Engage Your Candidates | Sustain Ontario

ENGAGE YOUR CANDIDATES!

Thank you for organizing as a network on this election for great impact!

First and foremost, find out who is already engaging your local candidates on food system issues in your region.

Is there a food policy group or food systems organization you can work with who has been engaging with candidates in the past? If so, ask them how you can collaborate, and share the Vote ON website with them.
We need to build upon work already happening and demonstrate our strength in numbers and partnerships.

IF YOU ARE SURE that nothing is happening in your community in the past or currently, THEN PLEASE take the lead on this engagement work and let others know you are doing so:

Email your regional MPP candidates, using the email template below to ensure food systems priorities are heard.
Create a google form using the suggested questions found below and invite all candidates to tell us what they will do to strengthen Ontario food systems if elected.
• You can also add customized questions on issues specific to your riding/community/region.
• When you send the form, remember to send an invitation to fill out the form using a responder link, not the admin link to the form itself.
Post the results online, and LET SUSTAIN KNOW, so we can link to your site. (Email Rosie at networks@sustainontario.com).
• Don’t have capacity to get a Google Form set up?
• Or put the results of the survey online?
• Contact Rosie at networks@sustainontario.com for assistance.
Call your MPP candidates to share your ideas verbally. Find your MPP candidates.
Go directly to your MPP candidates’ local offices to meet with them in person and ask them to fill in the survey.

Sample Letter to MPP Candidates

Dear (Name of candidate)(Your group/organization) is working with a network of organizations coordinated by Sustain to advance policies that will improve Ontario’s food system. The policy recommendations below have been developed through a participatory process over the past 4 months engaging over 90+ organizations across Ontario.I am reaching out to share a summary of these policy recommendations and to ask you to FILL IN THIS SHORT SURVEY (insert link) so that we can promote your support for a strong Ontario food system that supports the health and wellbeing of all people, including here in (your community).These are identified priorities:

Strengthen Ontario’s food resources so we can Buy Local!
Support New Entrants in farming, fishing and harvesting, and Protect Foodland
Reduce poverty, improve working conditions and ensure affordable housing to increase food security
Prioritize Indigenous Food Sovereignty
Invest in Community-based School Food and Education Programs
Ensure Communities can Grow and Harvest our Own Food
Shift Wasted Food to become an Asset for Ontario

And in our region, we are also wanting to see:

(Add any specific, important, community-specific areas here, and in the survey).

If you’d like to discuss these policies, please contact us at: (insert local contact name and email, phone number).

Thank you,

(Your name(s)

(Your Organization(s)/group(s))

(A bit about your organization(s))

In partnership with Sustain:
Sustain is a cross-sectoral alliance of organizations working across Ontario and Indigenous Territories that collaborate towards productive, equitable and sustainable food and farming systems that support the health and wellbeing of all people through collaborative action.

Proposed Survey Questions to MPP Candidates
(Please use these and add your own.)

Congratulations on your candidacy as a Member of Provincial Parliament in this Election.

We would like to help promote what you stand for on this critical election issue of food!

Complete the survey questions below by (insert date) and we will post your answers on our website (insert link) and on Sustain’s website.
Broad networks will be sharing your responses (newsletters, blogs, and social media), in an effort to promote what you stand for on this important election topic.

If elected I will:

Invest in local food infrastructure to build robust, resilient local food systems.
Guarantee public sector purchasing of local food and farm products.
Amend provincial land-use policy to ensure long-term foodland protection.
Support training and long-term access to farmland for Ontario’s new entrants to farming.
Align Ontario Works rates with the cost of living and index them to inflation.
Advocate for Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI) to provide stable financial support for all people in Ontario.
End tied work permits for migrant farm and food workers and provide healthcare access regardless of permit status.
Bring provincial policies in alignment with Indigenous treaty rights.
Ensure Meaningful Indigenous Representation and Ensure a sufficient Indigenous Affairs Budget.
Stop the use of Glyphosate in Forestry to protect moose habitat.
Commit to supporting an increased community-based investment in Ontario’s school food programs.
Invest in facilities and equipment required to support food preparation and gardens in schools to support hands-on youth food literacy.
Include food production in provincial emergency preparedness plans and integrate it significantly into public infrastructure designs.
Update and Enact Ontario’s Food And Organic Waste Policy (2018) and add accountability measures.

(Suggested format for each of the questions above:)

Yes

Text Box for candidate to add comments