A Gift of Democracy for Christmas

For those who may not know Leadnow is “an independent advocacy organization that brings generations of Canadians together to achieve progress through democracy.” They are particularly focused upon building “a stronger democracy that protects our environment, creates economic opportunity while increasing equality”
Leadnow has become THE organization for those concerned with these things, and who cannot be, to support and become involved with and their “plan' is outlined below as distributed with their latest fund raising appeal. It is an unfortunate reality that it is going to take not only thousands of concerned citizens to spread the word to defeat the current corrupt and antidemocratic regime but also money to organize such efforts. Please consider supporting Leadnow in whatever way you can.
Here is their plan and the reason it is needed.
Connect people who want to make a difference: In the new year we’ll host kick off events and trainings to bring people together, share our plan for action and train people to organize in their communities.

2. Keep growing opposition to contain the damage: We’ve already stopped or delayed this government time and again. We’ll keep running campaigns to hold this government accountable on the issues that matter most to this community.^[4] Together, we’ll create a list of the worst damage done by this government and build a powerful campaign to get the NDP, Liberals and Greens to commit to undo that damage after the election.^[5]

3. Create a program for action on climate, democracy and inequality: We’ll ask people who didn’t vote in the last election about their concerns and see how their answers connect with the Leadnow community’s big picture goals on democracy, climate and inequality. Together we’ll create a program for action that will motivate people across the country.

4. Organize in ridings across the country: We’ll work together to get out and build support in communities across the country. We’ll focus efforts in places where a hundred, or a few thousand, votes will make the biggest difference. We’ve done a detailed analysis so we can spend money wisely.

5. Build support for crucial reforms: As we reach out to more and more Canadians and focus organizing in key ridings, we'll make sure the political parties respond to our community’s program for action on democracy, climate and inequality with strengthened commitments in their campaign platforms.

6. Cooperate, endorse or support before the next election: Before the next election, we’ll either secure local cooperation agreements between the NDP, Liberals and Greens, or we’ll find a community-driven strategy to focus support behind the key candidates in strategic ridings. We’ll work together to find the best solution.^[6]

7. Get out the vote during the election: During the next election we’ll focus our efforts on mobilizing in key ridings to inspire hundreds of thousands to vote for the candidate who has the best chance of representing their values in Parliament.

8. Undo the worst damage: After the election, we’ll work with the new government to undo some of the worst damage that’s been done in the last few years.

9. Pass crucial reforms: Now the real work begins! We’ll work together to ensure the new government passes crucial reforms to fix our broken electoral system, make Canada a climate leader and build a fair economy that reduces inequality.

As they say “This fall, Prime Minister Harper kicked off his campaign for the next Canadian federal election - and the stakes could not be higher. The question is: Will Prime Minister Harper be able to lock in his anti-democratic agenda - with all the consequences for our country and our way of life - or will Canadians come together across party lines and organize to reboot our democracy and make progress on the major challenges facing our society?”


“The Harper Conservatives are using the power of our government to stack the deck in their favour. From spending $113 million on Economic Action Plan ads to putting people like Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin into the Senate so they can charge you for expenses when they hit the Conservative fundraising circuit, the Harper Conservatives are using your money to cement their political control of your country.”


Indeed all the power and money that the Harper regime is pouring into ensuring that they and they alone will have control over the future of our country may well be successful in spinning the facts to confuse enough citizens to let them retain power under our flawed voting system which encourages conflict not cooperation. Only a realization that conflict is exactly what the Conservatives thrive on and cooperation will return us from the brink of democratic destruction will bring about change for the better.


Further information on Leadnow may be found at http://www.leadnow.ca/en/index
and you may donate to their cause here.


Lets make a gift of democracy to our children and grandchildren!




Support Democracy - Recommend this Post at Progressive Bloggers