This spring marks time for Toronto Centre New Democrats to nominate a candidate for the next federal election! In a couple of months, we will gather together as members of the Toronto Centre electoral district association to vote and nominate a federal candidate who will run for Member of Parliament on behalf of the NDP in this riding.
This cycle, we are anticipating a contested nomination. Two individuals (so far) have been approved by the federal party to seek the nomination here in Toronto Centre, and it will be up to the membership to vote on which one to nominate.
Our committee is still working on finalizing some details, but please keep your eyes peeled for an official nomination date and an invitation to the nomination meeting. We expect to have announcements on this in the next few weeks, which will be sent out through one of these email newsletters. In the meantime, you may also start hearing from candidates seeking the nomination, who have been approved to begin campaigning.
If you'd like to vote in the upcoming nomination meeting, you'll need to ensure that your membership is up-to-date for 2024. You can renew your membership online.
If you are uncertain whether your membership is up to date for the current calendar year, feel free to email us at [email protected] so that we can confirm the status of your membership.
Exciting times ahead! We've taken this riding provincially; now it's time to nominate our candidate who will win this riding federally!
Angela Zhu
Chair of the Candidate Search & Nomination Committee
Chip in to support our local organizing
We need your help to keep up our local organizing in Toronto Centre! We've held two days of action so far this year, and our next one is coming up in a few weeks. 100% of any contribution you make today supports our grassroots work to turn Toronto Centre orange in the next federal election – and you get up to 75% back when you file your taxes next year.
Thank you to 2023 Toronto Centre donors!
Last week we sent out tax receipts to Toronto Centre Federal NDP donors from 2023. If you donated to our riding association last year – thank you! If you didn't receive your tax receipt, please contact us to let us know and we'll get it to you shortly.
Additionally, receipts for donations to our provincial riding association or the Ontario NDP were issued from [email protected] earlier in February, and receipts for donations to Canada’s NDP in 2023 were issued from from [email protected]. If you haven't yet received your provincial or federal party tax receipts for 2023, please reach out to them.
Upcoming volunteer opportunities
A huge thank you to everyone who joined our Dental Care Day of Action! There are several volunteer opportunities coming up in the next few weeks we wanted to highlight:
Canvass with Kristyn Wong-Tam
Join Kristyn Wong-Tam for a community canvass this Wednesday, March 13. Meet at 3:15pm in front of the Fresh Co at Sherbourne and Isabella.
Canvass with Jagmeet Singh in Toronto–St. Paul's
There is a forthcoming by-election in Toronto–St. Paul's, which gives us an opportunity to send a New Democrat to Ottawa for that riding to support the work our team is doing to deliver dental care and pharmacare for Canadians.
Join Jagmeet Singh for a special canvass this Saturday, March 16, at 2pm to help get ready ahead of the official start of the by-election.
National Day of Action on Dental Care
On Saturday, April 6, New Democrats across Canada will be knocking on doors to discuss how the NDP is making life easier and more affordable by ensuring everyone can visit the dentist.
Join our team in Toronto Centre to canvass our neighbours about this important work Jagmeet and the NDP caucus is doing in Ottawa.
Applications open for NDP dental care plan
Applications are now open for the Canadian Dental Care Plan, and so far over 1,000,000 seniors have benefitted!
As of March, seniors 70 years of age and older are eligible to apply; that broadens to 65+ in May, followed by children 18 and under and people with disabilities in June. All remaining eligible Canadians will be able to apply in 2025.
Parliament to vote on NDP motion on Palestine
On March 18th, Parliament will vote on a motion tabled by NDP foreign affairs critic Heather McPherson on Palestine. The motion calls on the Government of Canada to:
- Demand an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages;
- Suspend all trade in military goods and technology with Israel and increase efforts to stop the illegal trade of arms, including to Hamas;
- Immediately reinstate funding and ensure long-term continued funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and support the independent investigation;
- Support the prosecution of all crimes and violations of international law committed in the region, and support the work of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court;
- Demand unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza;
- Ensure Canadians trapped in Gaza can reach safety in Canada and lift the arbitrary cap of 1000 temporary resident visa applications;
- Ban extremist settlers from entering Canada, impose sanctions on Israeli officials who incite genocide, and maintain sanctions on Hamas leaders;
- Advocate for an end to the decades-long occupation of Palestinian territories and work toward a two-state solution;
- Officially recognize the State of Palestine and maintain Canada’s recognition of Israel’s right to exist and to live in peace with its neighbours.
NDP delivers national pharmacare
Just three years ago, the Liberal MP for Toronto Centre joined forces with the Conservatives to vote against our vision for universal, public, single-payer pharmacare – but thanks to the advocacy from Jagmeet and our NDP caucus, the new NDP Pharmacare legislation will provide in the short term universal coverage for contraceptives and diabetes medications and devices, along with establishing the framework for a national, universal, public, single-payer pharmacare plan.
Anti-scab legislation passes second reading
As part of the Supply and Confidence agreement, the NDP forced the Liberals to introduce anti-scab legislation for federally regulated industries which will give more power to workers to fight for better wages and working conditions.
