Your Community Priorities – June 2017
Over the last week over 9600 Leadnow members participated in our community priorities survey. We’re now halfway through 2017 and we’ve already had some big wins and some disappointments. Our people powered movement is community-driven, which means we rely on you to tell us how you want Leadnow to spend its time.
Here’s what you told us:
First, we asked you to pick your top issue for the rest of 2017. We found that the top two issues, by a wide margin, were ensuring protections for the land, water, air and climate, and continuing to fight for electoral reform at the federal, provincial and local levels:
When it came to specific campaigns, the Leadnow community is clearly passionate about climate and environmental campaigns, with specific emphasis on targeting companies that behave unethically. Similar to our findings in January 2017, health and electoral reform remain top priorities.
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Q: How excited would you be to take part in Leadnow campaigns on the following issues? |
% of people who were interested or very interested |
|
Supporting ambitious action on climate, with major investments in a clean energy economy |
83.7% |
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Pressuring companies that damage the environment or mistreat their employees to clean up their act |
83% |
|
Ensuring adequate health funding to provide quality care to everyone who needs it |
77.4% |
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Working to stop projects that threaten our environment and violate Indigenous rights (i.e. Kinder Morgan pipeline and Site C dam) |
75.6% |
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Push for a proportional voting system at the federal, provincial or municipal levels |
74.8% |
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Cracking down on tax dodging by huge corporations and the super-rich |
74.4% |
Since November 2015 we’ve also been asking how you feel about the Trudeau government – whether you feel they share your values and whether you trust them. Since November 2015, most people in the Leadnow community have broadly felt that the Trudeau Liberals share some of their values, but that we’ll need to continue to hold them accountable. However, since November there has been a significant increase in Leadnow members who do not trust the Trudeau Liberals and a corresponding decrease in members who fully support and trust them
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Q: Which of the following statements most closely fits your feelings about how the Trudeau government relates to your values: |
June 2017 |
Jan 2017 |
June 2016 |
Nov 2015 |
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The Trudeau Liberals share my values. I trust them to do the right thing in most cases, and we should support them to take action on our priorities. |
6% |
7% |
15% |
20% |
|
The Trudeau Liberals share some of my values. I expect they will do the right thing in some cases, and we’ll need to pressure them on other issues. |
63% |
63% |
61% |
62% |
|
The Trudeau Liberals don’t share my values, and I don’t trust them to do the right thing. We will have to stand up to them like we opposed the Harper Conservatives. |
22% |
20% |
15% |
4% |
|
I’m not sure yet. I’ll make up my mind based on their decisions in the next few months. |
9% |
10% |
8.5% |
13% |
Leadnow has been taking a more nuanced approach to campaigning in the Trudeau era, accepting that we will support the government on some initiatives and push them on others. It seems that broadly, you think we’re still hitting the right mix of supporting and pushing the government.
Q: Which of the following statements most closely fits your feelings about how Leadnow has approached campaigning in the context of the Liberal majority government?
Electoral reform
Electoral reform was our biggest campaign for the last year and a half and was consistently ranked as a top issue in past community surveys. But in early February the government announced they’d be breaking their promise to make 2015 the last election under first-past-the-post. We continued to push the government and hold them accountable, but on May 31st the government voted down a motion in the House of Commons that might have put federal electoral reform back on the table, effectively closing the door on electoral reform before 2019.
The survey results show that most of you are very disappointed about this broken promise.
Q: How disappointed or pleased are you by the government’s decision to break their promise on electoral reform?
The good news is that electoral reform isn’t dead everywhere in Canada. For example, there are opportunities to change provincial electoral systems through upcoming referenda in BC and PEI. We asked you about some ideas for future electoral reform campaigns:
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79% agree or strongly agree we should work on referenda in BC and PEI;
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74% agree or strongly agree we should do other types of democratic reform like finance reform or pushing for more MP independence;
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52% agree or strongly agree we should stay focused only on federal reform.
We’re going to focus in the short to medium term on bringing electoral reform to other places in Canada, but will keep an eye on opportunities at the federal level.
Trade
The North American Free Trade Agreement has come up for renegotiation after the election of Donald Trump. It looks like Canada will be at the bargaining table in August, and government consultations are already underway to determine our position. While some export sectors have come to rely on US and Mexican markets, NAFTA is criticized for not delivering the promised benefits, and gutting jobs, depressing incomes, and worsening working conditions. The agreement also contains toxic provisions that allow multinational corporations to sue Canada in secret courts.
We aren’t sure yet how we’ll respond to the renegotiation of NAFTA, but we know we need to be ready. Here’s what you think about NAFTA:
Q: How good do you think NAFTA has been for Canada?
Q: Which of the following impacts of NAFTA is of greatest concern to you personally?
84% of Leadnow members think that we should campaign together to overhaul or repeal the worst part of NAFTA. Our Trade Campaigner Brittney Smith is now hard at work developing a plan to respond to the upcoming renegotiation of NAFTA – watch for something in your inbox on that very soon.
Summary
It’s been a big year so far, and your input has been instrumental in helping us understand where we’re at and what we should do next. The Leadnow community broadly feels we’ve been doing good work, so we’re going to keep it up and continue to run nimble, effective campaigns on your top issues. Stay tuned for more details on upcoming campaigns – and thank you for telling us your priorities for the rest of 2017.
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