Politics can be deeply complex or as simple as 1 + 1 = 2
With your help we recently reached out to 6,877 of the Premier's constituents.
Here at Dogwood, we try to keep politics simple. We use new and old strategies to connect with people and bring them together into a formidable force on issues important to them, such as oil tankers.
We think this quote (from a retired MP) provides a lot of insight into what matters in politics: “There are only two kinds of people in this world … those who can hurt you at home, and everybody else.”
That’s why we are testing new technologies like automated phone calls to every household in the ridings of Premier Christy Clark and Enviroment Minister Terry Lake. These interactive calls — paid for with $20,000 in donations from No Tankers supporters like you — allow us to cut through the noise and identify new supporters while getting each constituent’s views on government inaction on oil tankers. The response has been amazing!
At the end of July we partnered with former federal Minister of Environment, Fisheries and Oceans David Anderson to call every household in Clark’s Point Grey riding. His message was simple: “I believe Clark needs to firmly say no to these risky projects.” As someone who volunteered on Clark’s leadership campaign, Anderson’s voice carries some weight.
We deployed the calls in Point Grey just after statements by Clark signalling that oil tanker and pipeline projects could win her approval for a price. Our calls reached 6,877 of Clark’s constituents (4,250 live, 2,627 voicemail) with a No Tankers message and informal poll.
In early September,we targeted Lake’s Kamloops-North Thompson riding with a call from Anderson relaying a similar message and connected with 7,497 (4,972 live, 2,525 voicemail) of Lake’s constituents.
The informal polls we conducted on the calls showed that the B.C. Liberal’s “Maybe, if the price is right” position doesn’t connect with people in either Point Grey or Kamloops. Eighty-one per cent of those polled in Point Grey and 69% in Kamloops-North Thompson said Clark and Lake respectively should say ‘no’ to both Enbridge and Kinder Morgan’s oil tanker and pipeline proposals. Of the majority that don’t support oil tankers on B.C.’s coast, more than 90% in Point Grey and 88% in Kamloops-North Thompson said that neither “a deal with Alberta for more money” nor “promises of world class safety from project proponents” would convince them to support these risky oil tanker-pipeline proposals.
Kim Hobbs, a Point Grey constituent who received a call, said “No amount of money will make me change my mind.”
With the provincial election only nine months away, Dogwood Initiative is keeping it simple. It may not be as simple as 1 +1 = 2, but 6,877 + 7,497 is pretty straightforward.
With your help Dogwood Initiative will continue to do everything we can to get every MLA and party leader to stand up against the expansion of oil tankers on B.C.’s magnificent coast. Thanks to all the good old on-the-ground organizing happening across the province - almost 23,000 new No Tankers supporters since June - the people powered movement to stop the expansion of oil tankers on B.C’s coast is becoming more formidable by the day.
Next up: Telephone Town halls targeting constituents of key decision makers.
do you honestly think that Cristy Clark will get it through her thick head or will she go for the money? my bet is she'll gfo dfor the money, the short fall in revenues they counted on from natural gas, which tanked four years ago can't be made up and everyone knows that they will try to lie their way out of this mess the same way they did with the hst.