[fvc-wat-disc] Minutes: Sept 6 2007 meeting
Paul Nijjar
paul_nijjar at yahoo.ca
Fri Sep 7 16:03:18 EDT 2007
MINUTES: September 6 2007
=========================
Present: Angela Yenssen, Brian Tanguay, Josh Smyth, Nikki (?), Jacob
Pries, Sarah Dagan, R.A. Dagan, Maxine, Kevin Smith, Adam Glauser,
Bob
Jonkman
1. Approval of Agenda
----------------------
Angela added item 4a: Campaign Rally
2. Approval of August 21 2007 minutes
-------------------------------------
Angela had some changes regarding dates, which she will forward to
Paul.
3. Merger Update
----------------
There was a meeting on August 29, which Angela attended. The
Cambridge
will merge with us but continue to work in Cambridge.
Their next meeting is Sept 19. Shannon Adshade will attend.
Some of their group members were added to our e-mail list, but
several
have since unsubscribed.
4. Cambridge NDP Nomination Meeting
-----------------------------------
This is for Sunday evening in Cambridge. We are just showing the
display.
Adam and Angela said they would prefer not to do it, but they might
be
able to attend if there are no other volunteers.
4a. Campaign Rally
------------------
Bill Kirby in Cambridge wants to have a "launch" rally with some big
name from the National Advisory Board (e.g. David Suzuki) in
Cambridge
(where there is potentially free space available).
The tentative date for this is Saturday, Sept 22.
Some higher profile people (Donna Reid, Brian Tanguay) would also
speak.
We have all been asked to bring our friends and family to attend the
event.
This does conflict with the Car Free Festival in Victoria Park, but
the attendance at that festival might not be so high.
4b. Discussion List
-------------------
Several people have unsubscribed the discussion list and told Angela
that they will only communicate via her. They say there are too many
e-mails being sent to the list.
Paul obnoxiously claimed that we should expect a lot of traffic on
the
discussion list, and that people could either subscribe to the
announcement list only or subscribe in digest mode.
Josh suggested setting up a web board, but at this late date adding
yet more infrastructure may be ill-advised. Adam commented that
people
tend not to visit the wiki.
One thought was to use the Waterloo Executive address for
communications via the exec (but this does not solve the bigger
problem).
5. Finances
-----------
Tracking funds:
- All funds need to be funnelled through central office.
- The farmer's markets booths may be a problem. Kevin and Angela
said they would work this out after the meeting.
- We need to find somebody who is willing to track our funds --
both
donations and spending.
- The Cambridge group wants to raise money specifically for
Cambridge, so this also needs to be tracked.
- Brian and Angela will work on getting Kevin access to the bank
account.
- We have $700 in recent campaign donations.
Fundraising:
- A template for soliciting union donations already exists. Unions
we might approach include: CUPW (postal workers), Elementary
Teacher's Union, Ontario Teachers' Federation, Retired Teachers
of
Ontario
- How can we get individual donations?
- Adam will ask a friend who ran for Toronto City Council for some
suggestions.
- Lions Clubs? Rotary Clubs? They may want to be apolitical, and if
they are registered charities they cannot make campaign
contributions.
- We don't need to track names for amounts under $25, so we can
bring the donation can to the market.
- What businesses can we cold call?
- The pamphlets provide an opportunity for people to donate to the
campaign, so we can point this out.
- It is likely that we do not have the time to organize an event
(e.g. a concert)
- We can call businesses and ask them to give us money.
Advertising Proposals:
- The Cord newspaper sells advertisements. Graham's WLU group can
maybe get a discount on advertising.
- There are ethnic newspapers we could use to advertise.
- Lawn signs will likely be too expensive, and we can't make small
affordable runs.
- Glossy posters will cost us about $1 each.
- Adam will contact Bill Ritz and see whether he can do anything
for
us.
- We want to buy some buttons from central office.
6. Literature Inventory and Requirements
----------------------------------------
Who has literature?
- The white OCA pamphlets are limited to 1000/person, and they
are in their final printing.
- We should not expect an unlimited supply of the blue pamphlets.
- Referendum Ontario now has its own pamphlet -- Paul will look
into
ordering some.
- Brian has a few hundred white OCA pamphlets, a small box of
FVC ones. He put in an order for more, but they may have gotten
lost.
- Kevin drove in 4500 blue pamphlets from Toronto, and gave
2100 away to unions.
- Laurier has 4 boxes of white pamphlets
- Angela has Vote for MMP post-it notes
- Kevin dropped off 17 boxes (!) of black OCA books to Ingersoll.
- It looks like we have something like 10 more boxes of the black
books between us.
- Kevin has posters.
- We have half a million people in our ridings, so we need lots of
pamphlets. Angela encouraged everybody to order some.
Lessons from the Farmers' Market
--------------------------------
The Sunday shift tends to die at 2:30pm. The most important time to
have a second person might be midday.
Both people need not be chained to the booth. Last Sunday John went
around leafletting in public, and he drew another half-dozen people
to
the booth. The downside is that many pamphlets that are given out
this way end up going in the garbage. One solution is to hand out the
cheapest/most abundant pamphlets?
We might also hang out outside the Kitchener Market.
The display board is horrible and needs fixing. It is too wordy. Paul
has been charged with tearing out words and adding a simulation
graphic. Other ideas: include an envelope with information, put a big
"FREE INFORMATION" banner at the top of the display.
Some people (including the famed "Mike") are yappers who lead you on
and feed you lines to use up your time. How do you get out of the
conversation?
- Make eye contact with somebody else and draw them in
- Say you need to go to the bathroom
8. Outreach Activities
----------------------
Volunteer recruitment
- The Laurier activists will be able to get 10-15 people
Unions and Social Planning Council
- We still have not heard anything about a KPL debate
- Many unions have been contacted
Canvassing
- Is supposed to start this weekend [WHERE?]
- Laurier folks are willing to do Kitchener Centre/Kitchener
Waterloo
- Evenings after dinner are the best for canvassing weekdays
- Malls are better for canvassing during the day
Literature Drops
- Maxine has dropped literature at Senior's Centres
- Adam can drop off literature at New Hamburg and Ayr
- Where to drop literature? Public places first, then homes.
- Did we get out to the libraries? Bob will check Elmira, St.
Jacobs. We are in WPL. KPL is unknown.
Campus Organizing
- Laurier has several events and displays in hand.
- UW: panel, referendum Ontario presentation, debate
with Peter Woolstencroft. Who will represent us?
- Is there a "Rush the Vote" group that we can work with?
Council Presentations
- Angela will do September 17 at Cambridge, Oct 1 at Kitchener
City Council. Both of these are televised
- Brian did Regional Council, and got 15 minutes of Q&A. Kitchener
has dropped its OCA link but may add YourBigDecision.ca
School Board Outreach
- Angela sent information packages to the directors of both school
boards
- Angela made a pitch to speak in classes
- Bob's son discussed this in his Grade 10 Civics class
Festivals
- Cambridge Fall Fair would have taken us at $250 for a booth
- Adam will contact the Apple Butter festival
- We will be present at Car Free Day, Nudge festival
- Maxine asked about the Brussels Fall Fair, but it sounds as if
they have a Referendum Ontario representative there already
Local Referendum Resource Officers
- Paul will find the complete list
Media Updates
- City TV is doing a news report on the referendum this week
- The Record article may come out on Sept 8
- Brian's article on MMP will come out in the Ottawa Citizen this
Friday
- KoolFM does community minutes that are free
- Paul will work on a media release
- We can do a public service announcement release that can be read
over the radio
- We should contact campus radio at Conestoga, Guelph
- Angela will prepare a release for the smaller papers
9. Provincial Updates
---------------------
- None/deferred due to lack of time
10. Next Meeting
----------------
- Executive meeting for Sept 13 to discuss budgeting
- Following meeting: Sept 20? Sept 27?
--
Paul Nijjar http://www.fairvotecanada.org/WaterlooRegion
Next Referendum Info Session: Sept 11, 7pm
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