Volume 20, Number 2 Winter, 1999
Doug Burn, Editor
February 10 Launch for Dinner Meetings
Leader's Report – Sam Apelbaum
Chairman's Report – George Dance
Treasurer's Report Jim McIntosh
The November 6 convention attracted new members to the party and the executive and galvanized the membership for an ambitious agenda in 2000.
Members and guests were impressed by the presentations of our three featured speakers, professors Jan Narveson and Glenn Fox and National Post columnist and author Jonathan Chevreau.
The day long event at Triumph Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel in Toronto also featured a presentation by Mary Lou Gutscher, organizer of the ISIL World Conference to be held in London, Ontario July 23 to 28. Party members were so taken by Gutscher and her plans that half a dozen are now working with her as convention volunteers.
Veterans of past conventions noted this mood of renewed energy enthusiasm. This was most in evidence during the election of officers to the executive. All of the vacancies on the executive were filled for the first time in five years and several of the positions were contested by three or more candidates.
See our Convention Coverage for more details.
New Executive Combines
Energy, Experience
The 1999 Convention elected a full slate of officers to the party executive for the first time in five years. The new executive combines the continuity of re-elected party leader Sam Apelbaum, chairman George Dance, treasurer Jim McIntosh, recording secretary Nunzio Venuto and member at large Dr. Paddy McQuade with the fresh insights of our new vice chairman Craig Leroux, secretary Kimberly Crawley, campaign manager Gord Martin and member at large John Shaw. The executive also gains the experience and wisdom of long time party member and candidate Kaye Sargent who was elected deputy leader.
The elections were also remarkable because many of the positions on the executive were contested by three or more candidates.
This is truly a diverse group of individuals. Leroux is a well organized and articulate university student majoring in business administration. Crawley is an enthusiastic high school student committed to spreading the libertarian message. Both Leroux and Crawley joined the party this year. Gord Martin and John Shaw are businessmen. Martin owns a manufacturing company in Mississauga and Shaw is a manager for a computer company in Richmond Hill.
Leroux, Crawley and Martin are keen to "learn the ropes" and ready to contribute in anyway they can. Leroux wants to get involved in fund raising, media relations and research. Crawley hopes to help out with the party web site. Martin plans to acquaint himself with the party's previous election campaigns before proposing new initiatives.
Plan to attend our ambitious schedule of social events for 2000. There will be eight dinner events and a barbecue over the next 12 months. The dinners will feature guest speakers and/or panel discussions on libertarian issues. Here's a wonderful opportunity to meet people that share your ideas and to introduce your friends to the party.
The dinners will be held the second Thursday of each month from February through December with the exception of July and August. Aside from the barbecue in May, all the social events will be held from 7:00 'til 9:30 PM at the China Buffet King in Mississauga. The $20 tickets cover the costs of the all you can eat Chinese food buffet. The restaurant offers a cash bar.
Brainstorming is the focus of the February 10 dinner. Party members and guests are invited to share their ideas for change. Party chairman George Dance (see Chairman's Report) encourages all party members and their guests to attend and welcomes your immediate input via e mail or snail mail. Dance and party leader Sam Apelbaum will panel the discussion.
Call or e mail today to book your ticket for the February 10 brainstorming session.
Get out your DayTimer and book the following dates:
February 10 dinner
March 9 dinner
April 13 dinner
May 7 barbecue
June 8 dinner
September 14 dinner
October 12 dinner
November 9 dinner
December 14 dinner (tentative)
The new executive has ambitious plans for 2000. The twice a year dinner meetings will become a monthly event. The "Foundation" brochure discussed last Spring and postponed for lack of funds is re emerging as an executive driven project. Our uninspiring web site is being updated and expanded. Plans are afoot to garner more media attention for libertarian ideas and the party.
These are not pie in the sky ideas. We now have the volunteers and the budget to turn these plans into reality. In all, there are 16 elected officers on our executive and the ethics committee. Our budget surplus is better than it has been in years (See Treasurer's Report). But, more important than the numbers are the intangibles. The new executive is energized to make a fresh start for 2000.
Party vice chairman Craig Leroux and his friend Graham Hearn, our candidate in Algoma Manitoulin volunteered to draft a new "foundation brochure" that will summarize and explain the party's principles and policies. Last Spring the executive sought funding to engage the services of a professional media consulting firm to undertake this project but the initiative was postponed when the provincial election was called and funding fell short of expectations.
The foundation brochure will serve many functions: as an introduction to the party for web site visitors, as background information for the media, and as a tool for recruiting new party members and donors. It will become the principle document in our standard inquiry package along with the "welcome letter" from party leader Sam Apelbaum, and a copy of the current Bulletin.
Member at large John Shaw is currently updating the Ontario Libertarian party web site. If you haven't visited the site lately do so now. You'll find a listing of the new executive including phone numbers, pictures from the convention, links to other libertarian sites as well as current and back issues of the Bulletin. The executive will introduce a moderated discussion list in the near future. Web site visitors will be able to post questions and comments. A member of the executive will moderate the list and respond to the posted comments. Shaw is currently working with web site experts within the party to upgrade the graphics. Visit the site at www.libertarian.on.ca today
Today, almost any donation to a charitable or political organization earns the donor an incentive. Until now, whether a libertarian contributed $10 or $1,000 to the party all he or she received was a subscription to the Bulletin. The executive is now discussing the introduction of incentives such as membership cards, libertarian books and merchandise bearing the party logo.
A wallet size membership card seems to be a sure thing. There was general agreement to consider buttons, bumper stickers, coffee mugs etcetera for larger donations. The executive invites your suggestions and comments.
Dinner meetings, barbecues and other social events are a high priority for the new executive. The renewed emphasis reflects the growing role of our web site in member recruitment.
'High tech high touch' is the way of the future. As we increasingly encounter new ideas and new people through the Internet and other technologies, there is a greater need than ever before to meet people face to face.
Ideally, the dinners and barbecues should draw new members and donors to the party but, at a minimum, the events will provide occasions for new party members to get involved. The new schedule of monthly events will ensure that the party can engage the natural enthusiasm and commitment of new members before they wane.
Executive initiatives promise a fresh start for the party in the new Millennium.
At our November 6 leadership convention, I was granted the privilege of once again leading the Ontario Libertarian Party for the next three years. For those who were not there, I will recap what I consider to be the responsibilities of the party leader.
The leader is the party spokesperson and sets the tone and direction of the party. Most importantly the leader inspires others to contribute their resources to the party. If the leader is busy doing other things, he or she is not a successful leader. If the party develops its own momentum and the leader appears to have become an observer, the leader is doing his/her job.
I set one year targets for party fundraising, membership and executive involvement at our annual general meeting one year ago. The first two targets were not achieved but I am pleased to report that the third has been reached. We have entirely filled our executive and ethics committee positions. Your party is now being led by individuals with backgrounds in business and finance, medicine, journalism, accounting and academia. Though their ages range for 18 to 70, they are all young in their thinking and deeds.
For the first time since I became involved with our party in March, 1994, we had competition for three of the executive position. In particular, the two available member at large positions were contested by five candidates.
As for my own position, I handily defeated the "none of the above" option on the ballot. However, it is clear that this convention past will be the last time I have such an easy time of it. We are definitely beginning to play at a higher level. Potential leaders are emerging within our party. That was my stated goal when I first became party leader in October, 1996.
In December, 1998, we launched a fundraising drive to produce professionally prepared communications materials. We did not raise enough money to proceed with this before the last election, but I think we can do it before the next. In the meantime, we will be working on getting the word out and getting as much free media exposure as we possibly can.
Check out our web site and you will notice recent changes. Thanks to the efforts of new member at large, John Shaw and his team of party members Brian Fothergill, Graham Hearn and Gayle Remisch the site is being updated and revamped. It is hopelessly out of date now and not very useful for either informing the public about libertarianism or attracting new members. We will, however, soon have an excellent web site which will help us grow our party.
I am very excited about our prospects. Our work of the past three years is beginning to bear fruit. Over the next three years I will continue working to develop and transform the party into an organization that is an effective voice for libertarian ideas. As always, our success depends on your continuing support. If you have previously supported us with your time and money, I wish to thank you.
Special thanks to outgoing executive members Doug Burn, Rick Darwin, Maureen Dance and John Genser, for all they have done for our party in the past. Doug continues as bulletin editor and Maureen now serves on the ethics committee.
For those or you who have been spectators up to now, I urge you to join us in taking action to help create the best possible future for everyone. You have to play if you want to win and this is a great time to start playing.
The end of a year is the traditional time to take stock of our lives; the time for reflection on our life plans and goals, and where we stand in fulfilling them; for a hard look at both our successes and achievements, and our disappointments and shortcomings; for celebrating the first, and resolving to change the second.
For a couple of reasons, this year end is an ideal time for such a stock taking in the Ontario Libertarian Party. First, it brings us not just another new year, but the much hyped Y2K and the dawn of a new millennium. (Sure, the millennium really begins in 2001; but 2000 is the big event, when all the numbers roll over.) Second, the year just ending contained our Party's 25th anniversary.
For any volunteer organization to exist for 25 years is no mean achievement; considering our small size and low profile, it is indeed one to celebrate. But those last considerations remind us, too, of our biggest disappointment: that our size, profile, and other indicators (cash flow, candidate count, vote totals) are not much different from those of 1974. Put bluntly, we have made precious little progress in the past 25 years.
It seems clear that major changes are needed. It is far less clear what those changes should be. Is there something, or a number of things, wrong with what we are doing? Or something right that we are not doing, or not doing enough of? Or are we doing all the right things, but not in the right way?
I would like to see those questions answered. I would like to see Y2K devoted to finding the answers; that will be my top Party priority for the year, using whatever resources I command and welcoming all the help I receive.
The logical first step is a brainstorming session on the question: What can and must the Party do to succeed? In brainstorming, the object is to generate as many ideas as possible. All input is welcomed original thinking is encouraged no ideas are criticized or dismissed as impractical or impossible. The only truly impractical and impossible ideas are those never thought or heard of.
I welcome your participation in the process: You may be the key to its ultimate success. Please take the time between now and year end to write down your thoughts, ideas, and plans around this matter. Then send them to me in the return envelope enclosed with this mailing. Write "ATTENTION: Chairman" on the envelope, to ensure that I personally receive it. I cannot reply to every letter, but I promise to read and study them all.
Of course I would be remiss in my Chairmanly duties if I did not also encourage you to enclose a donation. The Party's continued existence, not to mention its prospects of success, depends on your support. Year end is the best time to donate, with the shortest waiting time to receive your provincial tax credit of up to 75% (which reduces the cost of a $300 annual contribution, for example, to just $75.)
If, though, you cannot afford to give anything even the $10 that keeps you on our list for a year do not let poverty bar you from helping at all. Contribute your thoughts, plans, and ideas. If you can help further by volunteering to make those plans and ideas a reality, let me know that as well. This is your Party as well as mine; there are no limits, other than self imposed ones, on what we can accomplish within it.
National Post columnist Jonathan Chevreau kicked off the Convention with a presentation on Ayn Rand that moved on to a discussion of tax rage among middle class Canadians.
Chevreau, an author of six books on mutual funds, and a regular investment columnist for the Post is widely credited as leader of the paper's Tax Rage campaign. The campaign has been lauded by Canada's "net taxpayers" and vilified by reactionaries of the right and left.
The tax rage campaign began with Chevreau's commentary on Ottawa's February budget and grew into a 12 page Tax Report supplement in the April 15 edition of the National Post . His latest book "The Wealthy Boomer" provided the genesis for a new magazine of the same name that was launched in October and featured a cover story on Tax Rage by Claire Hoy.
Chevreau, quoting from Canadian actuary Malcolm Hamilton, likened middle class taxpayers to "the crew on the Canadian pleasure cruise." He doesn't endorse a tax "revolt" but suggests that the crew may abandon ship or mutiny if the government fails to cut taxes significantly.
Chevreau agrees with James Davidson and Lord William Rees Mogg (The Sovereign Individual) that the welfare state is doomed because Internet enabled global entrepreneurs will, in future, negotiate a tax rate in return for agreed upon services. "In short," says Chevreau, "future governments will compete for the right to serve taxpayers. Citizens will demand value for their tax dollar, a concept quite alien to Canadian Liberal politicians."
He notes that a recent issue of Rees Mogg's newsletter, Strategic Investment, has a lead story on the Libertarian Revolution. Rees Mogg wrote that the cybernetic revolution "which is still in the Model T Ford stage of its impact, will totally change the world in the next century. It will be a libertarian revolution, in which the coercive power of governments will decline."
Chevreau, quoting James Davidson's 'the ruthless arithmetic of democracy' acknowledges that wealthy boomers are greatly outnumbered by the many Liberal voters who hope to be bribed with our money." The net taxpayers are nonetheless a significant minority. Chevreau says, "Many of them may, without knowing it, be potential members of the Libertarian Party. If they took the quiz on your web site, they may be able to discover this."
Chevreau closed his presentation with the comment, "I really think that in the 20th century, you [libertarians] were ahead of your time. So welcome to the 21st century, where I hope you will meet your collective destiny."
Professor Jan Narveson followed up Chevreau's remarks with a presentation on the role of government and what libertarians can do to roll back the growing power of the Nanny State.
The professor of philosophy and author of many books about personal freedom began by asking 'What is government?' and noted that various groups hold differing views. Cynics, for example, believe that elected officials put their interests ahead of the public's and liberals believe that government promotes our good according to us.
Narveson noted the evolution of government from its past as paternalistic father figure to the matriarch of today's nanny state. Governments today think that citizens lack sufficient knowledge in many areas, for example the environment, health care and education, to make informed decisions; therefore, government makes them for us.
As the role of the Nanny State expands, government must further limit the power of individuals to control their economic and personal lives. Narveson said, "Government is inherently allergic to personal liberties." He notes that if Canadians had 'real property rights' government could not operate the way it does.
Narveson urged libertarians to set up libertarian think tanks to do the research necessary to justify free market policies and then present the results to the general population in the form of sound bites.
Economics professor Glenn Fox addressed the issue "What every politically aware Canadian should know about economics." Fox based his remarks on his many years of teaching economics to university students. Fox, by the way, is a leading authority on natural resource economics, property rights, and the philosophy of science.
He began his presentation by saying, "What most students know about economics is wrong," and explained that his objective is to challenge these widely held economic certainties and create doubt. Fox said half in jest, "I want the students to know less about economics at the end of the course than when they started."
Fox noted a number of popular misconceptions about economics. He explained that economics is not about money and getting rich but rather the study of how individuals and nations achieve well being. Perfect competition is a useful theory for economic analysis but it does not exist in reality. And contrary to all the media stories about cutbacks, government has been the greatest growth industry of the 20th century.
The public portion of the convention wrapped up early Saturday afternoon to make way for the 1999 annual general meeting of the Libertarian Party of Ontario. Twenty three party members voted in the election of officers to the executive and the ethics committee. All 10 positions on the executive were up for election and one half (3) of those on the six person ethics committee.
Many of the positions were contested by two or more candidates and for the first time in five years, all of the executive positions were filled. The following individuals were elected or re elected to the executive committee and ethics committee.
Leader: Sam Apelbaum, Scarborough*
Deputy leader: Kaye Sargent, Innerkip
Chairman: George Dance, Scarborough*
Vice Chairman: Craig Leroux, Espanola
Secretary: Kimberly Crawley, Mississauga
Recording Secretary: Nunzio Venuto, Toronto*
Campaign Manager: Gord Martin, Mississauga
Treasurer: Jim McIntosh, Scarborough*
Members at Large: Dr. Patrick McQuade, Stratford*
John Shaw, Newmarket
Ethics Committee: Jean Serge Brisson, Embrun**
Maureen Dance, Scarborough*
Barbara Darwin, Mississauga**
Richard Kinsman, Weston**
Dr. Jurij Luciw, Etobicoke
Robert Shapton, Caledon
* Re elected ** Not up for election
The following report compares our income and expenses for this year up to the end of November with the totals for all of last year.
|
|
1998 |
|
99/01 99/11 |
||
|
INCOME |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Contributions: |
14,444.00 |
|
8,382.00
|
|
|
|
Goods & Service |
4,385.09
|
|
2,800.00
|
|
|
|
Fundraising Activities |
180.00 |
|
240.00 |
|
|
|
Membership Fees |
55.00 |
|
20.00 |
|
|
|
Other Income |
95.00 |
|
71.71 |
|
|
|
Transfers Received |
182.60 |
|
76.96 |
|
|
|
TOTAL INCOME |
19,341.69 |
|
11,590.67 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
EXPENSES |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Accounting & Audit |
6,800.00
|
|
2,800.00
|
|
|
|
Bank Charges |
154.38 |
|
151.55 |
|
|
|
Brochures, Newsletter |
2,525.12
|
|
1,074.10
|
|
|
|
Nomination Expenses |
|
|
600.00 |
|
|
|
Fund Raising Expenses |
661.00 |
|
252.22 |
|
|
|
Meetings Hosted |
282.71 |
|
1,600.24
|
|
|
|
Office
Rent |
1,284.00
|
|
1,284.00
|
|
|
|
Office Supplies |
359.02 |
|
733.62 |
|
|
|
Postage & Courier |
1,222.53
|
|
894.75 |
|
|
|
Professional Fees |
4,109.25
|
|
3,980.40
|
|
|
|
Telephone |
919.49 |
|
772.25 |
|
|
|
Transfers Paid Out |
81.36 |
|
|
|
|
|
Travel Expenses |
391.40 |
|
90.00 |
|
|
|
TOTAL EXPENSES |
18,790.26 |
|
14,233.13 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Surplus (Deficit) |
551.43 |
|
(2,642.46) |
|
|
|
Plus Bank Balance Jan 1 |
7,468.46 |
|
10,569.95 |
|
|
|
To (from) Accts Payable |
2,550.06 |
|
|
|
|
|
Ending Bank Balance |
10,569.95 |
|
7,927.49 |
|
|
The convention expenses, including an invoice that arrived after the report was prepared, were $1,639. We ran a deficit of $419, which is a small price for a super event.
Financial Statements for the Election period (May 4 to September 3, 1999) have been audited and delivered to Elections Ontario. We anticipate speedy approval. The Annual Report for 1999 is due May 31, 2000.
At the first meeting in the new year the Executive will establish a budget for the year. The following "committed" expenses will form the base for the budget.
Audit 2800
Bank Charges 150
Bulletin printing & mailing 2500
Office Rent 1284
Telephone 900
Web
Site and support 4000
Total $11,634
We assume that the dinner meetings and barbecue will pay for themselves.
Official Tax Receipts for donations received (deposited) before and after the Election period will be prepared and mailed by the end of January. Be sure to get your donation in the mail by December 31, 1999.