Volume 20, Number 3
Spring, 2000
Doug
Burn, Editor
A
Day in the Country
Stand
Up to the Health Fascists
Post
This on Your Fridge, Upcoming Events
Leader's
Report
–
Sam Apelbaum
Chairman's
Report
–
George Dance
ISIL's
20th Anniversary World Libertarian Conference
Help
Revive the Libertarian Party of Canada
Operation
Politically Homeless
- Kimberly
Crawley
Treasurer's
Report - Jim
McIntosh
A
Day in the Country
Call now to reserve your place
in the sun at our annual Libertarian Barbecue.
When:
Sunday May 7-- 1:00 to 3:30
PM
Where:
16812 Humber Station Road, Caledon East
How Much:
$15 per person (if you order now)
Why:
Spring has Rites too
Tickets:
(416) 651-8378 - Nunzio Venuto
This is a rain or shine event
in the bucolic environs of the Caledon Hills on the estate of our esteemed and
gracious host Garret Pittenger. Enjoy row boating on Garret's pond (don't
forget life jackets) and swimming too if you're brave enough. Hike the walking
trails or, if you're less ambitious, walk the hiking trails. Bring a lawn
chair and soak up some rays. And, bring an appetite for the big barbecue. Your
$15 pays for an all-you-can-eat feast of hot dogs and hamburgers and soft
drinks. Garret's place is just an hour from downtown Toronto.
First, go to the intersection
of Highways 7 and 407 and head west on 7 until you get to Highway 50. Turn
right and go north through Bolton, keep going under and beyond the railway
tracks, and turn west (left) on Patterson Road (if you miss the turn-off
you'll end up in Palgrave where an old man on a rocking chair will ask 'Where
you heading in such a damn hurry'). Okay, you're heading west on Patterson
Road and after passing one intersection you turn south on the next one called
Humber Station Road. The place you're looking for is the second house on the
west side (on the right) and just to be sure, look for the number 16812 on
both the gate and the white mailbox. Now you've earned your orienteering merit
badge and a refreshing beverage. Oops, got lost? Call Garrett at (905)
880-4848 for better directions. Call now and let us know you're coming so we
can order enough brewskies, burgers and dogs. If you're not yet 100% sure but
think you might be coming, call anyway. Then, we'll call back to confirm
before we go out grocery shopping.
Stand
Up to the Health Fascists
Dinner
Meeting - Thursday April 13, 7:00 pm
Had enough of the nanny state?
Looking for a better comeback than 'Piss off' when the health fascists tell
you 'It's for your own good?' Come
on down to the China Buffet King (4141 Dixie Road in Rockwood Mall, see map)
for our April dinner meeting and hear Dr. John C. Luik tell it like it is. Dr
Luik, a Rhodes Scholar and philosophy professor, is a frequent media
commentator, conference speaker and the author of, "The
Assault on Pleasure: Health Promotion and Engineering the Human Soul",
"Smokescreen: Passive Smoking and
Public Policy", and "I
Can't Help Myself: Addiction as Ideology" as well as others. His
topic April 13 is 'Health Paternalism,' Dr. Luik says he's looking forward to
the meeting and your questions. Let's show our appreciation and turn out en
masse. Here's an excellent opportunity to introduce your friends to
libertarian ideas. Dr. Luik will no doubt succeed where others have failed in
convincing Canadians of the dangers of paternalism. Hate to sound like a
telethon shill but we really need you to call or e-mail TODAY and let us know
you're coming. We want the people at the China Buffet King to know we're
valued customers. Tickets are $20
at the door and that includes an all-you-can eat buffet, the camaraderie of
free thinkers and a quickie course on how to disarm the health fascists.
Post
This On Your Fridge
In our last issue, we provided
the dates for our upcoming dinner meetings, the barbecue and the Christmas
party but you've probably lost the list and there are new dates to add, so cut
this out and post it on your bulletin board. Libertarian Party Events
April 13
Dinner Meeting
April 30
Executive Meeting
May 7
Barbecue
May 21-22
LPC Convention
Late May
Summer Bulletin
June 8 Dinner
Meeting
July 23-28
ISIL Conference
September 14
Dinner Meeting
Mid-September
Fall Bulletin
October 12 Dinner
Meeting
October 21
Annual General Meeting
November 9 Dinner
Meeting
Early December
Winter Bulletin
December 14
Christmas Party
Leader's
Report – Sam
Apelbaum
Provincial politics currently
lie dormant for the dominant political parties as they exist only for the
purpose of getting and keeping power and there won't be another election for a
few years. By contrast, what happens between elections is more significant for
our party. Elections are simply one measure of our progress on our journey
toward a new order. In this new
libertarian order, human energy will be free to channel itself into endeavours
which greatly accelerate progress and work for the betterment of humanity
and the success of future generations. Lives will no longer be devoted to
becoming the government, convincing the government, cajoling the government,
getting money or favours from the government, obeying the government,
avoiding the government, fending off the government, paying the government,
and so on. Our purpose is to
educate the public as broadly as possible about the natural and proper role
for government so that change can occur. To do this effectively we need to attract ever more
supporters who are prepared to donate time and money to further our common
cause. Here are some of the steps we are taking in this regard. We are cultivating relationships with the media and are
looking to create newsworthy events for them because media recognition is
essential. The party is also
looking for speaking engagements to address groups and organizations.
If you have contacts or skills which
can help us implement these plans, let us know.
Our platform is currently a work in progress on our web site (www.libertarian.on.ca) We want to develop a
policy book and platform before the next election. Since libertarians are in agreement about our fundamental
principles, we only need to fill in the details for politically implementing
libertarianism. Your party
executive doesn't claim to have superior abilities in devising the plans.
In fact, since your ideas may be better than ours, we invite you to
help create our party platform within the following parameters:
1.
Propose
ideas for transition. If we were
to win an election tomorrow, certain things could and should be done instantly
while other things would need to occur over time.
2.
Your
policy proposal can be any length but please provide a condensed version of no
more than 250 words for publication in the policy book.
If your submission is accepted, the party will make your more detailed
explanation available on request.
3.
The
executive will make the final decision about including or excluding any policy
proposal from the party platform. The
policy proposal will be attributed to its author when it is published.
4.
By
making your submission you are certifying that it represents your original
composition created by you and you assign all copyright to the Ontario
Libertarian Party. You agree that
the Party shall have the right to publish and reproduce your submission in any
form of communication whatsoever and shall, at its sole discretion, have the
further right to make reasonable editing changes.
5.
We
prefer that submissions be e-mailed to
but
you can mail it to Ontario Libertarian Party, 4599 Kingston Road, Suite 202,
Scarborough, Ontario M1E 2P3. We
need to know who you are. No
anonymous submissions will be accepted. Please
provide your name, home address, home and work telephone and fax numbers and
e-mail address. We are pleased to be able to
offer you this opportunity to contribute to our common purpose and
look forward to hear from you.
Chairman's
Report –
George Dance
This issue contains notice of
two bylaw amendments that will be proposed at the Ontario Libertarian Party's
next executive meeting. Their adoption would give us two basic tenets: a
'Mission' and a 'Motto'. Both
mission and motto are 'image' statements. They reflect the fact that a clear,
fixed, attractive image or presence is crucial to our success. Before Ontario
voters will consider us, they need to know our party and message and relate
positively to both. While we offer a consistent and positive alternative to a
discredited system, we have not capitalized on it. In fact, we have next to no
image. It is doubtful that most voters know anything at all about us. These
image statements address the question: 'What do we want them to know?
The motto is a signature slogan such as 'Just Do It', or 'Built for
Drivers' and the countless others that companies pay ad agencies megabucks to
create and promote. As with them, our aim it to have consumers-- in our case,
every Ontario voter -- know our motto. The
mission is a more detailed statement of fundamental beliefs and goals. Fry and
Kitting (2000) offer a good definition: 'A firm's mission communicates its
basic identity and purpose.' Our aim would be to have everyone interested in
our party know our mission statement. The
mission and motto must meet these criteria:
·
a
principled, unambiguous and accurate statement of what our party stands for
·
a
positive message appealing to unbiased readers, listeners and viewers
·
stated in
plain English and clear and accessible to everyone
·
brief
enough that anyone can grasp the message in a few seconds
The proposed mission and motto
met all the criteria. The proposed mission statement is, "The
mission of the Ontario Libertarian party is to have individual liberty
recognized, respected and protected in Ontario." The
proposed motto is: "Ontario's Party of Choice"
The success of a mission and motto depends upon their
constant promotion. It is vital that we employ both statements over and over
again, at every opportunity. The image will not just develop itself. It is
equally important that the image remain constant, hence the need for new
Bylaws, which would give both statements a more permanent and more official
character. A Bylaw may be adopted
by a three-quarters vote of the Executive, subject to ratification at the next
Annual General Meeting. Immediate Executive approval fits in best with our
needs. For example, we urgently need new letterhead so it only makes sense to
resolve the question of putting the motto and/or mission on our letterhead
now. Party Leader Sam Apelbaum
made an excellent suggestion at our last executive meeting to incorporate our
motto into our logo. While everyone liked and supported the proposed mission
and motto, approval was deferred so that they could be circulated at our
February dinner meeting where they were uniformly supported. This notice is meant to involve you in the process. I hope
you are as pleased as I am with the final products and recognize their value
as a true reflection of the party that you believe in and want to share.