The Council of Canadians Quill Plains (Wynyard) chapter took part in a 4-week campaign this past March-April that successfully stopped a provincial cut of almost $5 million to the province’s public library system.
Council of Canadians chapters are celebrating at least 18 significant wins achieved during the first nine months of 2017!
These WINS! include:
1- Campbell River chapter celebrates Vancouver Island Health Authority decision against hospital parking lot fees
2- BC government cancels construction on George Massey bridge project
3- National Energy Board review of Energy East to include upstream and downstream emissions
4- Pacific NorthWest LNG project is dead
5- The Council celebrates “a new era of hope” for the Grassy Narrows First Nation
6- Northampton, Massachusetts a blue community!
7- Trudeau government set to announce ‘formal consultation process’ on NAFTA
8- Council of Canadians celebrates defeat of Seneca Lake gas storage project
9- Northumberland chapter celebrates Town of Cobourg vote in support of the right to a healthy environment
10- Guelph chapter celebrates City Council vote against online voting proposal
11- Saskatchewan chapters celebrate government backing down on cuts to libraries
12- City of Prince Albert supports right to water & public water
13- City of Prince Albert executive committee supports right to water & public water
14- Victoria & Mid-Island chapters celebrate cancellation of permit for dump site at Shawnigan Lake
15- Campbell River chapter celebrates City Council vote against hospital parking lot fees
16- Guelph chapter successfully opposes sale of Guelph Hydro
17- Sackville votes against Energy East pipeline
18- Hamilton chapter & allies win City Council support for resolution opposing the TPP
As we strategize for the remainder of the year and the campaigns ahead of us in 2018 and beyond, what are some of the common factors in these wins?
1- chapter activism was integral in almost all of them
2- they involved significant alliances and work in coalitions
3- a rational analysis may have suggested in most cases that we would not win these fights
4- most of them required the persistence of multiple years of work
5- some of them involved a change in government or an actual vote by a governing body
6- they involved both stopping some bad things (oppositional) and winning some gains (propositional)
7- on some of them we won the “battle”, but the “war” continues
8- some involved previous wins accumulating into a bigger win
9- some were achieved despite biased or unfriendly media coverage
10- creativity, tenacity, hard work, perseverance and bold action by local activists were key elements in all these wins
Onward!
