Ontario-based Council of Canadians chapter members have been making phone calls to Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader Doug Ford’s supporters calling on them to close their wallets to his harmful and undemocratic agenda.
As reported by CTV, “The Ford government promised not to cut the Basic Income Pilot Program – they lied about that. They concealed their secret plans to gut Toronto City Council until after they were elected. And now they have announced they will use the notwithstanding clause anytime they want to ram through their agenda.”
Chapter members are calling names of publicly-listed PC Party donors, explained the Council’s Ontario-Quebec Organizing Assistant Rachel Small. “[Chapter members] are talking to them and saying while they may not be able to vote in the few years they can certainly vote with their wallet and effectively boycott the party until they stand up for democracy.”
There are about 10,000 donors who gave nearly $5 million to the PC Party in 2017.
When asked if chapters members are getting any backlash to this action, Rachel replied. “You’d be surprised – we’ve been getting a very positive response from some donors. I spoke to someone last night who said, ‘You know, this is a bad leader, I apologize to you on behalf of the party. Thanks for standing up for democracy.’”
She goes on to say that other donors may not agree with everything the Council of Canadians is saying, but that when it comes to the number of wards for Toronto City Council, you can’t interrupt an election halfway through. “I think democracy is a non-partisan issue a majority of Ontarians feel strongly about protecting,” she added.
Here is a sample script being used by Council of Canadians chapter volunteers who are calling Conservative donors:
“Hello my name is ________ and I’m calling from the Council of Canadians today to ask you to STOP donating to the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario until they stop undermining our democracy. It is unacceptable for them to try and change the rules of the game in the middle of Toronto’s election, and to threaten to use the notwithstanding clause any time their agenda violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
We’re calling donors like yourself to say that while you won’t have a chance to vote on the Ford government’s actions for the next four years you can keep your money in your pocket until then to show that you care about upholding democracy.
We hope you will vote with your wallet now and stop donating to the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario.”
The Council of Canadians opposes Premier Doug Ford’s anti-democratic agenda. We have called on the federal government to take over the basic income pilot project and spoken out about the undemocratic decision to slash the size of Toronto City Council in the middle of an election period. The Council also does not support Premier Ford’s plan to wield the not-withstanding clause to enact his political agenda. Instead, we stand up for democracy as a fundamental pillar of our society that must be upheld.
The Council of Canadians’ action alert calling on Ontario’s Attorney General Caroline Mulroney to support the rule of law and block Premier Ford’s use of the notwithstanding clause to enact legislation slashing the size of Toronto Council garnered almost 9,000 signatures in just a few short days. The original court decision declaring Premier Ford’s actions unconstitutional was overturned in the Court of Appeal.
