August Check-in with EWB’s Policy & Advocacy Team
During the final weeks of July, EWB’s Policy and Advocacy team embarked on a tall task - engaging with the NDP, Conservative, and Liberal party platforms before the snap election was called.
Over the past couple of months, the Canadian government had signaled their intentions to potentially hold an election and with recent announcements, voters will be heading back to the polls on September 20th. We at EWB wanted to stay ahead of the ball and began to put a plan in place prior to the writ drop.
We are happy to report that EWB was able to meet with the New Democratic Party, the Conservative Party of Canada, and the Liberal Party of Canada all within a 9-day period – potentially a new Canadian record!
We felt that it was not only important but necessary to speak with all three parties prior to their election to ensure that International Development and Foreign Policy issues were not overlooked, especially since in years passed these topics tended not to be headline issues in party platforms. We have yet to see the unveiling of platforms but we feel great coming out of these three meetings and hope to see announcements made in the coming weeks on our discussions.
While seeing our issues discussed in party platforms would be a major win, we also know that the work doesn’t stop there. Whatever happens in this next election, we must continue to engage all political sides to come together on major International Development and Foreign Policy issues in the house and senate. Hopefully, after the election we’ll have some more exciting updates for all of you – we’ve got some exciting things we are working on, including our upcoming Advocacy Campaign!
Until then, stay safe, and make sure to get out and vote when the time comes!