At this week’s meeting of the Eco Babes, a group of women in the sustainability professions agreed to work together to build support for public transit in the Greater Toronto Area. If you’d like to help, read on.
I’m writing to ask all of you to join us in committing to take action against gridlock in Toronto by supporting Metrolinx and the Big Move. From the torontoist article of March 18,
“Ontario’s newly installed premier, Kathleen Wynne, has made it clear that her government does back new revenue tools and will make them a priority; there are many city councillors in Toronto who feel the same way. Nonetheless, the sheer number of governments that need to be involved in any regional plan (including both the minority provincial government and all of the GTA municipalities), and the reluctance most politicians have thus far shown to risk voter wrath by making the case for increased taxes and levies, will make it a real challenge to move forward.”
Let’s give our politicians some real feedback about what we want them to do.
We agreed to contact our elected representatives to ask them to commit to the discussions of how to fund the Big Move – and to ask them to support new revenue tools to get the job done. These tools should be dedicated, efficient, transparent & accountable, regional, fair, and sustainable.
Here’s what to do:
1. Go to the Civic Action’s Your 32 campaign and pledge to get your politicians moving. The pledge will automatically send a letter to your chosen politicians, letting them know that you support new revenue tools to fund regional transit. http://your32.com/ The nice thing about the site is that it also gives you a list of your local politicians so that you can call or email your councillor and MP to reinforce the message.
2. Call or email your councillor and MP to reinforce the message. Personal contact from you will have more impact than a form letter. Dianne suggests calling and asking them how they are planning to act on this, tell them what you would like them to do; and to get back to you with their response by a specific date. Here is the directory of local city councillors: http://app.toronto.ca/im/council/councillors.jsp And here’s where you can get contact info for your MPP. http://www.ontla.on.ca/lao/en/getting-involved/contact-an-mpp/the-mpp-as-elected-representative.html
3. Ask your friends to do the same.
4. Post a comment, letting us know what you have done, so that we can all pat you on the back.
I’ve done all four. Will you?