“Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men.”
―
Citizens’ Climate Lobby Founder Marshall Saunders taught us to dream big and we dreamt and continue to dream that Canada’s leadership in crafting climate policies that curb income inequality and greenhouse gas emissions through innovative pollution pricing will transform our world. We believe this dream will resonate in many hearts because at its core is love.
You can watch the recordings and read our detailed conference booklet: Dream No Small Dreams Conference Booklet
Where to park you car?
Ottawa City Hall parking is very affordable and close to the Lord Elgin Hotel and Parliament Hill. You can access their parking on Elgin Street just past the intersection of Laurier and Elgin heading away from Parliament Hill.
The Schedule
Lobbying: We will be lobbying on Monday and Tuesday. Please do your best to not schedule meetings from 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm on Monday. NOTE YOU NEED PHOTO ID TO GET INTO PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS
All times are given in EDT and is subject to slight changes.
Location: Lord Elgin Hotel, Ontario Room
Sunday, June 2, 2023, 1 pm – 6 pm, Lord Elgin Hotel, Ontario Room
1:00 pm – doors open – light snacks provided
1:30 pm – Welcome, Land Acknowledgement, Icebreaker activities
1:45 pm – CBAMs and the USA, with Dr. Ross Astoria
2:15 pm – Bill C-372, An Act Respecting Fossil Fuel Advertising, with Dr. Leah Temper and guest from Dr. Sehjal Bhargava
2:45 pm – Lobby Training (for newbies & veteran lobbyists) or CCL Canada Strategic Planning (veterans)
4:15 pm –Break with Healthy appetizers
4:30 pm – Getting ready to lobby, schedules, forming teams, and designing motivational interviewing questions
5:15 pm – Time on your own to do what you need to do
6:30 pm – *Weather permitting photo and video shoots on Parliament Hill with Monday night being the alternate
What to wear? Be comfortable but also note there will be lots of photos.
Monday, June 3, 2024, noon to 6:30 pm, Lord Elgin Hotel, Ontario Room
12:00 pm – Doors will open and light brunch will be provided. Socializing and meeting with your lobby groups
1:15 pm – Welcome and Land Acknowledgement
1:30 pm – the Honourable Catherine McKenna
2:00 pm – Senator Rosa Galvez
2:30 pm – Fireside chat with Dr. Chris Ragan and Dr. David Robinson
3:30 pm – Final lobby preparations and also preparing your story for your local news about your experiences.
4:30 pm – Healthy appetizers
5:15 pm – Time on your own to do what you need to do
6:30 pm – *Alternate night. Weather permitting photo and video shoots on Parliament Hill*. *We will look at the weather and if need be go to Parliament Hill Monday night. Otherwise it will be time on your own.
Tuesday, June 4, 2024
7:45 am to 9:00 am – Building a Dreamcatcher on Parliament Hill.
What to wear on Lobby Day?
We suggest professional looking, noting that there will be a lot of photos and walking.
The Giant Dreamcatcher
We are building a even bigger dreamcatcher on Parliament Hill comapred to the one we built in 2022! Please invite your parliamentarians to join us for this event. Details below:
English
Giant Dreamcatcher Build on Parliament Hill with Indigenous Artist Will Morin
West Lawn on Parliament Hill
Tuesday, June 4, 2024
7:45 am: Gathering in a Circle
7:55 am: Start building a giant dreamcatcher together
9:00 am: Wind down
Co-hosted by Citizens’ Climate Lobby and MP Marc Serré (Nickel Belt)
Please do not obstruct walkways.
Here is a photo gallery of our Dreamcatcher Build in 2022
Francais
Construction d’un capteur de rêves géant sur la Colline du Parlement avec l’artiste autochtone Will Morin
Pelouse ouest de la Colline du Parlement
Le Mardi 4 juin 2024
7 h 45 : Rassemblement en cercle
7 h 55 : Début de la construction d’un capteur de rêves géant.
9 h 00 : Fin de l’activité
Organisé par Citizens’ Climate Lobby et le député Marc Serré (Nickel Belt)
Veuillez ne pas obstruer les allées.
Voici une galerie de photos de notre construction de capteurs de rêves en 2022
Accomodations
Options
- The University of Ottawa is a few blocks away from our hotel venue and Parliament Hill. It has 2-bedroom suites with a bathroom and kitchenette. They are hotel-like and a good affordable option:
- The OTTAWA Jail Hostel is only a 15 minute walk to our conference
http://www.hihostels.ca/Ontario/1166/hi-ottawa-jail.hostel
THE LORD ELGIN HOTEL IS OUR VENUE but the group rate has long since expired.
You must book by NEW Wednesday, May 8, 2024.
Here is a booking link you to be able to book directly through their website
If calling into the hotel to make their reservations the group block number is 5148118.
Rate: $259.00 per room per night (single/double occupancy), plus taxes and fees per night (5% MAT and 13% HST)
If you have any issues with the booking link or would like to book outside of the block dates, please have them email their in-house reservations team at groups@lordelgin.ca or by calling directly to the hotel at 613-235-3333.
Script for Securing an Appointment
Inviting your Parliamentarians
Phone and email your MPs to let them know that you are planning to lobby them in June.
By May 6 will also have a separate invitation for you to send to your MP for the Dreamcatcher event on Parliament Hill on the morning of Tuesday, June 4. That will be on the May action sheets, on the conference page, and CCL Community Page.
Ideally, you’ll be able to arrange a lobbying time during our time in Ottawa. But if your MP is unavailable then, you can lobby them any time they are available in June over Zoom or in your home riding!
Here are the steps
- Phone and email your MPs to let them know that you are planning to lobby them in June (see script below). The key is to phone, then identify yourself as a constituent and finally follow it up with an email. Be prepared to do this several times until you get an answer.
- Draft a Getting Ready to lobby document in Word to share before you book the appointment. Even if it is in draft form, that is Ok. Please get it started.
- Then register your appointment here please.
Here are the details:
Phone Script Outline
- Introduce yourself as a constituent in [insert name of electoral district]
- Express authentic appreciation for something the politician has done lately.
- Introduce Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) Canada
- Non-partisan, volunteer-led, not-for-profit founded in Canada in 2010.
- Chapters across Canada, representing over 120 ridings
- OPTIONAL we have been focused on advocating for a Carbon Fee and Dividend policy – a policy that is effective and economically efficient. Only if you think the MP might be not know this about us.
- Let them know that on Monday, June 3 and Tuesday, June 4, CCL volunteers from across the country will be meeting with our Members of Parliament to hear their thoughts on Canada’s current climate policies and carbon pricing in Canada, and to work on shared goals for tackling the climate crisis together
- Let them know you would like to schedule a meeting with them for sometime during these two days, or another date in October
- Inform the staff you will be emailing soon after as well to follow-up and confirm the date, time, and meeting details with them. Be sure to get the best email handle for the staffer.
- Thank them
Email Script
Replace text in square brackets as appropriate and customize to your own circumstances.
Dear [insert Title and Name of Parliamentarian],
I am a constituent of yours in [insert name of electoral district]. I volunteer with a group called Citizens’ Climate Lobby Canada (“CCL”), which is a non-profit, non-partisan, grassroots advocacy organization that strives to support political will for evidence based climate policies. With over 40 active chapters across Canada, representing more than 120 ridings, CCL has been solely focused on supporting this policy since its inception in September 2010.
On Monday, June 3, Tuesday, June and throughout June CCL volunteers from across the country will be meeting with our Parliamentarians to hear their thoughts on current climate policy and carbon pricing in Canada, and discuss how we can work on shared goals for tackling the climate crisis together.
We would appreciate meeting with you to hear your views on these topics, and how we can work together to tackle the current climate crisis.
Specifically, we are interested in talking to MP [name of MP] about CCL Canada’s Spring 2024 lobbying asks. You can cut and paste the very specific ask you would like to discuss with your MP or provide them with choice.
My fellow constituents and I are looking forward to having an opportunity to introduce ourselves and get to know you.
Kind regards,
[insert Constituent name]
Lobbying Resources
Leave Behind – Spring 2024
Our spring 2024 “leave behind” has now be translated.
Dream No Small Dreams Conference Booklet
Literally, we bring our conference booklets and use them as visual prompts when lobbying. If your MP takes your booklet for themselves, without you offering them one you know they are interested.
Getting ready to lobby document (exemplar)
The lead person makes sure there is a biography of the parliamentarian in a document. Lobbyists meet before the lobbying session to review the document, assign roles in the meeting, the focus of their lobbying based on the most current “leave behind” and design possible motivational interviewing questions.
We have selected which Laser Talks we think are best as background for each of our lobbying asks noting that that everyone should read the first three laser talks:
- Climate Income a.k.a Carbon Fee and Dividend
- The Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act
- Carbon Pricing Works
Follow the European Union’s lead in implementing a CBAM by 2026. To prepare for CBAM, Canada’s carbon pricing policies must be harmonized in terms of the price of carbon pollution, coverage (GHG emissions and sources of emissions) and transparency.
(a) Move fossil-gas-powered electricity from the Output-Based Pricing System into the Fuel Charge component of the GGPPA and, (b) Enact the proposed Clean Electricity Regulations by July 2024 and ensure that they effectively remove fossil fuels from Canada’s electricity grid by 2035.
- Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms (CBAMs)
- Immediate Methane Cuts Can Prevent Nearly a Million Premature Deaths
- Health Impacts of Fossil-Gas Electricity Plants
- Carbon Pricing and Fossil-Gas Electricity Generation
- Canada’s Proposed Clean Electricity Regulations
- Carbon Capture and Sequestration is Risky Business
Ensure that final regulations for the cap on GHG emissions from the oil and gas sector are in place by the end of 2024 and do not include escape hatches like offsets or a Decarbonization Fund.
- Our recommendations for a Cap on GHGs in the Oil and Gas Sector
- Carbon Capture and Sequestration is Risky Business
Combat disinformation about climate change and support Bill C-372, An Act Respecting Fossil Fuel Advertising.
- It is Time to Dismantle Fossil Fuel Advertising
- Bill C-372: An Act Respecting Fossil Fuel Advertising
- Fossil Fuel Industry Funded Climate Disinformation for Decades
- Fossil Fuels are a Primary Driver of Inflation = Fossilflation
- Carbon Capture and Sequestration is Risky Business
Support Bill S-243, The Climate-Aligned Finance Act.
Climate Advocate Training
Please note that there will be training at the conference and you will be surrounded by veteran citizen lobbyists.
Here are the Canadian Climate Advocate Training Slides – with lots of resources embedded into them
Ask Us Anything Calls
Questions about lobbying, appointments with MPs?
Join these calls to get answers.
Every Monday in May, ask us anything.
May 6, 13, 20, 27, 2024
6 pm PT / 9 pm ET
Register here
The last two Fridays in May, ask us anything too.
May 24 and 31, 2024
9 am PT / 12 pm ET
Register here
About us:
We’re Canadian volunteers, non-partisan and proactive. We dedicate 5-10 hours monthly for a livable world, focusing on carbon pricing while supporting other climate efforts.
Discover our effective methods. Be part of something way bigger than yourself.
