LASER TALK: About Citizens’ Climate Lobby Canada

Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) is an international, non-partisan organization that empowers citizens to lobby their representatives for a revenue-neutral price on carbon pollution. Currently, we have 485 active chapters in 46 countries and over 100 000 CCL members worldwide. In Canada, we cover over 80 ridings and have approximately 1200 members.

CCL was founded in the USA in 2007 by Marshall Saunders and is modeled after the international poverty reduction organization RESULTS, which is also our sister organization.

Since September 2010, Canadian Citizens’ Climate Lobbyists have, through teleconference calls, monthly actions, and conferences educated us about the various aspects of climate change: from the economics and science to the sociology, communication and its myriad connections to almost everything.

Our volunteers in Canada have recorded almost 2300 letters to the editor, articles, editorials, and columns published in newspapers by or about us over the last eight years. Every June since 2011, CCL Canada has a sent a delegation to Washington to lobby Congress as well as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Canadian Embassy.

In 2015, we had about 500 registered volunteers at that time. Our focus was the federal election in 2015. We created the political will for carbon pricing across Canada one riding at a time and in the media using our non-partisan methodology. We had 325 print media hits and we produced and aired professional public service announcements on TV in the lead up to the election. Two days after the Election 2015, a Canadian Senator sent our national director the following message regarding CCL’s work, “You have done so much “groundwork” that can now start to really pay off. I feel that the prospects for climate action are exceptional.” 

In 2016, we focused on educating all the new parliamentarians and met with them 199 times to discuss carbon pricing. In 2017, there was a leadership race in the New Democratic and Conservative parties federally. As well in 2017, the Progressive Conservative party in Ontario developed their platform. Thus, we focused on creating the political will for carbon pricing on the editorial pages of newspapers. We appeared on the editorial pages 701 times (17% of all print media hits in all of CCL) and had 76 editorial endorsements of carbon fee and dividend across Canada.

In 2018, we will for the first time since 2014, turn some of our attention to growing our groups locally and expanding regionally and nationally.

Since November 2011, Citizens’ Climate Lobby Canada volunteers have lobbied every year on Parliament Hill and many years more than once.

We will gather in Ottawa October 13-16, 2018 for our fifth annual conference and lobbying days and lobby as a collective on Parliament Hill for the 13th time.

(Last updated September 4, 2018).

 

 

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