The By-Law

-> Campaign & Strategy (John Wilson) refer to attached proposed candidate = voting
Proposed change to add one candidate and multiple candidates, passed October 29th, 2017
 
Proposed Candidate selection & screening process
Submitted for Board approval
Prepared by Ray Belec & John Wilson
• All RAs will actively recruit/select potential candidates for the 2018 Provincial election
• Applications should be accepted until February 15th 2018 (This assumes at least one candidate – process continues if none found)
• On February 16th or no more than 5 days thereafter the local RA will complete a ‘Candidate approval’ file including but not limited to a Full Disclosure Statement, a criminal records check, a full background check as well as a Credit check all at the cost of the proposed candidate – file to be copied to the Board Campaign Manager.
• Allow proposed candidates, if more than 1 – 30 days to work the riding soliciting memberships & promote themselves to the existing RA members. If only one candidate is proposed they should also spend the same 30 days soliciting new members & meeting existing members.
• No later than March 20th the RA will hold a secure internet vote of all members if there are more than one candidate. If not the members should be advised & the candidate acclaimed. If a vote is required (multiple candidates) then members should be allowed 3 days for vote submission. Each candidate should be allowed the right to have 1 person to monitor the voting process on their behalf.
• Following a count of the votes & a sign off by all candidates the RA will forward the results to the Leader, Party President & the Party Campaign Manager.
• Immediately following the selection process & affirming vote, the candidate will appoint a Campaign CFO & establish a campaign account at any financial institution of their choice. Campaign CFOs should be subjected to the same background & credit checks as the candidate.
We also suggest that while this proposal deals only with the candidate selection process the same criminal & credit check as suggested above should be required for all RA CFOs, Fund Raising Chairs & all others responsible for or handling funds.
Respectfully submitted
__________________________ ________________________
Ray Belec John Wilson
 
 
-> Disclosure form – John Wilson 
The Way forward – John Wilson – attached = voting, passed October 29th, 2017
 
THE WAY FORWARD 
A political strategy for the Northern Ontario Party for 2018 
Where are we & who are we: 
We sometimes have to reflect back to our beginnings to understand who & where we are now. 
The party has arisen from the Northern Ontario Heritage Party and was given re-birth after years of silence by the current leader Trevor Holliday. 
In order to become a functional party certain positions had to be filled and I’s dotted – T’s crossed with Elections Ontario in order to be recognized as an official Provincial political entity. That has been completed. As a result however, for expediency, the party has, of necessity, plugged people into holes – sometimes not qualified or suited to them. This is the natural result of a hasty undirected effort to ‘gett’r done’. Perfectly natural motivation & result and not to be faulted but to be repaired & corrected. We now need to reflect on that – identify weaknesses, strengths, re-organization required in order to determine where we go from here. 
– 
The party, born out of the NOHP, is faced with an entirely different political reality than the old NOHP. While the objectives of the NOHP were truly required in their day and made some considerable contributions that must be acknowledged and saluted – we to-day are faced with an entirely different scenario requiring vastly different approaches and strategies. We live in a global society now – not regional or provincial or national but global. Nationally & globally we are losing manufacturing & other jobs to global markets so going on about manufacturing in the North is no longer realistic. We would have to fix the hydro rates, lower manufacturing taxes, reduce labour rates to those of Mexico & Brazil and a number of other factors to even begin to bring manufacturing into Northern Ontario. Do we support the idea? Of course we do but we need to be realistic about what we can humanly & economically achieve. The concept though of ‘value added’ is a possibility but requires the political will and funding to do so. An example of ‘Value Added’ would be setting up a paper mill, furniture manufacturer, wood pellets etc. production beside an existing forestry operation. It must be recognized though that the demand for those products produced would only appeal to those prepared to pay more for quality, locally produced etc. because none of the drawbacks to competitiveness have been addressed – back to global. 
We do have opportunities in the North such as food sustainability & affordability. The lack of same has created a lot of health related issues in our far north & indigenous populations due to the unavailability and or cost of fresh produce. In that respect there are people working on heating greenhouse operations with the hot air expelled from underground mining and people working on Geodesic greenhouse operations powered by solar unfortunately not functional in the far north due to extended periods of darkness. Hydroponic greenhouse operations are also viable. This is where we can make a mark not to mention the technology field, the understanding of which is better left to people with a lot more understanding of it than I. 
So to get back to where do we go, what can we support & promote -we need to do some real needs analysis before we go much further and we must consider what impact or push we can really give to those initiatives. 
Recently the Mayor & council of Smooth Rock Falls released an ‘out of the box thinking’ program to re-populate their town. I had a discussion with the mayor & congratulated him on forward thinking and gave him our support in any way we could assist. I will be speaking also with a neighbor who is doing hydroponic greenhouse greens production to see if we can put him together with Smooth Rock Falls for that type of operation as they are offering considerable funding for commercial start-ups. 
So you see there are opportunities they are just not as evident or simple as in the past. We just have to find them. 

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE 
We have been focussing on RA development and branding the party name. That of course must continue but we also need to look to-wards fielding competent candidates in ALL northern ridings. To that end you have for discussion a ‘Candidate selection & screening process’ recommendation. We are still working on the wording of a ‘Full Disclosure Document’. As mentioned to some of the Board we should hold off affirming ANY candidates at this time even while actively recruiting. I know this sounds contradictory but I like to use the analogy of fishing as it relates to getting candidates- as we go we catch a perch – then a pike or perhaps a pickerel but really we are looking for that Muskie or Sturgeon. In short – the star candidate – an existing MPP willing to cross the floor or perhaps a significant ‘other party’ member commits to us? To sum up & with all due respect to current members expressing the desire to run it is our responsibility as a party to put forth the best candidate possible and to get MPPs from our party elected to serve the people of northern Ontario in a better way than they have experienced. So we should be hoping for a ‘Candidate election’ process in every riding by OUR MEMBERS. If your riding has selected a candidate & not still recruiting you can tell your constituents who you are putting forth but suggest it be contained to your riding only so we can at the appropriate time make a series of announcements to the media to show a strong regional showing. 
While we are branding, organizing RAs & recruiting candidates we need to look to where the support is for our party. That brings us to the hard part of politics & that is a one on one, face to face, at the door meeting with the people of the north. CANVASSING. Now is the time to start your plans on how-who-when- and where you canvass door to door. Identify your supporters & catalogue them so you can make sure later you get the vote out. In this respect please refer to our earlier paper on canvassing & voter get out. 
I also recommend that we re-visit our website communications. Personally I am confused as to what each site is supposed to do & what the target markets are. We have had some ‘in house’ communications go public due to many admins & various site. Myles has been doing a tremendous job of creating content & getting the name out there but I feel there is a need to minimize the number of sites for full party public marketing (1) and get down to just one for ALL members only. You will see later in this proposal that we recommend that each RA set up their own website for local member communications, fund raising etc. The more sites the more opportunity for conflicting or misleading 
communications so as usual less is more.

WHAT IS OUR PLAN -WHAT DO WE STAND FOR 
– 
Now we get to the real meat & potatoes. We must recognize that we are a regional party and that we will, in our current format, never form government. That said – what are we trying to be? Can I suggest that we want to be a strong voice for the long neglected northerners – honest politicians – telling the people only what we can hope to give them and how hard we will fight for them when elected to Queens Park. Yes we can support reduced hydro, even offer a viable solution, – we support lower manufacturing taxes we support better rail service – we support a minimum wage but brought in with timely increases – we support more manufacturing in northern Ontario – we support appropriate immigration to northern Ontario. In short we basically support anything that will create opportunity for our current population & the ability to add population – keep our youth at home with a future in the north – improvement of our food sustainability – a better deal for our indigenous brothers & sisters and EQUAL TREATMENT with other areas of the province – proper application of payments under the Mining Act and so on and so on. 
I was recently asked what can you PROMISE me? My answer-nothing – but a strong voice. That is all we can promise so we must remember that as we proceed into this political arena. 
Relevant political issues are very locale related so it is difficult to come up with a party wide platform other than what is outlined above. Each RA should be asking their constituents what their issues are. It will vary from local school closures to no jobs to kids out-migrating to hydro cost etc. Some issues though are front & center & in this election it seems to be bearing down on #1 Hydro costs #2 Liberal scandals #3 PCs divisiveness #4 our economy which is a product of all the former points. 
All RAs should consider setting up their local riding websites. This would provide the opportunity to discuss local issues, simplify donations and provide a conduit for secure voting on issues/candidates. 
OUR STRATEGY
I suggest that we be emphatic with the message that we want to be & promise to be – ‘A strong voice for the North’. We believe that we will see a minority government in Ontario for the foreseeable future and if that proves to be the case we can operate from a ‘Power Broker’ position & do some real good for the North. We can use that bargaining chip to support or defeat as the case may be. That said the NDP are also in that position so they are, I suggest our true target & adversary. We need to focus on such things as how the NDP supported a minority Liberal government budget so they could pass a non-confidence vote & stood idly by while the Liberals cancelled the Northerner Rail service & sold Ontera despite having the majority of seats in northern Ontario. Each candidate & RA should research how their NDP candidates voted on those crucial issues. (As well as any other candidates -know your enemy!) This will serve to prove our true message which is ‘If you want another 4 years of GTA rule & neglect then by all means vote NDP, Lib or PC (as well as Green) because they are all only motivated by appealing to the vote rich south & maintaining/gaining power.’ As a regional party that is our true strength. We are focussed solely on the needs wants & benefits of the North. 
FUND RAISING 
It takes thousands of dollars to run election campaigns. Expenses range from advertising- radio, TV, print media, promotional material, signage, polling fees and a myriad of miscellaneous fees for hosting town hall meetings, paying debate fees and so on. 
These amounts of dollars are not achieved through selling party promo goods, bake sales, garage sales or other such fundraising techniques employed by bowling leagues, sports teams or community groups. We need therefore to look to-wards the true means of supporting a campaign. The fund sources vary. Once we have had an election & if we achieve certain percentages of the votes some funds will start to flow through Elections Ontario but they are by no means capable of funding continuing operations of a functioning provincial party. The true support group or funding sources are our supporters who can afford to donate to the party.
Fund raising is both a Board and an RA responsibility. The other parties all have an individual (or several) who know where the money is, who the supporters are and how much they can afford. If you need a template of this type of person look no further than an infamous one for the Liberals in Sudbury, Mr. Lougheed. He is a wealthy, well connected, civically involved, recognized public personality who strongly supports the Liberal provincial party. He is known in political circles as a ‘bag man’. He/she knows where the money, support and need for political favors rests. Many years ago when I was in a VP position with an large corporation, 3 of us were assigned a party each & we would connect with the ‘bag man’ or fundraising chair of each of the 3 parties & we would give him/her a check for whatever amount of money our corporation deemed appropriate based on criteria such as – likelihood of election – ability to favor the company in any number of ways – approachability & so forth. We then tacked that personal expense right on our expense account & were reimbursed for it. As you know the rules of Elections Ontario prohibit corporate donations so this is how that rule is by-passed & that still occurs to-day. 
All of this said how do we raise funds? 
The same way. I’m sure we each know a number of individuals with some wealth in each of our ridings that has the local connections and the political motivation to carry out this function. We need to find those people, confirm their support and send them out to quietly solicit funds from their contacts to support our party keeping in mind the very specific rules laid down by Elections Ontario. 
If we cannot find a bag man what do we do? 
We need to appeal directly ourselves to local businessmen/women in our ridings to let them know our direction & what we stand for. Don’t forget they are suffering from the neglect of the south just as much as individual citizens are & in some cases more. Consider mailings out to all your local businesses asking for their support both morally and financially. You may be surprised at the response. Will the dollar amounts be large? Likely not but every dollar counts and we just need a lot more small & large businesses to donate to make up the needed dollars.
This of course points out the need of a Fund Raising Chair in each riding to monitor & confirm compliance with the fund raising criteria established for political parties. Every RA member can make business connections and refer any interested parties to the Fund Raising Chair. This person must work very closely with the riding CFO & the Board CFO so the appropriate recording & reporting can be done & legitimate receipts issued. We always advise a contributor that while they are giving $100.00, they get a tax receipt so the final cost of the donation is considerably less than $100. The current ratio of donation to tax return should be confirmed so we are all using the same percentages. That information will be supplied by your CFO. 
– 
Be advised that the maximum amount that a party can spend as a whole is $1,000,000.00 – that’s right 1 million dollars & you can rest assured that the 3 GTA parties will spend every allowable cent & likely hide in some way through creative accounting more money than we will be able to raise in totality. 
THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA 
There is little doubt that social media ranks high on the ‘how to get elected’ list. We therefore recommend that all candidates sign up on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and any other media available & start to develop followers. When first involved I suggested that Trevor get on Twitter and I believe he has started building a good following. 
Multi-media sources give us additional spaces to deliver our message, make announcements, re-post articles or news items etc. Most importantly it is a low cost means of greatly expanding our reach. 
I am technically challenged so defer additions to this section to Myles Clayton & any others who have the knowledge. I will only state that the use of social media to-day has more impact than any other media offers. 
OUR MESSAGE & CONSISTENCY
We will shortly start working with several board members and our leader on developing our message and talking points to be put forward during the canvassing process & into the election. They will then be forwarded to RAs for their input & any needed amendments. While we do not have a ‘Party Whip’ it is essential that we present a common & consistent message to the public and additionally that we deliver a consistent reply to the expected public & media questions & enquiries. There will of course be local variances due to different area concerns but it is important that our primary overall message be the same across all ridings – singing from the same hymn book so to speak. 
SUMMATION 
We are about to enter into a very exciting, tiring, disappointing, inspiring, disillusioning but wonderful world of bringing a grass roots party to full realization & eventually success in our objective to giving Northern Ontarians, a viable & in fact preferable alternative to the current political offerings. It will be exciting times for all of us – we will have disappointments & we will have successes and we will deal with all of them. We are a party of the people-for the people & by the people and you are the people. We are going up against established, polished, organized & battle experienced long standing parties but our objectives are right, pure and without the burden of gaining power that the other parties strive for. All our current candidates are your next door neighbor, your milk man, your bus driver, your local councillor – what we are not is professional politicians and that is a positive. 
There is no substitute for hard work & a just cause.
 
 
-> BYLAW 01-2017, passed October 29th, 2017
 
As of October 1, 2017 the money
from the membership will be split as
per the constitution Section 7.7d.
Within 3 days of the end of each
month (before or after).
The Riding Association will transfer the funds from their membership sales to the
party account in the amount of
(40%).
The Board will transfer the funds
from the membership sales to the
Riding Association accounts (60% less fees).
(fees may include but not limited to paypal etc.)
Riding Associations that do not have
accounts set up will have the amount
from membership recorded and held by the
party until an account is set up.
If the account is not set up by the end of the year prior to election year (example election is 2018 then year end 2017) the money that was recorded will be put into the parties account as a transfer of fees.
The funds can then be used to back a
candidate in that riding and if no candidate is in that riding then may be used to help fund party campaign or tour etc.
 
 
-> BYLAW 03-2017, passed October 29th, 2017
 
Funds from elections
Any and all elections on or after
October 1st, 2017 in which funds are generated from the government and/ or l Elections Ontario will be split with The Party and Riding Association at the rate of 40% for the board and 60% for the Riding Association. In the event the funds are specifically instructed by the funding party to be spent in a certain manner (example riding office, advertisement) then those funds are exempt from this bylaw and are to be used as instructed.
 
 
-> Andy mentioned he was going through emails and answering questions. He came across people who renewed their memberships but they were still ok so Andy was asking it we should just extend their current membership (for the number of years they paid) once it does expired., passed April 7th, 2019
 
 
-> Motion: as long as we have a quorum, decisions can be made until we find the by law stating differently for emergency only (Trevor proposes)., passed April 26th, 2020
 
 
-> Motion: Repurpose public NOP (Facebook) into something more relevant group to be run for the approval., passed May 24, 2020
 
 
-> Motion: To have all members renew between September to December of each year instead of individually [this means all party memberships purchased are valid until the end of year in which the membership is set to expire; the remaining months of that year are free for the member and the party membership only expires if no payment is received by January 1st of the following year]., passed October 18, 2020
 
 
-> Motion: To allow the start of a
membership campaign to be from January
1st to December 31st of each year.
Free months for the remainder of
2020 & then the actual membership starts.
January 1st, 2021., passed October 18, 2020
Scroll to Top