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Monday, March 02, 2009

Liberal Party Policy Development Workshop

 
Here's where I'll be this evening.
WHEN:
Monday, March 2, 2009
7:30 - 10:00 PM

WHERE:
Mississauga Central Library
Meeting Room #3, second floor

PRICE:
Cost: $5 (to recover room and refreshment costs)

CONTACT:
For more information, please contact
Sharon McCarthy 905 828 5786
Omar Alghabra 416 564 5468

NOTES:
The Mississauga-Erindale Federal Liberal Riding Association is organizing an informative and engaging workshop on policy development and promotion. The workshop will be facilitated and presented by Maryanne Kampouris, Vice President, Policy, Liberal Party of Canada (Ontario)

The session will discuss policy development process touching upon different components, including Party structure, Policy Structure, role of the riding association, role of the policy committee with practical ideas on how to engage constituents in 'ideas' or policy discussions.

The session will include practical discussion on how riding associations can proceed in engaging their members and their constituents in this process.

The purpose of this workshop is to empower Liberals and educate them on how to convert their policy ideas into real resolutions that can make a difference, and how to promote and advocate for their policy ideas.
Does anyone have any suggestions? How can the Liberal riding associations engage voters and make them care about defeating Stephen Harper and the Conservatives?

We should probably start with hiring a proofreader for press releases but is there anything else?


1 comment :

Adrian said...

Take a lesson from our Southern neighbours and display some frigging backbone and a vision for a change. Stop being the squishy middle between the NDP and the Tories. Articulate a few consistent beliefs and principles and then apply them. The Tories don't win because they try to please everyone, they win because they happily tell half of Canada to screw themselves while telling the other half that they'll fight for them and only them.

For a start, why not take a principled stance on the environment (including the Tar Sands), human rights, the war in Afghanistan or something. Heck, even file sharing (not sexy but anyone under 40 will be solidly behind it)! With economies being rocked there has to be something which will excite controversy and interest - why not follow California and propose pot legalization & taxation? An issue which can capture our imagination and get people fired up.

The problem the Liberals have, I think, is that any sort of clearly articulated vision and any firm stance means turning people away. Saying that the tar sands cannot continue like this means that some people will be turned off, even if it also means that it'll inspire many others. So the Libs say the tar sands are vital to our culture and way of life to cozy up to the Albertans while ignoring that climate change could ruin our culture & way of life, not to mention that Albertans will never vote Liberal while there's a Tory bigot on the ticket. You win nothing in Alberta while pissing off the rest of the country.

They can cynically decide on who they want (young/old, BC/prairie/central/maritime, etc.) and then take a stance on those issues or better yet find someone within the ranks who has somehow managed to survive politics with her integrity intact and the ability to speak persuasively. It's been known to happen.

Why not push for some sort of proportional representation? It would free them from trying to become Tory-lite and if presented well could excite people into voting.