English Resources

What we do…

We lobby in support of our Carbon Fee and Dividend proposal by building friendly relationships with our federally elected representatives. We do so with respect, appreciation and gratitude for their service.

 We write letters to the editor and op-eds, and meet with editorial boards to gain their editorial endorsement.

 We facilitate presentations and table at events to promote CCL and introduce others to our Carbon Fee and Dividend proposal.

 We support our volunteer chapters with monthly conference calls, and we support the leaders of those chapters with regular conference calls and a network of people to support them.

What we believe…

Politicians don’t create political will, they respond to it. We believe citizens who are well-trained, organized by Ridings and with a good system of support can more than influence the political process.

In respect for all viewpoints, even for those who would oppose us.

Based on what climate scientists and economists tell us, we believe that Carbon Fee and Dividend is the best first step to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to mitigate the impacts of a changing climate.

All politics is local. Thus we build political will for a liveable world by building relationships locally with our politicians, community leaders and local media as well as educating our community. The resources below will help you get started:

Getting Started

Welcome to Citizens’ Climate Lobby Canada! We educate and lobby for a predictable, incrementally increasing and fair price on carbon pollution policy called “The Carbon Fee and Dividend Act.”

Here’s some of the basic information about who we are and what we do. If you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.

All Things Media

Op Eds

Letters to the editors

Meeting with editorial boards

Media Releases

Outreach and Tabling

Handouts

Screen Shot 2015-10-16 at 2.52.53 PM

General CCL trifold brochure in English (2023)  in Word so you can add and subtract things.
CCL Brochure 2023

 Updated February 2023
Customizable CCL business card, 3.5x2in.Colour: PDF, PNG or JPG
Black/white: PDF, PNG or JPG
Greyscale: PDF, PNG or JPGDon’t forget to put your own contact information on the back, e.g.  black/white or colour 
everything is connected cathy orlando 2008  “Everything is connected” poster PDF (English) and French
The graphic novel: Because IPCC
In February 2022 we introduced CCLers to the graphic novel: Because IPCC which is great for presentation and tabling. Check out our Laser Talk about Because IPCC to find out more and how you can download free copies and graphics for your outreach. 

 

The Five Levers of Political Will

Levers of Political Will

These are the five core activities that all Citizens’ Climate Lobby chapters leverage to bring citizens into the political process and to ensure their contribution is constructive and makes more good possible. We call these activities the “levers of political will.”

  1. Lobbying: We train citizens how to lobby in support of our Carbon Fee and Dividend proposal by building friendly relationships with our federally elected representatives.
  2. Media relations: We train citizens how to engage with and influence the media. We write letters to the editors and op-eds, meet with editorial boards and work to place stories in all forms of media.
  3. Grassroots outreach: We recruit and educate the public on climate solutions, citizen advocacy and how to participate with one’s government.
  4. Grasstops outreach: We seek to educate, build partnerships with and gain the support of community leaders and non-governmental organizations, both nationally and locally.
  5. Chapter development: It is through the growth and management of the local CCL group/chapter, that it becomes possible to push on the other four levers for building political will.

Note we are not “against” anything: we are for carbon fee and dividend. Carbon pricing policies in Canada will be assessed using the following criteria available in English and in French.

Lobbying Tool Kit

Leave Behind – Spring 2023
This has been translated. A gentle reminder that you don’t lobby for everything in the Leave Behind – you select what you think is best for your context. To help you understand each point we have compiled a Laser Talks booklet.

Laser Talks Booklet – Spring 2023
To support your lobbying efforts, the Laser Talks Action Team has done their best to compile the most relevant Laser Talks.
Note that you don’t need to learn all of them – just the ones relevant to your lobbying asks.
We encourage you to print copies.

CCCL Lobbying 101 
Our PowerPoint presentation for lobby training.

Getting ready to lobby document
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.

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Check out the House of Commons Calendar to know when your MP will be in your riding to lobby.

We also recommend you bring any published media your group has generated and a list of signatories from your community to our Open Letter. If you are new to CCL you can bring our most recent editorial packet

Possible visuals to bring when lobbying

The Five Ways to Price carbon – a great visual for orienting politicians unfamiliar with carbon pricing to the various solutions

 

Parliamentary Petition Project

PURPOSE: We use petitions to educate parliamentarians and our local communities about the urgency of the climate crisis and solutions to improve the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act as well as other policies that redirect financial flows, amd cap emissions. There has been a special request from youth to support a petition too.

Federal Emissions Cap 
Federal Emissions Cap Petition in Word

Federal Methane-fired Electricity Petition 
Federal Methane-fired Electricity Petition English only and in Word 

Ontario Methane-fired Electricity Petition – Pause the expansion
Petition Ontario Government Pause Expansion of Methane Fired Electricity

Climate Aligned Finance Act Petition (pdfs) 
CAFA English
CAFA Francais

Request from our FFF Youth in Greater Sudbury. To be sent to an MP in BC (pdf)
Fridays for Youth Petition 2023

Government resources:
The Path of Paper Petition
Paper Petitions – Guide and Terms of Use

For Further Information
Clerk of Petitions
Room 314-C, West Block
House of Commons
Tel: 613-992-9511
Fax: 613-947-7626
Email PMB-AED@parl.gc.ca

Instructions:

  • Have people sign the petition at outreach events and/or carry a copy of it and ask friends and acquaintances to sign it.
  • Once you have obtained 30 signatures, call your MP’s office
  • Identify yourself as a constituent of his/her riding
  • Ask if your MP if he/she would be willing to read our Parliamentary Petition on climate change in its entirety (excluding the signatories) in the House of Commons
  • Print the petition on legal (8.5 x 14) or letter-size (8.5 x 11) paper.
  • Make sure there are three lines for signatures on the first page.
  • Make sure there is a line at the top of every signature page thereafter indicating that it is a parliamentary petition and its topic.
  • Get at least 25 signatures on the petition – follow the instructions closely. We recommend getting 30 just to be safe.
  • Once completed, copy it for your files if you wish, then bring the original file to your MP’s office to be read in Parliament.

Hand-deliver or send the original copy of the petition to:

YOUR MP’S NAME
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

No stamp is required for Parliament in Ottawa.

If your MP does not want to read the petition, you can send it to other MPs who will. Follow up by asking when it will be read in Parliament, how it was received and a big thank you via snail mail, email, and social media. Please inform us in your monthly Citizens’ Climate Lobby field report if your petition has been read aloud in the House of Commons. It is considered to be outreach.  By informing the national office we can thank them on Twitter and Facebook.

Cabinet Ministers are not permitted to read petitions in the House of Commons as it would constitute a “conflict of interest”. Thus if your MP is a cabinet Minister you should inform him/her about the petition and ask if he or she could suggest another MP from your province who might read the petition instead.

 

Why parliamentary paper petitions? 
1. Parliamentary petitions educate MPs and build political will.
2. It gives MPs extra time to speak in the House of Commons (HoC) on top of their allotted time – which is important for re-election. They need to show leadership in the HoC.
3. They are a good litmus test for the acceptability of the language of the policy recommendation.
4. It publicly highlights climate champions interested in climate finance in the HoC and puts them on the record
5.  They help MPs find like-minded MPs interested in climate finance.
6. These petitions are very low-hanging fruit. Only 25-30 signatures are needed. And you can keep submitting them.

WE DID IT!
Please note this 2020 petition 2020 to the Government of Canada to Improve the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act was implemented.
CCLC Petition September 2020 ENGLISH (PDF)
CCLC Petition Septembre 2020 FRANCAIS (PDF)

PARLIAMENTARY E-PETITIONS

We have successfully conducted two parliamentary e-petitions.

PARLIAMENTARY E-PETITION APRIL 2020 – CLOSED AUGUST 18, 2020 On April 2020, 2020 CCL Canada launched an e-petition (#e2542) for improvements in the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act. Nickel Belt MP Marc Serre (Liberal) sponsored the petition.

PARLIAMENTARY E-PETITION MAY 2016 – Closed On May 11, 2016, CCL Canada launched an e-petition (#e297)  for carbon fee and dividend. Beaches-East York MP Nathaniel Erskine Smith (Liberal) sponsored the petition.

REGARDING NATIONAL e-PARLIAMENTARY PETITIONS:  
Online parliamentary petitions and any online petition are a lot of work.  We know this because we have successfully done two of them.  Here are the steps:

  1. First, there must be buy-in from most of the CCL group leaders – especially from the Parliamentary Petition Team – the team that knows the intricate steps. 
  2. Then we need to form an eager National Action Team with clear job descriptions, and a step-by-step plan to attain 1000+++ signees. This is a multi-step process. 
  3. Join CCL Canada monthly calls if you ever have the idea to do an online Parliamentarian Petition and talk it over with your national colleagues. We row together. No one person makes decisions for national actions. 

How we plan our subnational and national actions

HOW WE PLAN OUR SUBNATIONAL AND NATIONAL ACTIONS

VOLUNTEERS ARE OUR MOST VALUED RESOURCE. CCL has the best volunteers on the planet. Almost all of our monthly actions are determined by them. We value the time our volunteers dedicate to us. We do our best to listen and provide actions that will help them create the political will for a liveable world in their ridings.

PLANNING FOR ACTIONS OCCURS MONTHS IN ADVANCE. We plan monthly actions months in advance based on the information our volunteers are sending to us in their reports and what else is happening nationally and globally.

THE PROCESS. We, as volunteers, have been actively creating the political will for carbon pricing in Canada since September 2010. This is the process that works and gives everyone time to savour the planet:

  1. If you have a suggestion for an action that you would like for CCL Canada to consider here is what to do: discuss it with your local team, email canada@citizensclimateclimate.org or phone our national director (check your emails) to set up an appointment to discuss the idea. Please give us any resources in advance and suggested timelines. Also, share stories, facts, and evidence of how you know this action will be successful and in line with our 2020 Carbon Pricing Guidelines and Leave Behind. Ask yourself this question: How will this action help build political will locally for protecting and improving Canada’s national carbon pricing policy?
  2. To help us determine if your idea is a good action we often bring the idea to the membership to see if there is an appetite for the action and seek out a national action team to support it if necessary. That action team meets to discuss timelines, roles, communication and responsibilities in the action sheets.
  3. If the idea is collectively deemed feasible and valuable, we put it in the action sheets at a time that is most advantageous to what is happening subnationally, nationally, and internationally.
  4. This cooperation keeps workflow manageable for all, and expectations realistic.

Please don’t initiate something that will require help and resources from the national office on behalf of CCL without going through the national office first. CCL’s one and only rule is respect and admiration for service. Thanks for considering everyone’s service and workflow.