Why everyone should hit the campaign trail during the Ontario election

Election signs in Thornhill, Ont. (Shira Zionce photo)

The Ontario provincial election is now in full swing. Campaign offices are open, lawn signs have been delivered and candidates and volunteers are out knocking on doors, making phone calls and attending rallies throughout the province. Everyone is working towards the big day on June 7.

You may think that with about two weeks left in the campaign, there isn’t much left to do, but this is actually the time when the campaigns need volunteers the most. There are always more lawn signs to deliver, doors to knock on, phone calls to make and campaign literature to distribute.

If you care about the future of our province, this is your opportunity to make a difference.

The truth is that one volunteer can make a tangible difference. In the last provincial election, the winner in eight ridings was decided by less than 5 percentage points; in one case it was 0.2 per cent. In those close ridings, you can bet that the volunteers who went out on behalf of the candidate or made phone calls had a huge impact.

READ: JEWISH GROUPS RELEASE ONTARIO ELECTION PRIMERS, HOST LOCAL DEBATES

Unfortunately, volunteers can often be difficult to find. According to a study by Samara Canada, while 55 per cent of Canadians volunteer, only 10 per cent volunteer during an election. Likewise, 84 per cent donate money to a charities or other non-profits, but only 10 per cent donate to political candidates or parties. And while 58 per cent of Canadians are active in a group or an association, only 10 per cent are members of a political party.

That means that if you do choose to get involved by volunteering with, or donating to, a candidate or party, or if you decide to join a party, you have the potential to make a serious difference.

There’s just one final point on numbers: while the Jewish population of Ontario is approximately 215,000, the vast majority of us are concentrated in Toronto, with smaller communities in Ottawa, Hamilton, London, Windsor, Kitchener (Cambridge and Waterloo) and Kingston. As a small community, we need to cover a lot of ground to have the biggest impact.

The Canadian Jewish Political Affairs Committee (CJPAC) is a multi-partisan organization and in the last federal election, we connected Jewish and pro-Israel Canadians with over 155 campaigns of their choice. One such community member was Liz Dempsey. While she describes herself as someone who has “always had a keen interest in politics,” she had never volunteered for a campaign. She did a lot of research before deciding which candidate to vote for and credits CJPAC with helping her take the next step and become a volunteer.

From left, Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford, Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath. (Doug Ford/cc-by-sa-2.0/Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade/CC BY 3.0 AU/EK Park/Ontario NDP/CC BY 2.0)

“I realized that casting a ballot for your candidate is only the first step in the process: I’ve had the opportunity to get involved in my community, knock on doors, build new friendships and recently participated in the policy prioritization process. By connecting me with a campaign, CJPAC not only opened up a whole new world to me, but a whole new way of understanding my participation in the political process.”

You don’t need a ton of experience to volunteer on a campaign and even just a few hours can make a big difference to a candidate – and to you. You never know who you’ll meet along the way and how it might change you and open new doors.

At CJPAC, we provide volunteer training to community members of all ages and connect those who are interested in volunteering with the campaigns of their choice.

If you’d like more information, please visit cjpac.ca, or email [email protected].

The next few weeks offer the chance to support our democracy. We hope to see you all out on the campaign trail.


Sherry Firestone is the chair and Mark Waldman is the executive director of CJPAC.