Advocacy Week (or Lobby Day) is a name used by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for select days, often annual, when lay members meet politicians or public servants at various levels to advocate and explain support for legislation relevant to the NGO.
Here are some links to general information about what Lobby Days are like:
What Happens on Parliament Hill on Lobby Day
An Inside Look at Planning an Advocacy Day
Advocacy Week with MPPs
Ontario Basic Income Network is working on an initiative to help you meet with your MPP to discuss Basic Income during Advocacy Week, which is November 15th to 19th.
What is the purpose of meeting with your MPP?
Good question!
Meeting with your MPP helps build a relationship between you, the constituent, and your Member of Provincial Parliament, who represents you in the Ontario government. The meeting sends a signal that the issue of Basic Income is important to you, and by extension, to others in the community. Another purpose of meeting with your MPP is that you will learn more about Basic Income as you prepare for the meeting, and that you may also be helping your MPP learn more about Basic Income.
You might ask your MPP what they need from you to help advance the idea of a Basic Income in your riding.
Lastly, meeting with your MPP will help you gauge the level of support that your MPP has for Basic Income.
We have chosen the week of November 15th to the 19th to meet with your MPP. This is a good time, because the parties will be considering what to include in their election platforms for the June election. If they see that voters want a Basic Income, they may be persuaded to include Basic Income in their platform.
We have tools available to support you. Please contact Caterina Lindman at [email protected] to learn how to get involved.
Here's some helpful advice for building relationships with MPPs
Below are some previous examples of Advocacy Day/Lobby Day efforts.
Lobby Day Letter #5 to Members of Parliament (August 2020)
- Letter as a Word document
- Letter that can be copied and pasted into any text editor
Lobby Day Letter #4 to Members of Parliament (July 2020)
Please attach the Case for Basic Income for Work report to your email when sending Letter #4 to your MP(s).
- Letter as a Word document
- Letter that can be copied and pasted into any text editor
Lobby Day Letter #3 to Members of Parliament (June 2020)
- Letter as a Word document
- Letter that can be copied and pasted into any text editor
Lobby Day Letter #2 to Members of Parliament (May 2020)
- Letter as a Word document
- Letter that can be copied and pasted into any text editor
You can find email addresses for all MP's, including Ministers here.
When you send a letter, please copy Prime Minister Trudeau, Minister Freeland, and Minister Duclos. Their addresses can be found here.
Also copying your local Senator(s) is helpful. See Members' List.
One last thing - we are trying to keep track of the number of letters sent, so please copy your email to us at [email protected]
Thank you for participating as an advocate for the implementation of a Basic Income program in Canada.
2019 Lobby Day
On November 20th, 2019, over 30 volunteers from across the province met in Toronto for the first Basic Income Lobby Day in Ontario. We specifically focused on getting meetings with 32 MPP's and ended up meeting with 15! Not bad for a first time. Our volunteers went in groups of two and three to discuss Basic Income with each MPP. We met with MPP's from all parties and came away with a better understanding of issues we need to address - including misconceptions about these issues.