[fvc-wat-announce] Campaign activities this week

[Paul Nijjar]

You wouldn't know it from the lack of lawn signs, but the campaign is
on and everything is getting crazy. There are lots of events going
on, and lots of ways to help out. 

Canvassing Meetings
-------------------

Josh Smyth (smyth.josh at gmail; 519.496.0541) has gamely stepped up
to organize our canvassing efforts. Contact him to get involved with
spreading the word door-to-door. 

Josh is running two meetings on Monday Sept 17 to get canvassing
organized: one at noon in the WLU concourse, and one at 7:00pm at his
house, apartment 21 at 154 Erb Street East, Waterloo (past Devitt). 

If you can help spread the word, please do. 

Panels and Information Sessions
-------------------------------

There are lots of discussions around the referendum happening this
week. All of the following are open to the public: 

- On Tuesday Sept 18 at 7:00pm, Angela will be running our regular
information session. This is at the Faculty of Social Work building
at 120 Duke St W, Kitchener (behind City Hall)

- On Wednesday Sept 19 at 4:00pm(?) there will be a panel at Wilfrid
Laurier university. Panelists include: Jim Breithaupt (former MPP for
Kitchener), OCA members Matthew Certosimo and Ron VanKoughnett, and
Waterloo co-chair Brian Tanguay.

CAUTION: I am not sure I have the right starting time for this event
-- it may start at 4:30pm -- and I don't have the room number. Keep
your eye on the online calendar. 

- Then at 7:00pm there will be another panel at the University of
Waterloo, in the Student Life Centre Great Hall. Panelists include:
Brian Tanguay and Ron VanKoughnett (again!), OCA member Marcia Soeda,
and New Zealand resident (and Vote for MMP organizer) Steve Withers. 

- On Saturday September 22 there will be a big Referednum Rally in
Cambridge starting at 1:30pm. It will be held at Central Park, near
King and Dover Streets in Preston. We are arranging to get some big
names to come and speak at the rally. We're trying to draw lots of
media attention for this one, so please come out and add to the
throngs who are enthusiastic about MMP. 


All-Candidates Meetings
-----------------------

There are a few all-candidates meetings happening this week. At some
of them we have not had good success in getting our display present,
but we can attend them and make sure that the referendum stays on the
agenda. There are many excellent questions you can ask your
candidates: about their stance on the referendum, about their views
of the 60% threshold, about how their party would nominate list
members, and so on. 

If you know of additional all-candidates meetings that are not on our
calendar (http://www.fairvotecanada.org/WaterlooRegion) then please
let me know. 

- On Thursday September 20, 6:30pm there will be a Cambridge debate
at  150 Main Street 2nd Floor. This debate is organized by a number
of local organizations including the Labour Council and Cambridge
Social Planning Council, and will focus on poverty and wage issues.
We will be making a 10 minute presentation at this debate. 

- The Record has scheduled its Kitchener Centre debate on Thursday,
September 20 at 7:00pm at the Canada Room of the Record building in
downtown Kitchener. 

Other Events
------------

This Sunday, September 16 there will be a half-hour segment on CKCO
television. It will be from 6:30-7:00pm, and will feature Brian
Tanguay (again -- he's a popular fellow) facing off against UW
professor Peter Woolstencroft. 

On Saturday September 22 our booth will be making an appearance at
the Car Free Festival in Victoria Park. 

This weekend and every weekend we have a booth at the St. Jacobs
Saturday-Sunday market. Many shifts have been filled for this booth,
but there are a few shifts left towards the end of the campaign. 

Angus-Reid released an election poll it conducted last week. Here are
the latest polling trends for the referendum: 

FPTP: 33%
MMP:  26%
Undecided: 38%

See http://www.angus-reid.com/uppdf/ONT_Sept.pdf
for the full report. 

All is not lost, however. This poll demonstrates that a whole lot of
people don't know what MMP is or why it might be better than FPTP,
and you can bet that many of that 33% are not feeling strongly about
their choice. We have a lot of education to do, so spread the word. 


- Paul






 






--
Paul Nijjar  http://www.fairvotecanada.org/WaterlooRegion
Next Referendum Info Session: Sept 18, 7pm
(Please use this Yahoo! account for future correspondence.)


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