Meeting Notes of 15 February 2018

WR Greens Monthly Meeting

Date
Thursday, 15 February 2018
Location
Re/Max office, 720 Westmount Road, Kitchener
Participants
Laurel Russwurm, David Weber, Matt Piggott, Sam Nabi, Zdravko Gunjevic, David Dolson, Trevor (Meyer?), Marcia Fukudome, Teresa Cornwel, Stacey Danckert, Tess McDonald, Nicole (McCallum?), Bob Jonkman

Meeting started at 7:01

Action items are highlighted

Riding Updates

Kitchener Centre

  • Has chosen affordable housing as their key campaign issue
    • Door-to-door, postcards
    • Solution: “Unlock the existing housing”
      • rent basements
      • tiny houses
      • use existing spaces
    • This is more sustainable than new development
    • Legislation will require municipalities to conform
    • Provincial governments have downloaded housing onto municipalities
    • This is a policy that doesn’t impose new taxes on residents
  • As a target to build riding, KitCen will get personalized, local postcards from GPO head office for this
  • 2018 election goal: 5,000 votes

Kitchener–Conestoga

  • Having the CA and EDA Annual General Meeting on 15 March 2018
  • Nomination meeting to be held early April, pending approval of date from GPO
  • KitCon has only 18 Green Party members in the riding
    • Need to make phone calls to supporters, encourage membership

Kitchener South — Hespeler

  • No CA formed yet
  • Got some new volunteers and members
  • Campaigning on three issues: People, Jobs, Planet
    • Jobs get the most attention
      • Deals with minimum wage issue
      • Green policy is to increase the exemption level for the Employer Health Tax in payroll
      • Bob asks: What about a progressive tax for business? A: Not in GPO policy yet
      • There are grants for business, but small businesses don’t have the resources to pursue them
      • There is also the Green Economy to boost jobs
  • Employer Health Tax exemption hasn’t been increased since 1995

Waterloo

Cambridge riding not present. Michele Braniff is a nominee for candidate in Cambridge.

Mike Schreiner is coming to town on Thursday, 22 March 2018

WRGreens goals between now and 9 May 2018 (writ drop)

  • Fundraising!
    • Donation limits:
      • $1,200 personal donation to the GPO
      • $1,200 personal donation to the Constituents Association
      • $1.200 personal donation to the campaign (but candidates can contribute up to $5,000)
      • Get 75% back on first $400 donated, so $400 for the campaign only costs $100

  • Events (be cautious about over-planning and return on investment)
    • Events with Mike Schreiner for fundraising
  • Call all Green supporters for a “vote pledge”
  • Every potential volunteer needs to receive one phone call
    • Matt, Kris, Bob, David: Identify all potential volunteer names and work with your exec to call them.
    • If you need assistance contact Sam/Julia for volunteers who can help you with phone calls
  • One personal phone call from the Candidate to every donor
    • Matt, Kris, Bob, David: Identify list of donors
  • During both phone canvasses: ask each person if they would like a sign. That way we’ll be ready on the day the writ drops to flood lawns with signs
    • Sam: Find CampaignZone scripts for signs
    • Sam: Get in touch with Jesse to see if he want to manage sign logistics
  • Set up Social Media strategy
    • Instagram and Snapchat are preferred by young people
    • Twitter and Facebook are used primarily by the over-40 crowd
  • Earned Media
    • The Communications Manager for Mike Schreiner lives in Kitchener
  • Promote FairDebates.ca in our channels
  • Send regular newsletter updates

Goals 9 May to 7 June 2018

  • Help with Mike’s campaign: Stacey is spending every weekend in Guelph and can take a carload of people with her
  • Canvass the top 5 polls in your riding
    • Budget ~ 3 hours per poll for this
  • Be first out of the gate for signs
  • Keep track of mileage when putting up signs!
    • Donate gas money to the campaign, get re-imbursed
  • Cost-effective advertising
    • Princess Cinema / Apollo Cinema advertising
    • Radio ads
  • MARCIA: explore affordable office space options

Event Ideas

Fundraising

  • Provincial changes?
    • Paid-at-the-door fundraising cannot have the candidate present
    • Better to ask for donations
    • Cost recovery is OK, but makes the finances complicated, so don’t do that
    • $20 cash donation is the maximum
    • $10+ donations need a receipt
  • Local Beer event
    • Addresses the barriers to craft breweries selling product
  • ION train and Mike Schreiner?
    • There are many rules concerning access
    • eg. photos at GRT and schools
  • Other Fundraising ideas
    • Get ideas from other successful campaigns
      • Ottawa, Barrie, Muskoka
    • Get monthly donations
    • Selling plants
    • Canoeing down the Grand River
      • Fun, but not lucrative
      • Maybe in September?
    • Donated items and sales?
      • Receipts are needed for portion of payment above fair market value
      • Setting values for auctions is tough, recommend to avoid
      • For any auction/sales event, call Elections Ontario first

Other activities

  • Waterloo is holding a Board Games night
  • Ride the transit system, meet people
  • Befriend other groups
    • Alliance Against Poverty (AAP) is organizing a Free Transit campaign, Bob will be involved
    • Berlin Cafe owner Graham Roe
  • Tree planting events around Earth Day (21 April 2018)
  • Community Gardens?
    • They need volunteers
    • Meet the Candidate, earned media
    • Adopt-A-Garden!
  • Maple Syrup Festival
    • KitCon looking for a vendor spot; GPO button-making activities
    • Get Mike Schreiner in the Celebrity Pancake Flipping Contest
  • Make stickers for laptops, bumper stickers
  • Province — Green Belt

  • Fair Debates

    • If Mike Schreiner is in the debates then he gets votes
    • Put the https://fairdebates.ca/ links on campaign and CA web sites
    • GPO gets per-vote funding, so must be included in debates (otherwise, what are people paying for?)

  • Fill seats at local debates early
    • Other parties will try to occupy front seats to disrupt other candidates

  • Show up at other events rather than organizing your own
    • But be sure to have your own fundraising!

  • Debate Watching Night
    • Everyone gets together to watch the leaders debate
    • Builds campaign spirit

  • Have shared events when possible
    • Share costs
    • Each CA organizes one large event
      • Kitchener Centre will take the 22 March 2018 event with Mike Schreiner
      • Kitchener Conestoga will look at getting Mike in the Maple Syrup Festival

Advertising

  • Pre-roll at Princess Theatre ($300?)
  • The Record: $1000 for 1/8 page ad (?)
    • Lower rates for community papers (Kitchener Post, Wateroo Chronicle)
  • Facebook ads? Are they effective?
    • Get better analytics on digital advertising
  • 570AM: $200/ad?

  • Signs from GPO?
    • Some will be available
    • Target-To-Build ridings will get more support (Kitchener Centre)

Getting volunteers

  • What can they do?
    • Create newsletter
    • Phone calls from scripts
    • Canvassing
    • Debate support
    • Sign putting up and taking down
  • Volunteer coordination will be Region-wide
  • Sam Nabi and Julia Gogoleva are the volunteer coordinators
  • Volunteer appreciation night?
    • Not high on list
    • Link what volunteers do to the Big Picture
    • Monthly volunteer potlucks
    • Get volunteers involved immediately
    • Provide training
    • Volunteer T-shirts (from GPO?)

Campaign Office

  • Need to rent at “market value”
  • We can give a value-add of cleaning up, painting
  • Is the old LCBO office available again?
  • The CA files a separate return for expenses like this

Event Planning Meeting

  • Stacey will set up 2 polls:
    • Event Planning Date
    • Selecting preferred fundraising ideas


Notes taken by Sam Nabi and Bob Jonkman

All WR Greens meeting minutes