A new political movement called Coffee Party of Canada launched today pushing for Canadian governments and big businesses to “operate more honestly, ethically, openly, representatively, efficiently and effectively.”
The Coffee Party says that “if Canadians spent as much time writing politicians about their concerns as they spend lining up to buy coffee, we would have the good, democratic governments and responsible big businesses we want.”
The Coffee Party of Canada is not an equivalent of the republican endorsing Tea Party movement in the States as they will stand up for the ‘good government’. There is also The Coffee Party USA formed in January, 2010; and although today’s issue of Toronto Star mentions that the Coffee Party Canada is not affiliated with the Coffee Party USA, they seem to share the same mission – to encourage all the coffee drinking average Joes to participate in the political process of building the government.
Not to mention the similar logo too!
The Coffee Party of Canada asks:
So please gather a few friends together, make or buy some coffee, and no matter what problem concerns you help make Canadian governments and corporations solve your problem by writing letters, printing out the “I’m Voting for Good Government” sticker, donating and telling everyone you know about CoffeeParty.ca.
Like a lot of other noble ideas in the world, it would be great… if people actually cared. I joked to my colleague “maybe they should start printing political headlines into the Tim Horton’s cup, might be more effective…” I remain cynical not because I don’t believe in the cause, but I don’t think great ideas alone are enough to motivate the Canadians to start caring more for the politics. We haven’t been able to get over 70% in the voter turnout since 1992 (Ontario being the one of the lowest), and the trend has been decreasing scoring the all time low of 58.8% voter turnout in the last 2008 election. So will the impacts of the Coffee Party of Canada bring a breath of fresh air to remind people why they should be more involved? I certainly hope so. But I also know it will require much more than just the creation of a new grassroot movement and saying hey we’re different.
I was doing a community outreach for my MPP candidate nominee couple days ago, and nine out of ten gave me an answer “I don’t know much about politics to care”. Politics can be daunting when you first try to get to know it. And I can completely sympathize with the new immigrants who don’t see the need to make that effort. There are always news, newer news and even more news every hour of the clock. How does one keep up?
I’m hoping to see some active changes from the administrative government so that politics should not be something that people should have to make time for. Politics, after all, is a process to make decisions for everyone’s livelihood and it should not be presented as foreign and alien concept to its people. Instead of people coming to politics and trying to learn it, politics need to find a way to be fitted in everyone’s daily lives. Effortless Politics. For example, if the Coffee Party of Canada is advocating for the coffee drinkers to spend time discussing politics instead of/while their coffee breaks, why not make it something a little more fun and engaging? Like partnering up with Tim Horton’s to host free coffee-and-donut meetings to discuss the current politics? Or sending out a political trivia or challenge on Metro and the winners get free coffee vouchers? I for one, would definitely be more interested if free goodies were involved :-)
All being said, I wish the best of luck to the Coffee Party of Canada. I’ve personally subscribed to their news feed to follow their updates and progress. I hope the movements like these will make a difference in upcoming election(s)!
For more information on The Coffee Party of Canada, visit their page at http://www.dwatch.ca/CoffeeParty.html
At the Crosswalk of East and West 
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January 29, 2011 at 12:50 am
Timothy Cherry
Great blog Angie. I feel One of the reason many Canadians feel disconnected to the political issues is the Canadian media. I feel the media deffenetly has a liberal slant (notice how the media has no issue in describing someone as a right wing conservative but you never hear the media say left wing liberal) and there is a lack of conservative (except talk radio) voices. There is very little difference in the way the political issues are reported or discussed on either CTV or CBC, again with a slant to the left. There is very little political debate in Canadian media. In the US you have the left leaning CNN and MSNBC vs. the right wing FOX News. You can watch a story about a political issue on one station and then get a totally different slant on that same issue when watching another station. That doesn’t happen in Canada, which in turn leads to little debate and that leads to apathy. I also believe that the political media has a way of talking down to the general public and there is no real political voice that the youth of Canada to follow. Look at the US who has The Colbert Report, Bill Maher and John Stewart. In a recent poll John Stewart was voted the most trusted newsperson in the United States. Stewart’s program tackles serious US political issues with a sense of humor, which in turn engages more viewers, especially the youth.
The big question is can it ever change in Canada. There is talk about the “FOX NEWS NORTH” coming and that might be the first step.
January 29, 2011 at 1:19 am
Angie Kim
Thanks Tim! You bring up some really interesting points. I agree that our media is somewhat monopolized — and not only does this present the Canadian youth with limited voices to follow but may be passively ‘brainwashing’ them as well. Being the media expert that you are, I’m sure you experience enough frustration with the industry in that regards. Until the changes come in Canadian media (which I hope it will!), I suppose the best we can do is take everything with a grain of salt and keep a critical eye out.