Put Canada First

• Leadnow.ca is an independent community that brings generations together to strengthen our democracy and build a fair, open and responsible country. Leadnow.ca’s small staff team and 225,000 person community includes Canadians from across the political spectrum. Leadnow.ca was founded two years ago by a group of Canadians who wanted to find new ways to help people hold our government accountable and support political cooperation to meet the challenges of our times. The Leadnow.ca community is independent of any political party.

During a series of local gatherings in the fall of 2011, our community identified electoral reform, inequality and climate change as our top priorities. In 2012 and 2013 we asked our community what they thought about cooperation between the NDP, Liberals and Greens to defeat Stephen Harper and then pass crucial reforms. Amazingly, on both occasions, over 95% of the tens of thousands who responded told us that they “agree” or “strongly agree” with this idea.

Sign the LeadNow petition and tell your government:

“I call on the NDP, Liberals and Greens to cooperate for Canada. We can make our government work better for Canadians. During the next federal election, I call on the NDP, Liberals and Greens to work together in key ridings to defeat Stephen Harper’s government. After the election, I call on them to cooperate to protect our environment, build a fair economy and pass electoral reform.”

In the last federal election, 61% of voters cast ballots for change, but the vote split and our broken electoral system gave Prime Minister Harper a majority of seats in Parliament.

Now, Prime Minister Harper is damaging our democracy, destroying our environmental protections and undermining our economy. We can hold Prime Minister Harper accountable, renew our democracy and rise to the challenges of our times – but we need to work together. Here’s how:

During the next election, the NDP, Liberals and Greens can cooperate in key ridings to defeat Stephen Harper’s government. After the election, they can work together to fix our broken electoral system, protect our environment and build a fair economy. Canadians are ready for cooperation and we have to act now to send a powerful message to party leaders that Canadians will work together and vote for cooperation.

Canadians are already joining the party of their choice to support cooperation. During the NDP leadership race last year, 10,000 people joined the NDP through this campaign. They built a constituency for cooperation in the party and secured a strong commitment to electoral reform.

Right now, the Liberal Party is preparing to choose its next leader, cooperation is a major debate amongst the candidates and everyone is watching to see if pro-cooperation Canadians will stand up to be counted.

The stakes

Canada is at a crossroads. We need to work together to create a strong democracy that brings Canadians together to make wise choices about how we protect our environment and build a fair economy in an era of global uncertainty. We need to repair the damage that is being done to our country and build new relationships between the people who call this country home.

We need to have a real national conversation and make wise decisions about these urgent issues, but our electoral system encourages an “every party for themselves” style of politics that focuses attention on our divisions and distracts us from the major challenges we face.

More and more Canadians are ready for cooperation: Ready to focus on our shared values, to respect our differences and to take action together on a few key issues. We are calling for a one-time agreement between the NDP, the Liberals and the Greens to work together to stop vote-splitting in a small number of ridings, defeat Stephen Harper and then pass crucial reforms for our democracy, environment and economy.

Cooperation is about more than “winning” an election. For us, the values come first and the strategy comes second. Cooperation is about building a new majority consensus that will renew our democracy, protect our environment and build a fair economy – and ensuring that a majority of Canadians are properly represented in our next government.

The plan

In the 2011 election, a majority of Canadians voted for change, but the First-Past-The-Post voting system gave Prime Minister Harper a majority government with only 39% of the popular vote. In a country of more than 33 million people, Prime Minister Harper’s margin of victory was a razor thin 6,201 votes, spread across 14 closely contested ridings.

Our democracy, environment and economy cannot afford a second Harper majority. We need to act now to bring Canadians together to meet the urgent challenges of our times.

Cooperation is about more than defeating Harper. For cooperation to work, we need agreements between the parties to work together on a few key issues of major concern.

There are a number of different ways to organize cooperation to ensure local democratic control. We believe that the parties, candidates and local riding associations will need to negotiate to develop a solid plan that everyone can agree to.

We need to build a lasting movement for cooperation within the parties. Leadership races are the most important moment for pro-cooperation Canadians to inspire change within the parties and we need to show the parties that Canadians will work together and vote for cooperation.

The values come first, the political strategy comes second. That’s why, no matter what path the party leaders choose, we will be organizing at a grassroots level in key constituencies in 2015 to support cooperation to defeat Prime Minister Harper’s government and then pass electoral reform, renew our environmental protections and build a fair economy.

We know that Canadians are ready to work together to meet challenges of times and renew our democracy. National polling tells us 80% of Liberal, NDP, and Green voters would be willing to vote for a different party if it meant they would achieve progress on issues they care about.

Canadians are ready for cooperation

Cooperate for Canada includes citizens from across the political spectrum. Many are active members of the Liberals, NDP or Greens. Many care passionately about the future of our country but don’t identify with any political party. Some are people who have voted conservative in the past but now feel that Canada is heading in the wrong direction and want electoral reform. All of them feel that this is an idea whose time has come.

From joining the party of their choice to support cooperation in key votes to hosting events that bring riding association leaders together in their communities, “cooperators” are working from the bottom-up to hold Harper accountable and fix Canada.

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Learn more and get involved at www.leadnow.ca