TORONTO — The Ontario Liberal Party’s “Common Ground” grassroots policy consultation is wrapping up its series of live-streamed online policy dialogues with Ontario Liberal MPPs, candidates and thought leaders with a conversation on Monday, November 27 with the Hon. Chris Ballard MPP, Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, Laura Zizzo of Zizzo Strategies and Julia Langer of The Atmospheric Fund on creating resilient municipalities in the face of climate change.
The Common Ground approach has engaged tens of thousands of people across Ontario in an open, democratic dialogue since its launch in Kitchener earlier this November.
“In contrast to the top-down, closed approach of the Conservatives—who have allocated just thirty minutes of policy discussion at their so-called policy conference—the Ontario Liberal policy dialogues alone have already engaged roughly 55,000 participants in just three weeks online and in person. Through a series of policy forums, Ontario Liberals have reached out to the people of the province to exchange ideas and have fruitful conversations with experts and everyday citizens,” said platform co-chair Yvan Baker, MPP for Etobicoke Centre
At the same time, in addition to the 55,000 people engaging with the policy dialogues, the Party’s Common Ground website, commonground.ontarioliberal.ca, has engaged roughly 4000 users from all across the province. These individuals have submitted 273 ideas and counting, with just under 17,000 individual votes cast on various ideas to date.
“Whether it’s a mother submitting an idea about mental-health funding or a small-town mayor rallying his community to vote on a suggested piece of local infrastructure, it’s inspiring to watch people share so many intriguing ideas, and to follow along with the passionate conversations we see occurring online and at in-person policy discussions all across the province,” said platform co-chair Damien O’Brien, the Party’s Vice-President (Policy).
The Common Ground website will remain open for idea generation, discussion and voting throughout December. In January, some of the top-ranked ideas will be further refined before a final survey of participants will occur to vote for the top ideas, with an update at the Party’s Annual General Meeting in February.
The live-streamed online policy dialogues hosted by the Party were:
Inclusive Economic Growth
Hon. Kathleen Wynne MPP
Irfhan Rawji - Principal, Totem Capital Corporation
Naureen Rizvi - Ontario Regional Director, Unifor
Sean Mullin - Executive Director, Brookfield Institute
Childcare Expansion
Hon. Indira Naidoo-Harris MPP
Monica Lysack - Professor, Early Childhood Leadership, Sheridan College
Fiona Cascagnette - Vice-President, YMCA of Simcoe-Muskoka
Housing Affordability
Hon. Peter Milczyn MPP
Councillor Shelley Carroll - Toronto Ward 33
Harvey Cooper - Managing Director, Ontario Region, Co-op Housing Federation of Canada
Digital Government Services
Manu Kabahizi - Co-Founder and CTO, Ulula
Meghan Hellstern - Education and Community Program Manager, Code for Canada
Sean Speer - Instructor, University of Toronto School of Public Policy and Governance
Jesse Darling - Senior Projects Designer, Brookfield Institute
Future of Medicare
Hon. Dr. Eric Hoskins MPP
Durhane Wong-Rieger - President and CEO, Canadian Organization for Rare Disorders
Joanne DiNardo - Senior Manager, Canadian Cancer Society
Indigenous Reconciliation
Hon. David Zimmer MPP
Saga Williams - AS Williams Consulting
Darian Baskatawang - Student, Queen's University
Resilient Communities
Hon. Chris Ballard MPP
Mayor Bonnie Crombie - City of Mississauga
Julia Langer - CEO, The Atmospheric Fund
Laura Zizzo - CEO, Zizzo Strategy
For more information:
communications@ontarioliberal.ca