Calls to Action
At the federal level, the dust has settled. Though the Liberals have a long history of breaking promises and failing to deliver on campaign commitments, being returned with another minority may be an opportunity for them to take a different tack. While some have framed talk of a Green New Deal as a modern day parallel of FDR's New Deal in the 1930s, we offer a different but equally exciting parallel: a modern day echo of the two Pearson minority governments from the 1960s that led to dramatic improvements in the social safety net and to reductions in inequality between 1963 and 1980. Two federal budgets later, and the jury is still out as the government has so far failed to tackle the affordability crisis and the crippling cost of high interest rates. The provincial election in June 2022 saw a hopelessly out of touch Ford government rewarded with a huge majority. Instead of learning from the mishandling of Covid 19, its has doubled down on under-funding health care, and is pursuing policies to promote highways and urban spawl. The impending climate emergency have awakened many of us with a re-newed sense of purpose and possibility. A return to a new normal is not an option, but real transformative change will not be easy. Through this website and regular newsletters, we will highlight many other campaigns that we believe form the basis for major policy shifts that can make a real difference in people's lives. We ask that you share these resources widely and discuss them within your networks. Only through an active and engaged civil society can we hold all parties accountable in championing these and similar efforts. Consistent with a social commons vision, we see many opportunities for real progress leading to: • reducing inequalities and increasing social rights and protections, • an economy focused more on meeting human needs while ensuring the sustainability of the ecosystem, and • a deeper democracy where people and local communities can hold corporate interests and senior levels of government to account. We also plan to put forward our own thoughts in an effort to connect the dots across a diverse array of issues and policy agendas. Though we may have different areas of concern, and draw attention to a particular sub-set of issues, collectively all of these struggles and policy proposals are part of a common human project – social and environmental justice. Join us on the journey.