Campaign Objectives
March 2010
Had enough of the Conservatives, their
political gamesmanship and abuse of power? We've seen this
government side-step Parliament through prorogation, committee
boycotts and stonewalling. We've witnessed unprecedented secrecy,
limits on media access, brinkmanship, and outright untruths.
Without real consequences for these abuses, why should we expect
any change from our politicians?
Catch 22 Harper Conservatives is a grassroots campaign to provide real consequences for the Conservatives’ disrespect of voters and Parliament. The objective of the campaign is to organize voters into an electoral force that will:
1) Contribute to the defeat of the Conservative government. We can achieve this by targeting at least 22 vulnerable, sitting Conservative MPs across Canada (at least one MP for each day of prorogation!) To succeed, we are proposing on-the-ground campaigns in selected ridings to hand out pro-democracy literature.
2) Raise awareness about Canada's democratic deficit, including our antiquated first-past-the-post voting system. The Conservatives aren't the first party in Canada to abuse their authority. We need a game-changer to improve accountability, transparency, representation and advance democracy.
Catch 22 Harper Conservatives is a grassroots campaign to provide real consequences for the Conservatives’ disrespect of voters and Parliament. The objective of the campaign is to organize voters into an electoral force that will:
1) Contribute to the defeat of the Conservative government. We can achieve this by targeting at least 22 vulnerable, sitting Conservative MPs across Canada (at least one MP for each day of prorogation!) To succeed, we are proposing on-the-ground campaigns in selected ridings to hand out pro-democracy literature.
2) Raise awareness about Canada's democratic deficit, including our antiquated first-past-the-post voting system. The Conservatives aren't the first party in Canada to abuse their authority. We need a game-changer to improve accountability, transparency, representation and advance democracy.
Pre-election period
- Develop a Catch 22 communication network and internet presence with organizing, discussion and fundraising capabilities.
- Identify at least 22 vulnerable, incumbent Conservative MPs from as many provinces and territories as possible.
- Base riding selection principally on the winnable margins of victory in the 2008 election and the extent of local participation..
- Identify organizers and spokespeople in each targeted riding.
- Recruit volunteers to distribute literature in each riding.
- Prepare and print the literature, which will focus on democracy related issues, the Conservative record, as well as previous election results indicating the clear second-place finishers. The literature will also encourage people to vote and provide voter registration information. (Party or candidate endorsements would not be made at this time.)
- Develop a toolkit that each riding campaign can use, including detailed campaign templates for literature distribution and organizing volunteers. The toolkit would also be used to maintain a consistent message and Catch 22 “brand.”
- Consider other means to get the word out, such as posters and billboards.
- Build a network of people that can be mobilized once an election is called.
- Consider expanding the campaign to additional Conservative-held ridings.
- Consider expanding to vulnerable opposition-held riding
Election period (total of 35
days)
- Endorse and assist the opposition candidate with the best chance of winning. Endorsement may be conditional on their support for our objectives.
- Consider producing and distributing another piece of literature or advertising under the Catch-22 name during the election (i.e. a formal Third Party campaign).
- Consider making endorsements in other ridings.
- Consider recommending that political parties co-operate in specific ridings to ensure the opposition vote is not split to the Conservative's advantage.
© 2012 Created by Catch 22.
