Key Action & Message of the Week:
Pressure on the CBC is increasing! Earlier this week, we released an open letter signed by more than a dozen high profile authors, artists, media personalities and Indigenous leaders supporting the call for the CBC to organize and host a climate debate. Our key message this week – we’re having an impact and pressure on the CBC is growing.
Here’s what you can do to take action this week:
- Share the open letter to the CBC from some of the most renowned authors, artists, and leaders in the country. If you know any authors, artists, media personalities or organizations that you think could or should sign the letter, you can invite them to sign on through this form.
- If you haven’t yet, sign the petition to Jennifer McGuire, the CBC’s Editor-in-Chief and General Manager. We will deliver this petition to the CBC HQ in Toronto on August 9th, and we need to make sure we have as many signatures as possible before then. You can help us out by collecting some signatures in your community. Here’s everything you need to canvass with the petition: how to run a canvass, canvass script, and canvass sheet.
- We’re also looking for folks who can join our National Support Team and volunteer their skills to support the national Our Time campaign. If that’s you, sign up here.
- The Debates Commission also made a big announcement today about the 2 debates they were tasked with organizing. You can read our response to that announcement here. We’ll follow up soon with more information about the mobilization on October 7th around the official English election debate in Ottawa.
- You might have also heard that the Teck Frontier mine cleared a critical regulatory hurdle last week. The Teck mine is one of the largest tar sands projects ever proposed, and the final decision on it will be on the desk of whoever is elected this October. It’s another reason to fight for a climate debate, so we can put the question “will you approve this climate wrecking tar sands mine?” to party leaders.
Highlights from across the country:
- Radio take overs continue: Last Friday, organizers with Our Time Vancouver flooded BC Today with calls for a debate on climate change and a Green New Deal. Listen to the episode here (you will hear the powerful remarks by the Vancouver organizers at 8:00, 13:05, and 15:45). Then on Sunday, hundreds of people from across the country called in to Cross Country Checkup, the CBC’s flagship radio show to demand a leaders’ climate debate. Quite a few of them made it onto the air. Our pressure was enough to push Cross Country Checkup to commit to hosting a climate-focused episode during the election. Listen in to the show here.
- Northern organizers share their story: Organizers in Yellowknife published an op-ed on their Change the Debate action in which they share the moving story of how massive wildfires in their community drove them to create a local Our Time Hub. Read it here.
- Organizing across borders: Also over the weekend, organizers with Our Time in Toronto traveled to Detroit, where the Sunrise Movement was hosting a massive training for young people pushing for a Green New Deal in the US.
South of the border, our friends in the Sunrise Movement continue to do amazing things and, on Monday, Vox Media released a long interview with Varshini Prakash, their Executive Director, all about their strategy and how they’re winning a Green New Deal in the United States. It’s a great listen and you can find it here.
Election State of Play:
Polls have the Liberals pulling slightly ahead of the Conservatives, effectively eliminating the Conservative lead that existed over the past few months. But both parties are more or less in a statistical tie as outlined in the latest Forum poll. They’re also both claiming record breaking fundraising numbers for the second quarter of 2019.
The NDP and the Green Party are increasingly targeting one another, but the race continues to be a dead heat with a potential minority outcome. We shouldn’t expect any big changes, barring a major event, until the writ drops this fall.
The most important poll released this past week actually has nothing to do with political parties. A Mainstreet Poll found that 61% of people in Canada want the government to take serious climate action, even if the economy suffers.
Tools and Resources:
CBC Change the Debate Canvassing Resources
Help us build power in the fight for a leaders’ debate on climate change and a Green New Deal by running a canvass in your community. Here are all the details on how you can get it started:
Every week, we hold regular office hours for organizers to jump on Zoom, and workshop challenges and ideas with other Our Time organizers and 350.org staff. You can find the dates and times of future office hours here (and our next one is Monday at 9pm-11pm EST!
That’s it for now. Thanks for reading this edition of Our Time News – we’ll be back next week with more.
Photo Credit: Abdul Malik