'Third parties' hope to influence voters; Advocate for issues - Infomart - 0 views
www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|246200|ntnp|20150820|227467368
from heather cupe federal election
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National Post Thu Aug 20 2015
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Dozens of groups with their own political agendas could spend millions in this federal election campaign trying to influence voters. These "third parties" (they aren't political parties) are registered to advocate and run advertising during the federal election campaign. Their goals include: boosting funding for the CBC; improving seniors' care; restoring door-to-door mail delivery; securing better services for veterans; electoral reform in Canada; and strategic voting, to name a few. "The outcome of the election is going to come down to a handful of Conservative swing ridings, so we're trying to build blocks of voters to vote together to defeat the Conservatives," said Amara Possian, election campaign manager with Leadnow, an organization calling for action on climate change, democracy and the economy. The group's entire campaign is about channelling resources from what she says is a 450,000-person community across the country into ridings that can influence the outcome of the federal election.
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There are 72 Conservative swing ridings where the group believes people who want change can, by voting together, determine whether a Tory candidate wins or loses. Leadnow has teams in a dozen ridings going door-to-door signing people up to vote: Fredericton, Kitchener Centre, London North Centre, Etobicoke-Lakeshore, Eglinton-Lawrence, Willowdale, Elmwood-Transcona, Saskatoon-University, Calgary Centre, Edmonton Griesbach, Vancouver-Granville and Port Moody-Coquitlam. The Canada Elections Act regulates third parties that conduct election advertising. A third party "is considered a person or a group other than a candidate, registered party, or electoral district association of a registered party," according to Elections Canada. There are no rules on how much third parties can spend on advertising before the official start of an election campaign. Each third party can spend up to $439,410.81 on election advertising expenses during the 78-day campaign, and a maximum $8,788.22 in any one of the 338 electoral districts.
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The Canadian Union of Postal Workers has registered and is taking its message across Canada in an RV with a message on it that says, "Stop the Cuts - Save Canada Post." The Canadian Medical Association is advocating to make seniors' care a ballot issue. It is urging the major political parties to include a national seniors' strategy in their platforms. The group, and an alliance of partner organizations, has launched a website, www.demandaplan.ca, calling for the seniors' strategy. Dr. Chris Simpson, president of the CMA, said the group made a decision to be "very political" this campaign but "staunchly non-partisan." "We kind of see seniors' care as the biggest issue in a very complex problem of a health-care system that isn't really performing very well. And we think if we can fix seniors' care, we'll go a long way to fixing what's wrong with the health-care system," he said.
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The Canadian Media Guild, a union representing 6,000 workers in the media, including the CBC, is urging the main parties to reverse more than $100 million in cuts to the CBC, boost funding in the coming years and protect CBC/Radio-Canada's independence, among other issues. The National Citizens Coalition, a group advocating for smaller government (once headed by Stephen Harper), will use the campaign to discuss the economy, where it's headed and try to find out what the opposition leaders would do differently, said NCC president Peter Coleman. Unifor, Canada's largest privatesector union, also will be active as it urges Canadians to turf the Conservative government. "The current government has done a number of things that have, quite frankly, weakened our democracy," Peter Kennedy, secretary-treasurer of Unifor, said.
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THIRD PARTIES Third parties registered with Elections Canada (as of Aug. 19): Animal Justice Canada Legislative Fund AVAAZ BC Government and Service Employees' Union Canadian Health Coalition Canadian Media Guild Canadian Medical Association Canadian Union of Postal Workers Canadian Union of Public Employees Canadian Veterans ABC Campaign 2015 Diane Babcock Dogwood Initiative
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Downtown Mission of Windsor Inc. Fair Vote Canada Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec Friends of Canadian Broadcasting IATSE International Longshore & Warehouse Union Canada Leadnow Society Les Sans-Chemise National Citizens Coalition Inc. NORML Canada Inc. Ontario Public Service Employees Union Open Media Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario UNIFOR Voters Against Harper