March 2021 Newsletter of the Etobicoke-Lakeshore Conservative Association

Dear Etobicoke-Lakeshore CPC Members and Friends,

Your Board of Directors has been working hard this winter to advance the Conservative movement, and we have lots of progress to report.

Indira Bains is our Candidate!

As part of the nomination process for Conservative candidates across Canada, CPC party headquarters gave notice on March 4, 2021 that our Etobicoke-Lakeshore riding would be closed to applicants seeking the nomination as of March 18, 2021.  No other applicants stepped forward, and consequently our past-President Indira Bains has now been acclaimed as our Conservative candidate to contest the next federal election in Etobicoke-Lakeshore.

You’ll be hearing a lot more about Indira as we pivot into full-on election campaign mode.  Meanwhile, check out Indira on facebook Indira Bains and twitter: @VoteIndiraBains.

Please reach out directly to Indira if you are interested in participating in Indira’s campaign or have any questions: [email protected]

National Convention – March 18-20, 2021

Your board has been exceptionally active in preparation for, and contributing to, the successful CPC National Convention this weekend, held virtually with over 5,500 participants across the country.

Starting last November, we held numerous well-attended board and policy committee meetings to develop our proposals and advance them through the grassroots ideas-lab process. After you elected our voting delegates and alternates, we held several further meetings open to all interested members to debate the policy and constitution proposals and build consensus about which proposals we should support at the convention.

We are proud to report that not only did two of our proposals successfully advance to the convention (two of 34 from across the country), but that each of those two Etobicoke-Lakeshore proposals were resoundingly approved by the national delegates with about 90% support!  Our proposals that will now be incorporated into the CPC policy document are:

• China - A Conservative government will adopt a more assertive foreign policy toward China and other authoritarian dictatorships, focused on upholding Canada’s values respecting human rights and democratic principles.
  
  
• Joint Tax Filing – The Conservative Party will permit spouses to electively report income jointly, rather than as separate individuals, so that the taxing unit is changed from individuals to families.

Watch for versions of these policies to potentially make their way into Erin O’Toole’s national CPC election platform, coming soon.  For more explanation about why joint tax filing makes sense, please see this recent National Post op-ed published to build support for our proposal: Joint Tax Filing.

In addition, we continued our successful collaboration with our Etobicoke Centre EDA colleagues, contributing to their policy proposals, including one (combatting organized crime by curtailing smuggling of illegal firearms) which we co-sponsored that also made it to the convention and was overwhelmingly approved.  So we can fairly claim that your Etobicoke CPC EDA representatives, from both Etobicoke-Lakeshore and Etobicoke-Centre, are having a disproportionately positive impact on the national Conservative cause.  Congratulations to all the members of the policy committee, your hard work paid off!

Lastly, Erin O’Toole gave a terrific speech and unveiled the Conservative framework for Canada’s post-pandemic recovery plan, which you can read here: Secure the Future.

Fundraising – Our Etobicoke-Lakeshore EDA Needs Your Help!

With a federal election coming soon, we need to build up our campaign war chest to support our new candidate, Indira Bains!

Canada’s political donation tax credits are extremely generous.  For a donation to our EDA up to $400, you get a 75% tax credit.  If you donate $400, you receive a $300 tax credit, a net cost to you of only $100.  We’ll mail your tax receipt in early 2022.

We know you also get requests for donations from our national CPC headquarters, and from our provincial Progressive Conservative cousins to re-elect Christine Hogarth.  But our local EDA is separate – we are relying on donations from our Etobicoke-Lakeshore supporters to finance the upcoming federal election campaign of Indira Bains.

To donate to our EDA, please click here: https://www.etobicokelakeshoreconservative.ca/donate  Or send a cheque payable to: Etobicoke-Lakeshore Conservative Association, 2969 Bloor St. W., PO Box 964, Etobicoke ON M8X 1B3.

As always, we remain open to feedback from our Etobicoke-Lakeshore CPC members, and if you are interested in getting more involved with us, please reach out!

Geoff Turner
President, Etobicoke-Lakeshore Conservative Association
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/etoblakecpc