My Commitments as the Next Vice President (English) of the Liberal Party

Within our Liberal family, there is universal agreement that we have a once in a generation opportunity to rebuild our Liberal Party and re-engage Canadians. At the Biennial Convention in Ottawa, dedicated, passionate Liberals will debate the new policies and processes which will define our Party to its members and to Canadians at large. By the end of the convention, we will be committed to a path of major change. I can envision thousands of delegates returning to their ridings, excited and empowered, ready to do whatever is needed.

Then what? Will the Party fall back into old habits, fighting for power and turf, wasting the passion of almost 4000 delegates and thousands of members. As Vice-President (English) I am committed to preventing such a waste.

Electing me as VP of the Liberal Party, you provide me a great opportunity to define the role. My experiences rebuilding and improving organizations, including the Ontario Bar Association, will serve well in working with the National Board and all Liberal members to improve our Party.

The VP must be a core part of Party success, driving and overseeing the progress of new initiatives and communicating this progress to all members. I am stating here my primary goals and would dearly appreciate your thoughts via my website, Facebook or by calling me directly. As Vice-President, I commit myself to the following goals:

 

IMPLEMENT PREDICTIVE VOTER MODELING IN LIBERALIST

Our party has fallen far behind in communicating with Canadians. Our competitors are able to communicate both on broad topics and on micro-targeted concerns by collecting and purchasing immense amounts of data about Canadians. Our competitors currently have more than 10 points of data for every Canadian voter.  We have less than 1.

Predictive Voter Modeling (PVM) is a highly accurate science of using demographic data, including our  polling, survey and election information, to predict how each individual voter might vote, the issues they care about and how likely they are to donate to or join the party.

Our voter management tool, Liberalist, is designed from the ground up to support PVM but we are not making full use of its capabilities. I am committed to purchasing a comprehensive set of predictive scores and making this data available to all ridings using Liberalist.  Using this data, I commit to working with the Ridings and the PTAs to achieve these goals:

To have an improved understanding of what matters to Canadians.

To tailor our messaging to resonate with individuals' concerns and passions

To grow our fundraising and membership. Using PVM, we will respond rapidly to the issues of the day, quickly creating targeted fundraising campaigns to those most likely to care about those current issues.

To make more efficient use of our paid and volunteer communications resources

To improve the effectiveness and return of our communications efforts – phone, mail, online or at the door. Our tools will allow us to better communicate our message and to record and understand their responses.

Simply put, let's talk with the right people about the right things, in the right way, at the right time.

 
CREATE A NATIONAL LIBERAL TALENT BANK

Every time I meet with a group of Liberals, I am overwhelmed by the broad range of talent and expertise. From business leaders to artists, programmers to event planners there are so many talented people willing and able to help the party. Yet there is no easy way for fellow Liberals to access this treasure trove. I am committing to addressing this obvious issue in the following ways:

I commit to drive the creation of a Liberal Talent Bank, providing an effective way to find the expertise within the Party to help them move forward. For example, when an EDA director wants to find a great designer to help update the web site, the Talent Bank will give them a list of Liberals with that capability and talent.

To create a national program of incentives for EDA's and PTA's to collect talent information.  

To create the position of National Volunteer Director, who will work with EDA's and PTA's. Our greatest assets are dedicated volunteers. We need a resource focused on supporting and expanding that volunteer base.

To include under the purview of the Volunteer Director the responsibility for expanding and maintaining Liberal University and making it a vital and well-used source of training for Liberal volunteers.

To expand existing programs celebrating the hard work of our volunteers.

 
ONGOING AND RELEVANT COMMUNICATIONS

In talking with Liberals across Canada, I have heard a recurring complaint, "I have no idea what is happening. The only time I hear from the party is when they are asking for money."

The Party has started down the path of better communications with Liberal.ca and its social media initiatives. But more is needed. As VP (English) I commit to a focus on communication, including these specific initiatives:

Within thirty days of the end of the Biennial, I will issue in both official languages, a report listing all of the initiatives, projects and decisions taken and authorized. This report will provide information about each item, including specific goals, ownership and timeline. Our members, our stakeholders, must be able to track our success and commitment.

Every three months, I commit to reporting our progress to members, as well as the issues and obstacles which stand in the way of success.

I will use all the communications tools at Party disposal to bring this and more information to the membership.

I will expand and extend the ability of the membership to provide their concerns and feedback.

To visit PTA's, Commissions and EDA's across the country, evangelizing new initiatives, processes and policies to all levels of Liberal membership

I commit to working with all members to return our Liberal Party to a respected place in Canadian politics.