[fvc-wat-disc] Multi-cultural festival thoughts - part 1 - the attendees

[Catherine Campbell]

It was nice to finally meet you on sat. I've been impressed by your analysis you've sent to the group. Regards, Cathe Campbell 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jun 26, 2017, at 7:48 PM, Jay Judkowitz <judkowitz at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi folks,
> 
>      It was great working the booth with you all.  The numbers Sharon shared about sign-ups for the petition were amazing.  Great work, everyone.
> 
>      I was thinking about the different groups, how they differed from each other, and how we can approach them for the best result.  I'd love your thoughts on these observations and suggestions.
> People who are already sold: These people are great.  Take no time, readily give their signatures, and usually provide us some form of moral support.  For them, our goal should be to get them to become active and to join one of our mail lists.  We need to make sure we give them the smallest possible commitment level possible and see if we can't get them hooked on working on this issue with us.
> Curious people who just never thought about it before: These are actually the perfect audience.  They are curious and want to know why we are spending all day at a fair talking about our issue.  They generally are sympathetic to the question of fairness.  They like non-partisan messaging because they are not steeped in the history of broken promises and want a positive message.  To them, it's good to just say it's a risk to have 39% of the votes create an unassailable legislative machine because you never know which 39% will win.  The fact that the last two minority majorities were from different parties make it super easy to keep it non-partisan.  It's possible to do this discussion without even using the name of a party once.
> People who get it, but not why it matters: They acknowledge the unfairness of FPTP but don't see why they should care.  This is a tough crowd because we don't know what argument to give if fairness does not work.  Do they care more about coalition building, less dictatorial power of a single party leader, better representation of women and minorities, or having more voices and interests heard?  I think that with these people (if they don't just walk off), we need to ask them questions - find out what they care most about and see if we can relate FPTP vs. PR to their interests. 
> Angry people: These people don't need to be grabbed in - they come to us.  They have a gripe about the world and feel that the government is inherently unfair and out to screw us all.  They talk to us because they see us as also upset about unfairness and know we will listen.  Well, actually they talk AT us. They want to share their gripe and be heard but don't really discuss PR WITH us.  The problem is that they take our time and attention away from other people we want to talk to and, worse yet, they can scare away folks from the booth.  To top it all off, sometimes they don't even sign the petition because they are convinced nothing will ever make a difference.  For these people, we need to make a quick and compelling case that in spite of the inherent selfishness of people and parties, PR can make things better by creating checks and balances between the parties and create more accountability.  We can't be unrealistic in saying we will cause better people to be elected, but rather we can create a better system for reigning in the worst in our leaders.  That said, if they don't bite quickly, it's probably best to excuse yourself to talk to someone who seems like they won't rant for 10 minutes or so.
> Apathetic people: These people usually run away quickly and refuse to make eye contact.  But, sometimes their kids want to spin a wheel and take candy.  Maybe it's just easiest to let them go, but maybe it's possible to just give a quick general non-PR message that politics matters in general.  Sure, life is very good for very many Canadians right now, but there is no law of nature that says it always has to be so.  Special interests and actual bad people don't rest and without the vigilance of good and reasonable people, we can lose the precious situation we have here.  We won't get them to sign for PR, but maybe we can plant a seed for later.
>      Talk to you all soon.
> 
> Best regards,
> Jay
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