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Reject Teck Toolkit

If you have questions or need support after reading this toolkit, email us at [email protected] or book a phone call with a Leadnow support person by

clicking this link and choosing a time: https://leadnow2019.youcanbook.me

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Right now, Liberal cabinet ministers are deciding whether to approve or reject the Teck Frontier tar sands mine. The decision is incredibly important -- as this government’s first big climate test, it’s a huge indication of whether they will make good on the climate commitments they made during the election, or whether they’ll lock us into a dying fossil fuel industry.

Last updated January 29th, 2020

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With the decision due by the end of February, the next 30 days are critical. Leadnow’s ads, petitions and localized pressure tactics are already getting noticed by ministers -- and cabinet is divided on what to do.

So over the next few weeks, Leadnow volunteers are turning up the heat to get cabinet to reject Teck and invest in good, sustainable jobs instead.

Read this toolkit to find out how you can be involved, taking action right in your own community, connecting with other Leadnow volunteers and organizing to continue to build a powerful, nationwide movement. As always, our power rests in taking action together.

What’s in this Toolkit? Quick links:

● Context - What’s the plan?

● Taking action - Where do you come in?○ Tactic 1 : Minister/MP visits

■ Report back form here○ Tactic 2 : Letters to the Editor○ Tactic 3 : Twitterstorm and calls *coming soon*

● Print outs and Resources ○ PRINT: Reject Teck sign (found here)*French version coming by Feb

4*○ PRINT: Reject Teck factsheet (found here) *French version coming by

Feb 4*○ Articles and resources to read

● SLACK instructions and support ○ How to connect with other Leadnow supporters and staff

● FAQ

Principles of Democratic Organizing

Before you begin, please take a moment to read the Jemez Principles for inclusive and democratic organizing. To change everything, we need everyone - and that means building a movement that is accessible, equitable, just, and fair. These are not just political or moral statements - they must be reflected in the way we build our movement and work with one another.Last updated January 29th, 2020

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Context: Leadnow’s Reject Teck campaign

Our planet is facing a climate emergency -- and the clock is ticking. To address it at the scale required means investing now in a full scale transition and making sure no one gets left behind. This means drastic cuts to carbon emissions -- but emissions are only part of the puzzle. We know we need to make big investments in clean energy, deliver green jobs that pay living wages, and ensure that the most marginalized are not left to pick up the tab while fossil fuel executives cash in on their mega profits. And we must do it in a way that respects Indigenous sovereignty and human rights. That’s why Leadnow is campaigning and organizing for a Green New Deal.

Together, we’ve made progress. Leadnow volunteers have helped elect climate champions to Parliament and helped deny the climate-denialist Conservatives power. But there’s a huge roadblock to winning a Green New Deal and taking the kind of serious action we need to make progress on climate. Right now, Liberal cabinet ministers are deciding whether to reject or approve the Teck Frontier mine -- Canada’s largest ever tar sands mine.

If approved, the mine would require clear-cutting an area twice the size of Vancouver. It would destroy pristine boreal forest and critical wildlife habitat, putting endangered species at risk -- including caribou, buffalo and whooping cranes. The Joint Review Panel found that the mine would not only cause permanent and irreversible damage to our environment, but it would also cause “significant adverse effects” on the rights, land use and culture of local Indigenous Peoples.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, and the oil lobby have unleashed a flood of pressure in an effort to convince ministers to approve the mine. Kenney is trying to scare the Liberals into thinking the political cost of rejecting the mine, and “igniting a war with Alberta”, is too high to risk.

Cabinet needs to make a final decision on the mine by the end of February. Ministers are divided on the issue -- which means we have a chance to convince them to reject the mine.But we know that if we want to stop Teck, make progress on climate, and set the scene for investments in good, clean jobs, we’re going to have to be louder, more visible and more organized that Jason Kenney and the oil lobby.


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The oil lobby might have billions of dollars - but we have democracy, tenacity, and thousands of volunteers just like you. Together, we can’t be stopped.

We’ve developed a plan to mobilize thousands of volunteers across the country to:

● Ramp up the pressure on Liberal cabinet ministers and MPs with visits and calls from local voters, so they’re reminded that that their climate legacy is on the line -- and if they approve this carbon disaster, they won’t survive the fallout.

● Make a big splash in the news by working with allies to keep our campaign in the spotlight, and getting letters showing local opposition to the Teck mega-mine in newspapers across the country.

● Flood social media with Facebook and Twitter posts to get #RejectTeck trending so we can show widespread opposition to Teck Frontier.

Taking Action: Where do you come in? As always, the driving force of our plan is people like you. Nobody else is coming to rescue us; you are the hero of this story.

Here is a high level overview of what we will be doing in ridings across the country to leverage the power and put pressure directly on Liberal Cabinet Ministers and Liberal MPs:

Overview

Tactic 1 - Coordinated minister/MP visits

**This tactic is for people who live in a Liberal riding, or close to a Liberal Cabinet Minister’s riding

We’ll visit cabinet ministers and Liberal MPs the week of Feb 10-14 (when they are in their home ridings) across the country to let them know that there’s a strong opposition to the Teck Frontier mine in their riding and that we expect them to be accountable to us, their constituents, and to the future generations that are counting on us to get this right. We will be walking them through some key talking points, and give them a chance to talk about their stance on the Teck Frontier mine. And we’ll make sure the world knows by sharing photos of the visits on social media. Step by Step guide below!


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Note: If you already have a MP meeting booked from 2019 (that is scheduled for 2020), please use this toolkit as a guide for that meeting, as this has the most up to date talking points and campaign we want to be bringing directly to MPs.

Tactic 2 - Letters to the Editor

*This tactic is for anyone who lives in any riding, NDP, Green, Conservative, Independent or Liberal. We need to flood the news!

MPs keep a close eye on local media. We’ll set up a tool that makes it easy for you to write a letter to the editor of your local newspapers in minutes and have it automatically sent to the appropriate place for publication. See step by step guide below.

Tactic 3 - Twitterstorm and calls *coming soon*

*This tactics is for anyone who lives in any riding, NDP, Green, Conservative, Independent or Liberal. We need to flood social media!

With your help, we can flood social media with your Reject Teck message, so that every time cabinet ministers or their staff checks their newsfeed, they’ll be overwhelmed by opposition to the mine. We’ll also flood ministers’ phone lines with calls from across the country so they feel our pressure from every angle. Step by step guide coming soon!

Tactic 1: Meeting with your local cabinet minister or MP: From February 10th - 14th, MPs are back in their home ridings to hear from constituents. This is our chance to make sure Liberal Ministers and Liberal MPs hear one message over and over: Reject Teck.

In-person visits are the #1 way to get MPs’ attention. They care what their constituents think because at the end of the day, they need voters to get re-elected. And after the Liberals lost their majority in the last election, they know an election could be just around the corner -- so they’re hyper-sensitive to what local voters think.


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Our plan is for hundreds of Leadnow members to visit cabinet minister or Liberal MPs’ offices one by one over the course of the week, take photo outside of the office with a #Reject Teck sign, and drop off a ‘Reject Teck’ fact sheet. MPs know that climate is a top issue for people across Canada - and they’re eager to know what their local constituents think about the prospect of expanding the tar sands.

Cabinet ministers are not expecting this. They receive emails, letters and phone calls every day. But in-person visits by dozens of constituents with the same message will catch their attention, and send a message that approving this mega-mine could cost them in the next election.

And if Liberal MP starts getting multiple visits about Teck a day, they’ll know that the public is against the mine - and when they go back to Parliament, they’ll bring that message straight to caucus. This flood of visits from voters could be enough to convince cabinet to reject Teck.

Note: As cabinet ministers have the ultimate decision making power over whether to approve or reject, if you live in or near a cabinet minister’s riding, the most strategic thing is for you to visit the minister’s office. But as MPs also report back to caucus, if you can’t get to a Minister’s riding but you live in a Liberal riding, you should visit your Liberal MP. If you live in an NDP, Conservative or Independent riding and can’t make it to a cabinet minister’s riding, you should put pressure on Liberal ministers by sending a Letter to the Editor. Click here to find out more.

Not sure what riding you live in, or if you live close to a cabinet minister’s riding? Email us at [email protected] or book a phone call with a Leadnow support person by clicking this link and choosing a time: https://leadnow2019.youcanbook.me

STEPS TO VISITING YOUR MP

Step 1: Look up where the closest Minister’s office is or find your local Liberal MP’s office. Check on the House of Commons’ website to find your local office, or send us an email at [email protected]. Note: check the office hours to confirm when they are open!

Step 2: Confirm the date and time you will be visiting, and decide if you’re going alone or with a group. You can choose to:

● Go aloneLast updated January 29th, 2020

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● invite a friend or family member to join you, or a local climate group you are a part of

● join the Leadnow SLACK to meet and coordinate with other people in your riding.

*Note: make sure you, or someone you’re with has the ability to take a good photo, either with a smart phone, or good camera!

Step 3: Prepare for your visit:● Print out a Reject Teck sign to bring with you to the meeting to take

a *photo with outside of the MPs office”. French version will be available by Feb 4th.

● Print out the Reject Teck factsheet to give to the minister/your MP during your visit. French version will be available by Feb 4th.

● Review key messages: ■ “I want my MP/the Minister to reject the Teck Frontier tar sands

mine, and support investments in good, clean jobs instead.”■ [If possible] Add a story or a few sentences of why tackling the

climate emergency is important to you. Are you worried about your kids’ future? Have you experienced first-hand the impacts of climate change?

■ [Optional] If you are a Liberal voter, or live in the riding you can also share that information.

Step 4: Go visit! There are two parts to your visit are:

a) Getting a photo outside the office holding the Reject Teck sign b) Dropping off the Reject Teck factsheet and talking to the MP or their staff inside the office.

Before you go inside:

Take a selfie or group photo outside with you holding a Reject Teck sign and put it on social media and send it to us! Here is an example of a photo you can take, and a tweet or social post you could do:

Eg: photo of Leadnow supporters holding a Reject Teck sign (superimposed on the image as an example)


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An important part of this strategy is showing widespread, public opposition to the Teck mine. When you take a photo, post it on social media if you have


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twitter, facebook or instagram, and send it to us and post it on social media, you’re helping to show that opposition to the mine is growing. (if you don’t have social media, send it to us and we will post it for you!)

Send your photos to [email protected] with the subject line “Reject Teck - YOUR RIDING NAME”. We will help get your photo on social media!

Posting on Twitter: On twitter, tweet your photo using the hashtag #RejectTeck and tag @Leadnowca and tag the minister or MP to make sure as many people see the message as possible.

Example tweets:

I support good, clean energy jobs, not the false hope of a new tar sands mine. #RejectTeck @[Cabinet Minister’s handle] [include your photo]

The Teck Mine will cause irreversible damage and make it impossible for us to meet our climate targets #RejectTeck [Cabinet Minister’s handle] [include your photo]

Posting on Instagram/facebook: On instagram and facebook, post your photo or put it in a Story, and use the hashtag #RejectTeck, and tag Leadnowca so we can share your Story too.

After you’re taken your photo and posted it on social media and/or sent it to [email protected], head on inside!

Inside the office: When you arrive at the office, ask the front desk to speak to the Minister/MP. If they are not available, ask to leave a message and leave behind your Reject Teck factsheet.

Explain our key message: We want our Ministers/MPs to reject the Teck Frontier tar sands mine, and support investments in good, clean jobs instead.

Then feel free to talk about why you personally care about this important issue - personal stories are powerful!


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Step 5: Report back

Tell us how it went by filling out this quick form. What did your MP or their staff say? How did the visit go? Let us know here: https://airtable.com/shriIFSkvGHps264i

That’s it!

PRINT OUTS AND RESOURCES

● PRINT: Reject Teck sign (found here)○ Sign in French

● PRINT: Reject Teck factsheet (found here) ○ *French version coming by Feb 4*

● Resources (some good reads for background, but not needed to visit your MP!):

○ Trudeau will fuel the fires of our climate crisis if he approves Canada’s mega mine

○ Why the proposed Frontier oilsands mine is a political hot potato

○ 10 things you need to know about the massive new oilsands mine that just got a green light

○ Peril and prosperity predicted for Teck's massive oilsands mine ○ 8 Reasons To Reject Teck’s Massive New Tar Sands Mine ○ Open Letter to Minister of Environment to Reject Teck Frontier

Tar Sands Mine

Tactic 2: Letters to the Editor

MPs pay very close attention to what’s happening in their home ridings - and that includes reading the local papers. As the saying goes, “all politics is local”.

That’s why letters to the editor can be powerful, getting our message in front of all of a newspaper’s audience, including your local MP and their staff.


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We’ve made it easy for you to submit a letter to the editor for several of your local newspapers.

STEPS TO WRITING A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

● Step 1: Open our Letter to the editor (LTE) tool○ You can find the tool at this link: https://act.leadnow.ca/stop-Teck-

letter/○ Scroll down on the same page for Talking points (here:

https://act.leadnow.ca/stop-Teck-letter/)

● Step 2: Enter your information○ Our LTE tool will use this information to populate your letter and to

connect you to local papers.

● Step 3: Select your newspapers○ Our LTE tool will automatically locate up to five newspapers in your

area to send the letter to. By default, it will send to all of these papers, so they will appear listed and checkmarked. If you like, you can uncheck papers you do not wish your letter to be sent to. In addition, if you would like your letter sent to a paper that is not listed, you can use the “search” box to find it.

● Step 4: Write your letter○ Choose a subject line for your email in the first field○ In the second field, delete the words [DELETE THIS SENTENCE AND

WRITE YOUR LETTER HERE] and replace it with your letter. ○ To help you get started, we’ve put several talking points (scroll

down on the same page) that you can use as a basis for your letter - you can find them to the right of the form (on some screens you may need to scroll down a ways to find them).

○ When you’re finished, hit “SUBMIT” and your letter will be sent!

TACTIC 3: Twitterstorm and calls *coming soon*On Feb 13th, we’re planning a massive Twitterstorm, to get #RejectTeck trending. Look out for an email from us about how you can get involved. For anyone who doesn’t use Twitter, we will also have a tool that will allow you to call a cabinet minister. We’ll provide talking points and a link to our software that will connect your call.

If you want to call your local MP before then, you can find their contact info on the House of Commons’ website.Last updated January 29th, 2020

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How to communicate with other Leadnow supporters and Staff - SLACK + Slack support

We have the biggest impact when we are strategic, coordinated and organized. That’s why we have a 1 stop shop to get connected to Leadnow staff and volunteers across the country, so we can communicate and plan our efforts together - it’s called SLACK!

Slack is an app you can download on your computer and/or smartphone to stay connected to the Leadnow team. It is like a message board you can use to ask questions, get updates on the campaign, and find resources for organizing in your community.

Slack allows you to easily connect with other Leadnow volunteers in your region and across the country, to share knowledge, coordinate action, and build a national progressive community.

Need help joining Slack?● Read our guide and w atch this video .● Still not sure how to get connected and use SLACK? Email

[email protected].

FAQ

What is Leadnow?

Leadnow is a member-led, pro-democracy organization. We are a non-profit and we work to empower regular people to engage with our democracy. Big money interests pay lobbyists to advocate for them and that can drown out regular people’s voices. That’s where Leadnow comes in - we use technology, training, and hard data to help people organize and be heard by elected representatives and government officials.

Where is Leadnow based?

Leadnow is a national organization. Because our strength is in our 500,000 members, and those members are found in every province and territory and riding, Last updated January 29th, 2020

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Leadnow is a truly distributed organization that works on behalf of every resident of Canada.

Why should I care about the Teck Frontier mine?

According to scientists, we have less than ten years to limit climate catastrophe. This means that every country around the world has a responsibility to swifty and drastically cut carbon emissions. Expanding tar sands production is incompatible with Canada’s climate commitments -- the Teck Frontier tar sands mine will cause irreversible environmental damage and make it impossible for Canada to meet its climate targets.

The proposed mega-mine is a carbon bomb. Over the course of its 41-year life-cycle, it will emit approximately six megatonnes of carbon emissions (CO2e) per year -- equivalent to adding 1 million new cars to the road. It will also violate Indigenous rights, land use and culture. And it will destroy critical habitat for at-risk species, including caribou, buffalo and whooping cranes.

The approval of Teck Frontier -- which would be Canada’s largest ever open pit tar sands mine -- is also a huge roadblock to our movement winning a Green New Deal. Rather than locking us into a dying fossil fuel industry that the rest of the world is turning its back on, the government must invest in secure and sustainable jobs in clean industries so we can make progress on the twin crises of climate and inequality.

What is the purpose of these meeting with Ministers/Liberal MPs?

We aim to achieve quite a bit meeting with MPs. We want to build relationships with sitting MPs. They hear from deep-pocketed lobbyists every day - but their job is to represent ALL of their constituents. By building a relationship and raising our concerns with them, we help counterbalance big oil’s influence. We’re also showing local opposition to the Teck Frontier mine -- to let them know that expanding the tar sands during a climate emergency is unthinkable.

Do I need to book a meeting with my MP? No, you can just drop into their office during office hours.

What is a Green New Deal?


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The Green New Deal is a vision for slashing global warming pollution at the scale scientists and Indigenous knowledge say is necessary -- while creating millions of jobs, lifting up Indigenous rights and fostering welcoming communities.

The Green New Deal is a global solution to a global problem. Variations of a Green New Deal have been proposed and passed in England, Spain, and most notably in the United States. A made-in-Canada Green New Deal will reflect local priorities while still addressing the global crisis of carbon pollution at the root causes, in a way that leaves nobody behind, respects indigenous and migrant rights, and does not simply export our problems to the global south. Here in Canada, thousands of people joined together earlier this year to hold nationwide consultations on what a Green New Deal should include. Those conversations are ongoing and the movement continues to grow.

How does this contribute to the wider progressive movement?

There is a growing coalition of people and organizations who stand united in opposition to this mine -- including Indigenous leaders, economists, environmental organizations, as well as people across the country.

To change everything, we need everyone. We are not only building relationships with MPs and government officials - we are doing our part to build a movement. By taking action with Leadnow, you will connect with other passionate, committed individuals who are determined to make change. You will build your skills and become ever more powerful advocates for climate justice. And you will help provide a backbone of democratic engagement to our movement. When you are organizing with Leadnow, you are not just one - you are one more, in a massive and growing team. Welcome!


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