history by electing Ontario’s first Green MPP.
Voting Green: GPO means jobs
The Green Party has the most forward thinking and creative job creation strategy of all the parties that balances the budget by 2015. The plan boils down to a very simple philosophy: If we reduce personal and business taxes, than individuals and businesses will have more incentive to save. As they save, they will be able to put more money into innovation, research and ultimately invest money in job creation.
This requires an incremental process that does two things:
1) Reduce personal income tax and business tax. This will result in more money in the pockets of people who currently make an income or own a small business.
2) Increase tax on pollution (carbon).
a. This process would happen gradually, with relief for people with low income, seniors and rural areas.
b. Every penny charged in a carbon tax will be offset by income and business tax cuts and WILL NOT go to increase government spending
This will allow each individually to have more control over how much money they give to the government. If you want to drive a car that has a lower mile per gallon rating or you want to buy and old house and not take advantage of the Green proposed tax incentives to renovate it for energy efficiency: You can. If you want to drive a smarter car, take transit, live in an energy efficient home then you get to save more of your money.
The best thing about this process is we won’t even be pioneers, we know it works because we’ve seen it start to work in Nordic countries and even in BC. It’s only the stubbornness and paralysis of our current political leadership that prevents us from getting there.
To read more details about the GPO job creation strategy, check out: http://www.gpo.ca/sites/gpo.ca/files/attachments/gpo_issues_paper_econ.pdf
What does this mean for Guelph?
More jobs. More job security. More money in our pockets.
Voting Green: Energy Generation
It's likely that this will be the biggest issue of the upcoming Provincial election. Skyrocketing hydro bills, unemployment and the security of Ontario can all trace their roots to energy. The Green Party of Ontario supports the following:
-Residents, communities and businesses can and should be able to generate their own power and feed it into the power grid.
-Power generartion decisions need to be community based with excellent two-way communication. This will reduce the 'not in my backyard' syndrome as well as prevent big projects that circumvent government rules (like the Holland Marsh Peaker Plant)
-A loan guarantee program will be established to ensure that power projects are locally owned and controlled, to enhance community sustainability and to prevent massive hydro/wind/solar projects being developed against community's will
What does this mean for Guelph?
Over a longer period of time we'll have lower and more predictable energy prices. We will get to control where solar panels, wind turbines and hydro projects go.
The biggest loss of electricity is in power lines travelling long distances (it converts to heat in the power lines). Locally owned and controlled projects create nearby power sources that are far more efficient and lose less electricity.
We will generate local jobs in the development of new energy sources.
-Residents, communities and businesses can and should be able to generate their own power and feed it into the power grid.
-Power generartion decisions need to be community based with excellent two-way communication. This will reduce the 'not in my backyard' syndrome as well as prevent big projects that circumvent government rules (like the Holland Marsh Peaker Plant)
-A loan guarantee program will be established to ensure that power projects are locally owned and controlled, to enhance community sustainability and to prevent massive hydro/wind/solar projects being developed against community's will
What does this mean for Guelph?
Over a longer period of time we'll have lower and more predictable energy prices. We will get to control where solar panels, wind turbines and hydro projects go.
The biggest loss of electricity is in power lines travelling long distances (it converts to heat in the power lines). Locally owned and controlled projects create nearby power sources that are far more efficient and lose less electricity.
We will generate local jobs in the development of new energy sources.
Voting Green: Long Term Energy Plan (*updated)
Hydro prices are blowing through the roof, largely as a result of Ontarions not have had to pay the actual cost of electricity due to extreme mismanagement from both the Liberal and Conservative parties.
We use 50% more energy per person in Ontario than they do in New York State. That's ridiculous, so the first part of our platform will be to invest in energy efficiency through a smarter power grid and reinstating/expanding the home energy saving program.
Here are some of the specifics:
-$600 Million in tax credits for home and business retrofits
-Revise the building code to require new buildings to be more energy efficient
-Work with Banks to create energy save mortgages to assist homeowners who want to retrofit
-Negotiate agreements to purchase inexpensive hydroelectricity from neighboring provinces and increase hydro generation in Ontario (the most a homeowner pays for electricity in Quebec is 7.5c/kwh!)
To learn more about what the Green Party of Ontario has to say about Energy, click here: http://www.gpo.ca/sites/gpo.ca/files/attachments/gpo_issues_paper_energy.pdf
Look for a post on the micro-FIT, FIT programs from me soon!
*Update from original post: 4:45pm
What does this mean for Guelph?
-It means that homeowners and business owners who may not currently have the money to retrofit can retrofit their buildings, saving them money in the near term in energy costs and reducing environment impact.
-It means that local contractors will have increased demand for business, in turn creating more local jobs so that people can live, work and play here (as opposed to being swallowed as a bedroom community)
-It means that suppliers will have increased demand for their products to contractors, creating more jobs.
-It means that suppliers of energy efficient materials will be looking for competitive edge, likely increasing money in Research and Development. Don't forget that the technology to develop the oil sands was created as a result of the industry funding University's to do research (partially with government subsidies!. The same thing can happen with energy efficiency and generation.
What about Leadership?
These are good ideas that have clearly laid out paths to success. Voting Green is a vote for a representative who can have transparent, honest and straightforward conversations with representatives from all parties and is a move away from electing representatives who can only tow a party line.
We use 50% more energy per person in Ontario than they do in New York State. That's ridiculous, so the first part of our platform will be to invest in energy efficiency through a smarter power grid and reinstating/expanding the home energy saving program.
Here are some of the specifics:
-$600 Million in tax credits for home and business retrofits
-Revise the building code to require new buildings to be more energy efficient
-Work with Banks to create energy save mortgages to assist homeowners who want to retrofit
-Negotiate agreements to purchase inexpensive hydroelectricity from neighboring provinces and increase hydro generation in Ontario (the most a homeowner pays for electricity in Quebec is 7.5c/kwh!)
To learn more about what the Green Party of Ontario has to say about Energy, click here: http://www.gpo.ca/sites/gpo.ca/files/attachments/gpo_issues_paper_energy.pdf
Look for a post on the micro-FIT, FIT programs from me soon!
*Update from original post: 4:45pm
What does this mean for Guelph?
-It means that homeowners and business owners who may not currently have the money to retrofit can retrofit their buildings, saving them money in the near term in energy costs and reducing environment impact.
-It means that local contractors will have increased demand for business, in turn creating more local jobs so that people can live, work and play here (as opposed to being swallowed as a bedroom community)
-It means that suppliers will have increased demand for their products to contractors, creating more jobs.
-It means that suppliers of energy efficient materials will be looking for competitive edge, likely increasing money in Research and Development. Don't forget that the technology to develop the oil sands was created as a result of the industry funding University's to do research (partially with government subsidies!. The same thing can happen with energy efficiency and generation.
What about Leadership?
These are good ideas that have clearly laid out paths to success. Voting Green is a vote for a representative who can have transparent, honest and straightforward conversations with representatives from all parties and is a move away from electing representatives who can only tow a party line.
Voting Green: It's Time
I've decided to write a series of short blog posts giving some reasons to vote Green. I believe there's a long running problem that the Green Party has not been able to define who they are or what they want to do besides the generally perceived idea of 'be good for the environment'. I'm going to cherry pick some ideas out of the Green Party platform and share them here! Every blog post dedicated to this idea will start with "Voting Green:..."
It's time we elected a Green Party representative in Guelph.
It's time we elected a Green Party representative in Guelph.
Campaigns in a paragraph
For anybody out there working on a provincial election, this quote nicely sums up an entire campaign:
"In the end," Rospars said, "all the digital stuff is in service of the offline reality of knocking on doors, making phone calls and ultimately persuading voters and turning them out."
(Rospars is the chief digital strategist of Obama for America 2012: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_DIGITAL_OBAMA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-06-28-15-45-22)
There are two pieces he doesn't mention, which also service the "offline reality":
Fundraising: done entirely to support knocking on doors, making phone calls, persuading voters and getting them out
Communications/Marketing/Messaging: I don't care which one of these you see as overarching, they are connected. Also done in service of the same four things as fundraising.
If you keep your campaign focused on Rospars four points, you'll make substantial progress.
"In the end," Rospars said, "all the digital stuff is in service of the offline reality of knocking on doors, making phone calls and ultimately persuading voters and turning them out."
(Rospars is the chief digital strategist of Obama for America 2012: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_DIGITAL_OBAMA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-06-28-15-45-22)
There are two pieces he doesn't mention, which also service the "offline reality":
Fundraising: done entirely to support knocking on doors, making phone calls, persuading voters and getting them out
Communications/Marketing/Messaging: I don't care which one of these you see as overarching, they are connected. Also done in service of the same four things as fundraising.
If you keep your campaign focused on Rospars four points, you'll make substantial progress.
Steve Dyck Endorsement
I've enjoyed my time working with Steve through a municipal campaign, a federal campaign and in our efforts to build the Green Party in Guelph. Steve has an ability to bring people together and motivate them to work towards a common cause, this skill set will be invaluable in creating a competitive campaign here in Guelph. The 2011 Provincial election is going to be about how we can best prepare our economy to meet modern challenges, as a successful local business owner Steve will be able to talk intelligently about how the environment is connected to job generation is connected to the health of our community is connected to educating youth in Guelph. A quick look at the people that Steve has already brought into the party, the emphasis he places on relationships and his history of working hard for the GPO make him the person to represent us going into October's election.
What comes next?
Coming up on a month after the Federal election and there doesn’t appear to be much information coming out of the National office about the future of the Green’s. This is not totally unexpected, I am hoping some key people are taking a much deserved break after the intensity of the election. I myself am struggling with a new round of health concerns following the election and have spent lots of quality time both with my doctor and in the emergency room.
With Elizabeth May officially being sworn in today though, I am very curious to start hearing about what the impact of this election will be! I am assuming that the party is in better financial health now than it was after the 2008 election, as there is additional money for staffing with an MP (although I assume not much) and I assume that the federal council learned the 2008 lessons about not over-extending financially and that it will be relatively painless for the party to be out of debt almost immediately.
Does anyone know what Elizabeth, Georges, Johan, Adrienne and the Federal Council have planned for a four-year strategy? Are we investing money in organizers who can now emphasize EDA building? Are resources being shifted to help BC and Ontario prepare for provincial elections*? Are there key messages or issues that Elizabeth is planning to take on in Parliament that we could be playing off of in our own local events and messaging?
Regardless, it’s an exciting moment in Guelph. Almost every active member of the Lawson campaign team has applied for a role on the local executive and there are two EXTREMELY talented people who are campaigning to be our provincial candidate in the Fall. My allegiance/preference/vote is for local Solar business owner Steve Dyck. He’s a long time Green with a large amount of passion and enthusiasm. His competition, former city councillor Mike Salisbury, is an excellent candidate as well but he’s left questions unanswered for me in his candidacy so far. Watching Steve bring new people into the party and motivate a team of folks who just left a federal campaign exhausted has been inspiring and a positive sign for what he may be able to achieve in the next six months.
I’m looking forward to seeing what a group who is dedicated to doing tangible, relationship-building oriented work in the community is capable of. The recent election shellacking seems to have motivated local Green’s to not repeat the same mistakes, which should make for a very fun summer! I’m sure that we’ll be looking for ways that we can make a positive contribution in the community, so if you know of a local organization that is looking for volunteer help for specific projects, drop me a line and we’ll see what we can partner on!
(*in unofficial ways, obviously)
Lawson Campaign Thank You's!
I know that some of the new readers to this blog are people that participated with John's campaign, so here is a list of people to thank! (There are too many of you to get each one individually, so I apologize if I left you out. No slight intended)
I'll lead off with John. Much has been said about the inspiring job he did as a new candidate that had to develop his familiarity with the actual platform of the Greens. He was tireless, determined, open to feedback and demonstrates an incredibly amount of warmth and compassion that draws people in. I appreciated learning from him about rounding out my own style and am proud to have been involved in his campaign.
We determined early on that most of this campaign was about identifying Green voters. So the next thank you is to the people that sacrificed countless hours of that. A lot of this task was taken up by Laura and Sher in the office and it would be impossible to give them enough praise. There were many learning moments along the way, but the amount of performance they demonstrated in moving an organization that hadn't done supporter identification, data management or volunteer organizing in a meaningful way for years was astounding. I was inspired by their dedication. Then I have to thank you dedicated canvassers, both at the doors and on the phones. Aerin, Mark, Gillian, Pete, Heather, Steve, Steve D., Moragh, Kip, Michael, Katelin are the names of our regulars who spring to mind, with countless others finding ways to put in at least a few hours per week. This work laid the foundation for the GPO campaign that starts right away and is easily the most valuable thing we achieved. It could not have been done without such a tremendous team effort.
The campaign coordinators, particularly in the first couple weeks, helped to quickly build a functional organization from scratch. George, Andre, Gillian, Steve, Laura, Mark and Sher overcame a significant number of obstacles and took on tasks that may not have been something they had experience with in the past. I hope that everything we started in building teams will help our eventual Provincial candidate start miles ahead of where we did in mid-March.
For Steve V., Anne, Mary, Patti, Sara and Jenny: Thank you for consistently delivering the campaign messages. Your work on the website, twitter, facebook, answering surveys and preparing press releases allowed the bulk of the campaign time to be focussed on supporter identification and usually appeared to be effortless, although I know it was not. I believe this to be the mark of a team performing at a high level, thank you!
I hope that the experience for the people making a significant contribution on a campaign for the first time was fun. People like Dave, Joel, Beth, Mark, Laura, Gillian, Kip and Katelin are the group that is going to determine whether the Green Party in Guelph re-builds into a significant leadership role or not and I hope that something in this campaign inspires them to choose action over inaction. My greatest hope is that we choose to take a couple weeks off, dust ourselves off and start to work on electing a Green MPP here in Guelph this Fall.
I'll lead off with John. Much has been said about the inspiring job he did as a new candidate that had to develop his familiarity with the actual platform of the Greens. He was tireless, determined, open to feedback and demonstrates an incredibly amount of warmth and compassion that draws people in. I appreciated learning from him about rounding out my own style and am proud to have been involved in his campaign.
We determined early on that most of this campaign was about identifying Green voters. So the next thank you is to the people that sacrificed countless hours of that. A lot of this task was taken up by Laura and Sher in the office and it would be impossible to give them enough praise. There were many learning moments along the way, but the amount of performance they demonstrated in moving an organization that hadn't done supporter identification, data management or volunteer organizing in a meaningful way for years was astounding. I was inspired by their dedication. Then I have to thank you dedicated canvassers, both at the doors and on the phones. Aerin, Mark, Gillian, Pete, Heather, Steve, Steve D., Moragh, Kip, Michael, Katelin are the names of our regulars who spring to mind, with countless others finding ways to put in at least a few hours per week. This work laid the foundation for the GPO campaign that starts right away and is easily the most valuable thing we achieved. It could not have been done without such a tremendous team effort.
The campaign coordinators, particularly in the first couple weeks, helped to quickly build a functional organization from scratch. George, Andre, Gillian, Steve, Laura, Mark and Sher overcame a significant number of obstacles and took on tasks that may not have been something they had experience with in the past. I hope that everything we started in building teams will help our eventual Provincial candidate start miles ahead of where we did in mid-March.
For Steve V., Anne, Mary, Patti, Sara and Jenny: Thank you for consistently delivering the campaign messages. Your work on the website, twitter, facebook, answering surveys and preparing press releases allowed the bulk of the campaign time to be focussed on supporter identification and usually appeared to be effortless, although I know it was not. I believe this to be the mark of a team performing at a high level, thank you!
I hope that the experience for the people making a significant contribution on a campaign for the first time was fun. People like Dave, Joel, Beth, Mark, Laura, Gillian, Kip and Katelin are the group that is going to determine whether the Green Party in Guelph re-builds into a significant leadership role or not and I hope that something in this campaign inspires them to choose action over inaction. My greatest hope is that we choose to take a couple weeks off, dust ourselves off and start to work on electing a Green MPP here in Guelph this Fall.
It was a lot of fun and and honour to work with all of you. Thanks.
A Quick look at the Guelph Numers
2011:
Liberal - 25,574 - 43%
Conservative - 19,252 - 32%
NDP - 9,836 - 16%
Green - 3,711 - 6%
Other - 3%
2008
Liberal - 25,574 - 43%
Conservative - 19,252 - 32%
NDP - 9,836 - 16%
Green - 3,711 - 6%
Other - 3%
2008
Liberal - 18,977 - 32%
Conservative - 17,185 - 29%
Green - 12,456 - 21%
NDP - 9,709 - 16%
Other - 2%
The differences between each parties support tells the story of this election. Between 2008 and 2011, the total vote increased by about 75 people or essentially 0% of 59,000 voters. The change in percentage vote of each party is as follows:
Conservative: +3
NDP +0
Other +1
and...
Liberal +11
Green - 15
So, for all intents and purposes, 80% of the people that voted Green in 2008 moved to the Liberal, 20% moved to the Conservatives and Others.
Green leaning voters were scared that a Conservative would win so they voted Liberal. The NDP surge appears to have not materialized locally. Thoughts?
Federal Election 2011
With the conclusion of the 2011 federal election I thought it worthwhile to offer some thoughts on what happened. For first time readers, I’m a person who’s been an active member of the Green Party on and off for five years and I managed the Green Party campaign for John Lawson in Guelph for the past seven weeks.
So, in no particular order:
1. The Green Party of Canada established electing Elizabeth May as it’s only primary goal at some point shortly following the election in 2008. Elizabeth May was elected, I’ll admit to being a voice that was unsure that this was going to happen. During the election I was happy to assist with calls to SGI and am happy that she won. I believe that achieving significant milestones such as this should be celebrated J. Congratulations to everyone who worked hard on electing Elizabeth in SGI.
2. Nationally, it feels as if we were decimated. I don’t have the exact numbers, but it appears that the number of ridings that exceeded 10% of the votes dropped an extraordinary amount between 2008 and 2011. Here in Guelph, that comes at a catastrophic financial cost. It’s important for the decision makers in the Green Party to do a thorough analysis of why this happened beyond Elizabeth May not being in the debates. I would suggest that ridings who have built strong relationships in the community could deal with an unfavourable national climate and the fact that we were unable to do so suggests that we do not have the relationships we need. As it was, the national climate in this campaign was about fear and we were unable to communicate that we were a legitimate alternative to the politics of fear. The NDP were obviously able to capitalize on this message.
3. In Guelph, I think we still struggle with a divide between “old-school” and “new” Greens. A group of new Greens got involved in this campaign. My experience of the past is that the emotional attachment and personal investment that the old-school Greens have with the party prevented new people from getting involved, to the point where an old school member put a name in for riding president far past the nomination deadline to prevent a new member from becoming president. This challenge is difficult, as I am unsure of what actions can be taken to create an environment where old-school members can trust and feel safe with resigning or leaving their positions and knowing that they will be well cared for by new (less experienced) members. Up until 2008, their leadership built a strong foundation in Guelph, since then (to be blunt) they laid the groundwork that helped us lose ¾ of our support. I played a role in that and am hoping to find new approaches to solve that problem.
4. I hope that, both locally and nationally, we are growing to understand the use of social media better. I observed us to be very effective at the usage of it nationally, but I cling to the belief that, at it’s most effective usage, social media can only amplify a message. It is not a solution to engaging youth, winning media cycles or recruiting volunteers/raising money. The Green Party (as all others) will need to continually improve two things: What are the best ideas we can come up with to improve our future and how can we communicate these ideas in a way that the average person in Canada can connect with. Ultimately, I still feel like I can’t define or connect with what the Green Party is. If I can’t define that, then odds are I am doing a poor job of communicating that to voters. I hope for some assistance from the central party in shaping that answer J.
5. It’s going to be fun to watch Elizabeth participate in governing! Watching her use the 24/7 media cycle and relationship buildings skills inside parliament could lead to all sorts of unexpected successes.
So, in no particular order:
1. The Green Party of Canada established electing Elizabeth May as it’s only primary goal at some point shortly following the election in 2008. Elizabeth May was elected, I’ll admit to being a voice that was unsure that this was going to happen. During the election I was happy to assist with calls to SGI and am happy that she won. I believe that achieving significant milestones such as this should be celebrated J. Congratulations to everyone who worked hard on electing Elizabeth in SGI.
2. Nationally, it feels as if we were decimated. I don’t have the exact numbers, but it appears that the number of ridings that exceeded 10% of the votes dropped an extraordinary amount between 2008 and 2011. Here in Guelph, that comes at a catastrophic financial cost. It’s important for the decision makers in the Green Party to do a thorough analysis of why this happened beyond Elizabeth May not being in the debates. I would suggest that ridings who have built strong relationships in the community could deal with an unfavourable national climate and the fact that we were unable to do so suggests that we do not have the relationships we need. As it was, the national climate in this campaign was about fear and we were unable to communicate that we were a legitimate alternative to the politics of fear. The NDP were obviously able to capitalize on this message.
3. In Guelph, I think we still struggle with a divide between “old-school” and “new” Greens. A group of new Greens got involved in this campaign. My experience of the past is that the emotional attachment and personal investment that the old-school Greens have with the party prevented new people from getting involved, to the point where an old school member put a name in for riding president far past the nomination deadline to prevent a new member from becoming president. This challenge is difficult, as I am unsure of what actions can be taken to create an environment where old-school members can trust and feel safe with resigning or leaving their positions and knowing that they will be well cared for by new (less experienced) members. Up until 2008, their leadership built a strong foundation in Guelph, since then (to be blunt) they laid the groundwork that helped us lose ¾ of our support. I played a role in that and am hoping to find new approaches to solve that problem.
4. I hope that, both locally and nationally, we are growing to understand the use of social media better. I observed us to be very effective at the usage of it nationally, but I cling to the belief that, at it’s most effective usage, social media can only amplify a message. It is not a solution to engaging youth, winning media cycles or recruiting volunteers/raising money. The Green Party (as all others) will need to continually improve two things: What are the best ideas we can come up with to improve our future and how can we communicate these ideas in a way that the average person in Canada can connect with. Ultimately, I still feel like I can’t define or connect with what the Green Party is. If I can’t define that, then odds are I am doing a poor job of communicating that to voters. I hope for some assistance from the central party in shaping that answer J.
5. It’s going to be fun to watch Elizabeth participate in governing! Watching her use the 24/7 media cycle and relationship buildings skills inside parliament could lead to all sorts of unexpected successes.
General Election coming
My last three weeks have become completely absorbed with an intense amount of volunteer management at work and my re-involving myself with the Green Party with a campaign in our imminent future.
As I studied in my masters, people tend to volunteer or stay a volunteer based on relationships with individuals. This is far more common than attraction to policy or pursuit of a specific goal. With that in mind, people that I have had close relationships with asked me if I would help prepare a campaign team for the upcoming federal election for the Green Party in Guelph and I said yes. I had a hard time bringing myself to say no to a group that I like based on problems that I have with leadership at a higher level in the party. So...I predict that in the next six days we'll be off to the races and having a national/provincial/local debate about the following themes:
-Trust: Which party do you think will best represent the politics of pulling together? Do you trust the Harper Government?
-Staying the course or change: Are you happy with the economic recovery? Do you want to risk new leadership? Can you trust Harper? Is Iggy here for you?
-Canada's reputation: Are you happy with how we are known internationally? Have we played a role you like in the Middle East? In Africa? In Japan?
What I continue to like about the Green Party is that as a group they have the potential to answer these questions better than other parties. I look forward to working with John Lawson and the Green campaign team here in Guelph to help spread this message and to hopefully be competitive with Frank Valeriote and the Liberal party on election day!
As I studied in my masters, people tend to volunteer or stay a volunteer based on relationships with individuals. This is far more common than attraction to policy or pursuit of a specific goal. With that in mind, people that I have had close relationships with asked me if I would help prepare a campaign team for the upcoming federal election for the Green Party in Guelph and I said yes. I had a hard time bringing myself to say no to a group that I like based on problems that I have with leadership at a higher level in the party. So...I predict that in the next six days we'll be off to the races and having a national/provincial/local debate about the following themes:
-Trust: Which party do you think will best represent the politics of pulling together? Do you trust the Harper Government?
-Staying the course or change: Are you happy with the economic recovery? Do you want to risk new leadership? Can you trust Harper? Is Iggy here for you?
-Canada's reputation: Are you happy with how we are known internationally? Have we played a role you like in the Middle East? In Africa? In Japan?
What I continue to like about the Green Party is that as a group they have the potential to answer these questions better than other parties. I look forward to working with John Lawson and the Green campaign team here in Guelph to help spread this message and to hopefully be competitive with Frank Valeriote and the Liberal party on election day!
Green's: Against Attack Ads
The Green Party of Canada (GPC) did something very unusual yesterday: They released a television ad, their first since the 2008 election. For those of you who haven't seen it yet: http://greenparty.ca/change-the-channel.
It's an ad that has inspired a variety of responses from both print and digital media (here, here and here for example).
For my take, I think this ad shows that the Green Party is willing to take a stand on an issue that I am passionate about: That we are unsatisfied with the style of leadership we currently have come to expect from our elected leaders. This advertisement does an excellent job of stating this message clearly and has achieved a high level of earned media for what I'm sure was a reasonable price (there were reports that the ad buy was only $10,000 of air time). I am glad that the party has taken this step.
I think it would be a tremendous step forward if the party is able to augment this with messaging around what the party does stand for. The social media campaign reinforcing the television ad and earned media has so far reinforced that we are against attack ads, but I haven't yet heard what the Green Party of Canada is for?
I'd like to think that the GPC is for the kind of leadership that my neighbourhood association demonstrates. Last night the Hanlon Creek Neighbourhood group went on a 45 minute tangent about how we can work with underprivileged areas of our community to develop a garden basket and cheap/healthy cooking program, seeming to be mostly concerned with how to do the most good without superimposing their will.
I'd like to think that the GPC stands for universal human rights, and that the Canadian government has not just the option but the moral requirement to ensure the people of Libya have these rights.
I hope that we hear from the leadership of the GPC that we are a party that cares not only about ensuring that our economy provides jobs for us now, but that my eventual children's children have jobs...and that this may mean we have to find ways to sacrifice now for the long term greater good.
With this television ad being the first very public messaging being delivered in 3 years, I hope this party has taken a baby step towards telling Canadians who they are.
It's an ad that has inspired a variety of responses from both print and digital media (here, here and here for example).
For my take, I think this ad shows that the Green Party is willing to take a stand on an issue that I am passionate about: That we are unsatisfied with the style of leadership we currently have come to expect from our elected leaders. This advertisement does an excellent job of stating this message clearly and has achieved a high level of earned media for what I'm sure was a reasonable price (there were reports that the ad buy was only $10,000 of air time). I am glad that the party has taken this step.
I think it would be a tremendous step forward if the party is able to augment this with messaging around what the party does stand for. The social media campaign reinforcing the television ad and earned media has so far reinforced that we are against attack ads, but I haven't yet heard what the Green Party of Canada is for?
I'd like to think that the GPC is for the kind of leadership that my neighbourhood association demonstrates. Last night the Hanlon Creek Neighbourhood group went on a 45 minute tangent about how we can work with underprivileged areas of our community to develop a garden basket and cheap/healthy cooking program, seeming to be mostly concerned with how to do the most good without superimposing their will.
I'd like to think that the GPC stands for universal human rights, and that the Canadian government has not just the option but the moral requirement to ensure the people of Libya have these rights.
I hope that we hear from the leadership of the GPC that we are a party that cares not only about ensuring that our economy provides jobs for us now, but that my eventual children's children have jobs...and that this may mean we have to find ways to sacrifice now for the long term greater good.
With this television ad being the first very public messaging being delivered in 3 years, I hope this party has taken a baby step towards telling Canadians who they are.
Two Projects
I’ve found two groups to be involved with, and the process of deciding on both was a lot of fun. It was a great opportunity to reconnect with my values and I appreciate the thoughts that many of my friends passed along while I was looking into it.
Firstly, I’ve joined the Hanlon Creek Business Association. I volunteered with them at a local family festival called Winterfest and enjoyed their leadership talking about how they were a group that didn’t put a lot of stock in meetings but that they loved taking action. Their actions; the events and programs that they run routinely, seem very focussed on connecting families that live in my neighbourhood. I look forward to helping them do that and maybe seeing if there are ways I can help connect students that live in the neighbourhood with the families that are here year round.
For my second trick I’m going to head up the interim campaign team for the Guelph Greens. Friends of mine asked me to help and the work of bringing people together to find a better kind of leadership for Guelph. I retain the issues expressed in previous postings about the leadership of the GPC, and I think there’s room for improvement in defining what the GPO stands for...but I really like Mike Schreiner, Craig Cantin, Becky Smit, Bill Hewitt, etc. who lead the GPO and kind of see parallels between them and the Blue Jays: There’s a lot of potential on the team and it will be fun to watch them try and meet it.
Looking to re-engage
It’s been a while since my last posting. I’ve really enjoyed taking time for myself to both unwind from an intense period of balancing work, volunteering and school. My gym membership and my Kindle have been well used for the past month!
With that said, I’m been thinking about finding a volunteer opportunity again. I’ve committed to my local community association as a way to help out in my immediate neighbourhood and I’ve been thinking about helping out the Green Party of Ontario (GPO) locally in preparation for the election in 2011. In helping me to make this decision, I want to ask any readers I have (the few but dedicated bunch J) if they have any thoughts about either the GPO or getting involved in politics. I really like the leader of the party; Mike Schreiner, and they have a group of people involved who I have a high amount of respect for. I’m curious to find out if this opinion is shared.
So, if you have a moment: What do you look for in a local politician or political party? What is it that is going to help you decide who to vote for in the Ontario election this October? Are you open to the idea that the GPO is an organization that represents your values?
With that said, I’m been thinking about finding a volunteer opportunity again. I’ve committed to my local community association as a way to help out in my immediate neighbourhood and I’ve been thinking about helping out the Green Party of Ontario (GPO) locally in preparation for the election in 2011. In helping me to make this decision, I want to ask any readers I have (the few but dedicated bunch J) if they have any thoughts about either the GPO or getting involved in politics. I really like the leader of the party; Mike Schreiner, and they have a group of people involved who I have a high amount of respect for. I’m curious to find out if this opinion is shared.
So, if you have a moment: What do you look for in a local politician or political party? What is it that is going to help you decide who to vote for in the Ontario election this October? Are you open to the idea that the GPO is an organization that represents your values?
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