Toolkit for Action
1 – What the heritage sector is asking for in Budget 2019
On August 3, 2018, the National Trust and its partner organizations made a submission recommending federal funding for historic places in Budget 2019.
You can express support for this new funding in budget 2019 in 2 ways:
- a) by helping to obtain thousands of signatures on the e-petition; and
- b) by ensuring that every federal MP is asked to support this submission.
Key reading to prepare for a meeting with your MP:
- Federal budget submission 2019
- ENVI Report – Preserving Canada’s Heritage: The Foundation for Tomorrow
2 – Meeting with Your MP
- Find Your MP’s contact information
- When Your MP will be in their Riding – Parliamentary Sitting Calendar
- Letter to MP (Template) – Introducing Issue and Requesting a Meeting
- Tips for Meeting with Your MP
- Presentation Deck for Your MP Meeting
3 – Communications Tools
Twitter is a powerful social media platform that makes disseminating political advocacy messages easy – and facilitates reaching influencers such as journalists, politicians, and advocacy groups. Paired with relevant hashtags and strategic mentions, your tweets can be effective and help incite change.
- Sample tweets for Twitter that you can use verbatim or as inspiration:
- Another example of an endangered historic place that needs federal funding in #Budget2019: the Black Horse Pub in #Peterborough #Ontario. @ec_minister @Bill_Morneau @jwaldag @_DebSchulte @nationaltrustca #cdnheritage #cdnpoli #changethegame4heritage
- The demolition of [this] is indicative of the threats to Canada’s historic places. It speaks volumes about the need for fed leadership and funding for historic places in #Budget2019 @ec_minister @Bill_Morneau @jwaldag #changethegame4heritage
- Canada’s action on #climatechange must incentivize reuse of old buildings like [this], with federal funding in #Budget2019. It takes 10-80 yrs for a new ‘green’ building to make up for the negative climate change impacts of its construction. @ec_minister @Bill_Morneau @jwa #changethegame4heritage
- Relevant hashtags to use (character space permitting):
- Relevant accounts to mention:
- @ec_minister – Canadian Minister of Environment & Climate Change, the Honourable Catherine McKenna
- @Bill_Morneau – Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre and Canada’s Minister of Finance, the Honourable Bill Morneau
- @nationaltrustca – National Trust for Canada
- @jwaldag – Member of Parliament for Cloverdale – Langley City, John Aldag
- @_DebSchulte – Member of Paliament for King – Vaughan, Chair of the House Standing Committee on the Environment & Sustainable Development
- Your MP
Op-eds
Op-eds can be very powerful – they’re opinion pieces you can submit to a newspaper.
- Write about your opinion to a local paper, using local examples to support your arguments.
- Natalie Bull, Executive Director for the National Trust for Canada wrote an op-ed in the Hamilton Spectator and used Gore Park, a Hamilton historic place, as an example to enforce the need for tax credits for historic places. Read it here.
4 – Support from the National Trust / Invitation to Connect
You are invited to join this teleconference with a pan-Canadian working group of leaders and champions to keep the conversation going on federal action for historic places.
- Bi-weekly teleconference call information
- July 24, August 7, 21, September 4, 18, October 2
- Every second Tuesday at 2 p.m. EDT, 30 min max
- Toll Free Number: 1-866-999-9779
- Participant’s Code: 469414
- National Trust contact information
- Chris Wiebe
Manager, Heritage Policy & Government Relations
National Trust for Canada
T 613-237-1066 ext. 227
cwiebe@nationaltrustcanada.ca
- Chris Wiebe
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Additonal Context
- Minister McKenna’s Press Release Response
- Heritage Sector Response to ENVI report
- Overview of Heritage Conservation in Canada – National Trust at ENVI
- Liberal Election 2015 Response
- Evidence at ENVI Committee
- Bill C-323
- Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) Cost Estimate of C-323
- National Trust Financial Incentives Report (2014)
- Commercial Heritage Properties Incentive Fund (CHPIF) Impact Study (2010)
