Adopt a Conservative Today (en francais)

Often times CPC bloggers (and other party members as well) have a rant at the party - "why aren't they doing this - it's so obvious" , or "if we're going to form a government we need to..."

While thinking along these lines, I was surfing through How'd They Vote, an excellent new resource. They have a page on MPs websites, basically a report on who has one and who doesn't along with a breakdown by Party and Province. An interesting thing stood out when I was looking at these stats. In Quebec, only 36% of MPs have websites. 36%?? When looked at another way, that's 48 ridings out of 75 with no political presence on the internet.

This is an opportunity that the Conservative Party and it's candidates need to take advantage of. While the CPC ran a distant third in the majority of these ridings, that doesn't mean that we should not be working to build the party in these areas. One of the simplest and most cost-effective ways to do that today is through a website or a blog.

Hmmm - where could we possibly find people to help out in that regard?

Many of these EDAs face uphill battles with little or no resources. I'm sure there are many members out there who have fought elections under similiar circumstances. How many times did you think - 'if only we had some more money' or 'if only we had....' ?

Here's an opportunity for everyone to help out. Take a look through some of the ridings in Quebec. Reach out and offer your skills and a little bit of your time. Maybe one enterprising person could design a simple web template that could be used by all the Quebec candidates. Help a candidate start a blog. If you don't have the technical skills, how about a small donation towards electing a CPC candidate in Quebec? (not sure if Quebec provincial election finance laws apply in any way to this - maybe someone could chime in)

While the lions share of work is needed in Quebec to raise the CPC profile, there are also many other EDAs across Canada that could benefit from the same sort of assistance. Think outside the box a little. Would your EDA consider twinning with another EDA to provide advice and assistance? Could your EDA hold a BBQ this summer or an event in the fall to benefit another EDA? (Elections Canada rules allow for transfers of funds between EDAs) Are you vacationing in another EDA this summer, could you meet with a local person and arrange something?

A friend of mine was at a CPC regional conference this winter. Stephen Harper asked everyone in attendance for ideas on how to attract better candidates for elections. My friend stood up and said "stop losing by more than 10,000 votes." Many laughed, not knowing just how serious he was. Many ridings are simply considered 'lost causes' and little or no effort is expended on them. That's one way to guarantee they remain lost causes.

Think of it in this way - every vote denied the BQ, Liberals and NDP is $1.75 less in financing they will receive in years following an election (for some strange reason, I even think this number will eventually rise to $2.00). Given the financing woes of the Liberals recently, this is a fitting way to continue to take the battle to them.

One person, one vote at a time.