From: brewnoser2@gmail.com   
      
   Ottawa Citizen - September 8, 2015   
      
   Group mobilizing in swing ridings in bid to oust Conservatives   
      
   An organization created before the 2011 federal election by a group of young   
   Canadians disillusioned by the Conservative government's environmental   
   policies is ramping up a social media campaign in an effort to prevent vote   
   splitting in swing    
   Conservative ridings.   
      
   The Vote Together campaign by Leadnow.ca is essentially an Anybody But   
   Conservative movement.   
      
   Leadnow began among a group of young environmentalists who emerged   
   disenchanted from the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen   
   in 2009.   
      
   The organization says its three pillars are a strong democracy, a fair economy   
   and a clean environment.   
      
   "In the 2008 election, the majority of Canadians voted for parties in favour   
   of climate actions but because of our voting system we got a minority   
   government that was opposed to it," said Lead Now campaigns director Jamie   
   Biggar.   
      
   "Then we had the Copenhagen conference and the experience of watching that   
   same government do everything it could to undermine a global political   
   agreement on climate change," he added.   
      
   "Coming out of that experience, we realized that we weren't going to get   
   progress on climate change without connecting those three issues."   
      
   Biggar says his group's mailing list has increased from 5,000 in the run-up to   
   the 2011 election to more than 450,000 - much of the growth resulting from its   
   campaigns against what it considers Conservative "anti-democratic" omnibus   
   bills.   
      
   Three quarters of the group's funding -- it spent $1,126,000 in 2014 -- comes   
   from individuals, including 2,000 monthly donations of $50 or less that Biggar   
   describes as its financial "bedrock."   
      
   The group does not accept money from political parties, he said.   
      
   Under Canada's election law, Vote Together is obliged to provide Elections   
   Canada with a full financial report after the Oct. 19 vote.   
      
   Key to the anti-vote splitting campaign is a website tool through which voters   
   can input their postal codes for a "state of play" in their ridings.   
      
   If a riding is considered safely Conservative, NDP or Liberal, potential   
   activists are directed to the nearest swing riding and encouraged to join a   
   door-to-door or telephone campaign.   
      
   The group will also launch a crowdsourced fundraising drive to pay for polling   
   in select, tighter ridings.   
      
   "We are asking people to vote according to their values," said Biggar, "but   
   telling them that a split in the vote between opposition parties could easily   
   allow the Conservatives to win. It's in those swing ridings where the election   
   will be decided."   
      
   Biggar says Vote Together has identified about 70 Conservative swing ridings,   
   including Orléans and Ottawa West-Nepean, but adds that the group's resources   
   are such that they currently have teams on the ground in a dozen.   
      
   The early election call by Conservative leader Stephen Harper has all parties   
   campaigning full force but Biggar says his group has plenty of time to   
   mobilize teams in all its targeted ridings.   
      
   "In Internet time, it's a million years," he said.   
   Target ridings   
      
   Ridings that Vote Together has identified as "vulnerable" to Opposition vote   
   splitting based on previous election results:   
      
   Newfoundland: Avalon, Labrador   
      
   Prince Edward Island: Malpeque   
      
   Nova Scotia: Kings-Hants, South Shore-St. Margarets, Sydney-Victoria, West Nova   
      
   New Brunswick: Madawaska-Restigouche, Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe   
      
   Quebec: Bellechasse-Les Etchemins-Lévis, Lac-Saint-Jean, Lévis-Lotbinière,   
   Louis-Saint-Laurent, Montmagny-L'Islet-Kamouraska-Rivière-du-Loup   
      
   Ontario: Ajax, Brampton South, Brampton West, Don Valley East, Don Valley   
   North, Don Valley West, Eglinton-Lawrence, Essex, Etobicoke Centre,   
   Etobicoke-Lakeshore, Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas, Kitchener Centre, London   
   North Centre, Markham-Thornhill,    
   Markham-Unionville, Mississauga Centre, Mississauga East-Cooksville,   
   Mississauga-Erin Mills, Mississauga-Lakeshore, Mississauga-Malton,   
   Mississauga-Streetsville, Niagara Centre, Nipissing-Timiskaming, Oshawa,   
   Ottawa West-Nepean, Orléans, Pickering-   
   Uxbridge, Richmond Hill, Sault Ste. Marie, Scarborough Centre, Scarborough   
   North, Scarborough Southwest, Scarborough-Guildwood, Scarborough-Rouge Park,   
   Waterloo, Willowdale   
      
   Manitoba: Elmwood-Transcona, Winnipeg South Centre   
      
   Saskatchewan: Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River, Regina-Lewvan,   
   Regina-Qu'Appelle, Saskatoon-Grasswood, Saskatoon-University   
      
   British Columbia: Burnaby North-Seymour, Burnaby South, Courtenay-Alberni,   
   Cowichan-Malahat-Langford, Fleetwood-Port Kells, Kootenay-Columbia,   
   Nanaimo-Ladysmith, Port Moody-Coquitlam, Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke, South   
   Okanagan-West Kootenay, Surrey Centre,    
   Vancouver Granville, North Island-Powell River, Vancouver South   
      
   Yukon: Yukon   
   __________________________   
      
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