The first Executive meeting of the Socialist Party of Ontario was held Sunday, June 26 in Toronto. A full set of minutes and a broader overview will be available at a later date. This update will focus on certain key highlights and decisions made.
1) Executive Positions.
Andrew Klochek of Toronto was elected to fill the position of Organizing Coordinator. Michele Farrugia of Peterborough was elected to fill the position of Youth Representative. We welcome them and congratulate them on their election.
It was agreed that the Treasurer, Joey Schwartz, would assume the duties, though not the position, of Membership Secretary (no person may hold two positions on the Executive) until the next Executive meeting.
2) Organizing & Outreach
Several decisions were made in the area of outreach and organizing in the lead up to the fall election.
It was determined that a petition drive would be undertaken to collect the thousand signatures required to register the SPO as an official party. The goal is to complete this by the Policy Assembly at the end of August. If you would like to participate in collecting these signatures, please email us at socialistpartyofontario@hotmail.com
The party will also undertake to have a new website and discussion forum in operation as soon as possible. It has further pledged to make all Executive meetings open to the participation of party and executive members province wide through the internet. This will be done in a secure manner and via preapproved passwords.
An Organizing and Election Planning Committee was struck with Andrew Klochek as Chair. This will work to develop our RAs and CCs, to do outreach to other activist and community groups and to develop election strategy. All committee recommendations will be related back to the Executive for approval. If you are interested in participating, please email Andrew at aklochek@gmail.com
Finally, while the discussion of party colours was tabled for further development, meaning that the SPO will continue with red & black for the immediate future, a new set of three related party symbols were adopted. These will be available for download shortly.
3) Policy Development
Michele Farrugia made presentation to the Executive in the areas of Child Welfare and childhood health strategy. The series of resolutions that he developed were received and will be voted on at the Policy Assembly. They can viewed at www.thegingerproject.org
Policy planks that were tabled at the convention in areas of sex trade workers and Aboriginal/First Nation justice are in continued development with ongoing community consultation.
A committee was struck to develop the party’s tax policy and strategy with Michael Laxer (michaellaxer@hotmail.com) as Chair. A Communications Committee was struck, to develop communications strategy with Jan Maxwell (janhelmaxwell@gmail.com) as Chair. If you are interesting in participating, please email the Chairs.
As always, if you have a policy or platform plank to propose, please email them to socialistpartyofontario@hotmail.ca
4) Next Executive meeting & the Policy Assembly
The next Executive meeting, which will be open to the public as well as to online participation by members of the party, will be held in Toronto Sunday, July 24th. Details will be announced by the end of the week.
Our pre-election Policy Assembly, which will finalize our election platform, will be held in Oshawa at the end of August. Full details, as per the constitution, will be released at least one month in advance.
