I an email I want to share.
Dear Michael,
With just two weeks left before the May 5th election in Alberta,
it’s possible that we’re seeing a once-in-a-generation sea change in Alberta
politics.
After 44 years in power, more and more people can clearly see the failure of
the Progressive Conservatives to properly manage our resources and ensure fair
and stable revenue sources to fund the services and infrastructure Albertans
expect.
The PCs have failed to live up to their promises to be
transparent and accountable to the public, and people are ready for change.
The NDP is poised to make a historic breakthrough, the Alberta Liberals and
Alberta Party are running strong local campaigns, and the Green Party leader is
directly challenging Jim Prentice in the riding he’s represented since the
November 2014 by-election.
The most important thing we can do right now is get ready to vote and
make sure all our friends and families across the province have the information
they need to help shift the tides on May 5th.
At Leadnow, we’ve had our hands full holding the Harper Conservatives
accountable and launching our campaign to unite voters across political lines
to defeat them in October.
That’s why we’re so happy to see a number of
citizen-led initiatives emerge to challenge the status quo in the lead up to
May 5th here in Alberta.
We wanted to let you know about some of the exciting things they’re up to,
and invite you to follow along, sign up, join in and spread the word.
Here’s the quick run down (there’s more information below):
·
VoteKit: All
the basics for new voters, including video tutorials in 8 languages and
opportunities to practice voting before the big day
·
1ABVote:
Insights, information and a pre-vote process to unite the progressive vote
·
Change
Alberta: Strategic voting initiative to identify winnable progressive
candidates
·
Albert
Politics: Independent blog with candidate information and other opinion
pieces.
After four decades under the same tired party, it's time to try new
things. You can see this creativity in the range of new initiatives
working with innovative tactics to bring real change to the political scene.
Here's a bit of information to spark your curiosity, and help you and your
networks work together for change on May 5th:
How to Vote
First and foremost - none of this will matter if you’re not registered to
vote.
Elections Alberta is
your one-stop shop for everything you need to know to cast your ballot
including how to make sure you’re on the List of Electors, where to find your
polling station, and information about special ballots and advanced polls.
Visit
http://www.elections.ab.ca/ or
call the Voter Information Centre toll free at 1-877-422-8683.
Are you eligible to vote for the first time? Are you one of the 50-60% of
eligible voters that tends to stay home on election day?
VoteKit is a volunteer-run project that helps
people get familiar with the voting experience before Election Day
through their 30 Days to Vote email series, VoteKit Live Events in Calgary, and
their online tutorial videos available in Cantonese, French, Korean, Spanish,
Tagalog, Urdu & Vietnamese. Check them out at
http://votekit.ca.
Vote Smart
Are you looking to cast your ballot for the progressive candidate
with the best chance of defeating either the Progressive Conservative or the
Wild Rose candidate in your riding? Then we encourage you to check out
1ABVote and Change Alberta.
Polling data from 1ABVote shows that a majority of Albertans favour policies
associated with the Alberta NDP, the Alberta Liberals, the Alberta Party and
the Green Party of Alberta, not the Progressive Conservatives or Wildrose.
1ABVote has been conducting
innovative surveys and posting frequent and insightful blogs to share their
discoveries. They also have an ambitious, province-wide, citizen-led
preferred candidate pre-vote planned. Sign up on their website,
http://1abvote.ca, or find them on Facebook or
Twitter to keep up with the latest and get on board.
Change Alberta aims to
address the problem of vote-splitting that has so often led to strong PC
majorities over the years. They hope to build a progressive bloc of
MLAs letting people know which progressive candidate is leading in your
constituency so you can vote strategically. Learn more at
http://changealberta.ca.
The
Council of Alberta
University Students is working hard to make sure university
students get out and vote - especially the over 100,000 who are eligible to
vote for the first time. Do you know a first-time voter? Why not invite them
along when you cast your ballot?
Stay Informed
Do you need to know who the candidates are in your riding? The
Alberta Politics Blog has
you covered, along with some thoughtful commentary from the campaign trail.
Let's do this!
There’s no magic bullet that will fix all the challenges with Alberta’s
democracy overnight, but with issues as important as education funding,
dignified seniors' care, fair taxation and getting off the fossil fueled
revenue rollercoaster,
this election is too important to sit it out.
With the NDP surging in Edmonton, and strong local campaigns from the
Alberta Liberals, Alberta Party and Greens,
this is the first time in a
long time that there have been so many opportunities for citizens to shift the
make-up of our province’s Legislature.
The winds of change are blowing fast, but they could switch
direction just as quickly. We can’t take anything for granted so make sure,
above all, you get out and vote.
Thanks for all you do,
Kelly and Leslie in Calgary on behalf of the Leadnow team
P.S. A real shift is possible on May 5th, but only if we all show up. Let's
make sure as many people as possible get this information - please forward this
email to help spread the word, and share our
blog
post with this information on
Facebook and
Twitter!
Please support the Leadnow.ca community! We're
funded by people like you, and our small, dedicated team and growing community
make sure your donation goes a long way. Every dollar helps. You can donate
online at
http://www.leadnow.ca/en/donate
Leadnow.ca is an independent campaigning community that brings Canadians
together to hold government accountable, deepen our democracy and take action
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michael.fricker@shaw.ca, because you
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