Contacting your MP to Call for Action

Your direct message will help make a difference!

We all need to call on government to act. Personal messages from constituents do influence the thoughts and actions of our MPs.

By expressing your concerns in a heartfelt manner, you will help them realise that real people -- people who vote -- take these issues seriously.

Here are some key issues to raise:

  1. Canada must commit to an absolute cap on emissions, with no loopholes for any industry or sector.
  2. Canada must commit to cutting emissions in half by 2020. This goal has wide support -- from hundreds of groups in Canada, and from the United Nations.
  3. This goal is entirely feasible, as the recent report from the David Suzuki Foundation and Pembina Institute Shows.
  4. Canada must play a leadership role in Copenhagen: no obstruction, no blocking progress.
  5. Our government must cooperate with other nations to negotiate a fair, ambitious and binding treaty.
  6. All MP's -- Liberal, NDP, Conservative and Bloc -- must support Bill C-311 when it comes back before the house!
  7. Please restore Canada's good name in the world community!

Express your views with passion, but be courteous -- investing in a dialogue with your MP will reap rewards!

Click here to look up your MP's email address and phone number.

Please send a copy of your message to Prime Minister Stephen Harper at pm@pm.gc.ca and Environment Minister Jim Prentice at Prentice.J@parl.gc.ca too!

Send a letter to your local paper!

Speaking up in public influences other community members.

Check out this link on the David Suzuki Foundation web site for some great tips on letter writing, plus direct links to many newspapers.

Letter writing tips and links.

Hold a climate action rally outside your MP's constituency office!

Rally Just Scheduled! Saturday Dec 19 1 PM -- Cons MP Andrew Saxton's Constituency Office, 3rd and Lonsdale North Vancouver. Join us in calling for action, and help put this government on notice: the talks may be over, but the pressure here at home is just starting! details

How to get people to your rally:

Personal invitations to friends and colleagues are the best way to draw people to your own local event. It doesn't have to be big to make a point! If you are ambitious you can advertise on facebook and email listserves too.

What to bring:

  1. A few props: a sign, maybe a flag, perhaps a Santa hat or two.
  2. Musical instruments, Christmas carols.
  3. Something to hand out to passers-by. You can download and print these Factsheet | Postcards.
  4. Hot drinks and warm clothes!

What to do:

  1. Tell your MP you are coming, ask them to meet with you when you are there.
  2. Talk to your fellow citizens on the street about why you are there and what you are doing. It's easier than you think, and it helps if you can hand them something or ask them to sign a petition.
  3. Here is an easy line to use to start the conversation: "Do you want Canada to be a leader in fighting climate change?"
  4. Set up a message board and encourage people to express their views. Take it in to your MP's office when you are done.
  5. Start a petition for action to your MP, and get people to sign on.