On Tuesday, May 11, our first Tweet-In stopped the Harper Conservatives from moving to SHUT DOWN DEBATE by the trade committee on the Canada-Colombia FTA. We reached 25,000 people on Twitter and made the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement the Number 2 trending issue — that’s amazing! Now we just have to do it all over again… There is a good chance the Conservatives will move again this THURSDAY, MAY 13 to shut down debate. We stopped them once and we can stop them again. By tweeting the words and actions of our MPs in real time we can reach tens of thousands of Canadians who can’t be at the trade committee meeting in person.
THE GOALS – Recap
1. Fill the Parliamentary Trade Committee hearing room to show how important the Canada-Colombia FTA debate is to Canadians. We had 25 people on May 11 — they had to bring in more chairs!
2. Make sure at least half of these people are sending regular updates to Twitter and including MP names and contacts so people across Canada can write to the Liberals and Conservatives in real time expressing their concerns with the FTA and the attempt to shut down debate.
3. Make sure these tweets are being re-tweeted by others who will be online and on Twitter from 3:30 to 5:30, multiplying the number of people we reach.
4. Make the Canada-Colombia FTA the Number 1 trending topic on Twitter. Our first Tweet-In on Tuesday, May 11 reached Number 2 – no small feat. By tweeting about this agreement we are reaching thousands of Canadians we hadn’t reached before.
5. Keep the pressure on the Trade Committee and the Liberal Caucus to hold in depth and comprehensive hearings. Demand that the Committee fulfill its recommendations to support an independent human right impact assessment BEFORE moving forward with ratification of the deal. Send an email now.
WHEN AND WHERE?
Trade Committee meets Thursday, May 13 from 3:30 to 5:30 at 131 Queen Street (Ottawa), Room 853. Like on Tuesday, security will need the names of all who plan on attending — you can send your name to strew@canadians.org.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED ON TWITTER
Be online Thursday from 3:30 to 5:30 ready to retweet what’s happening in the committee hearings. Remember to hashtag #noccfta. Good luck!
KEY MPS ON TWITTER
NDP
Peter Julian – @mpjulian
GREEN
Elizabeth May – @ElizabethMay
LIBERALS
Carolyn Bennett – @caroylyn_bennett
Scott Brison – @scottbrison
Denis Coderre – @deniscoderre
Ujjal Dosanjh – @ujjaldosanjh
Michael Ignatieff – @M_Ignatieff
Gerard Kennedy – @GKennedyMP
Bob Rae – @bobraemp
Justin Trudeau – @justinpjtrudeau
CONSERVATIVES
Stephen Harper – @pmharper