Hi everyone! We have important news about Bill C-51 and the petition to drop Liberals from LeadNow's strategic voting campaign. So far, we've collected over 600 signatures on the petition—and some of them are very significant. For example, one person posted the petition to LeadNow's Facebook page, along with this message: We completely agree. We're not the only ones, either. Some of you might have seen this Huffington Post article from back in April about CUPE president Paul Moist's letter to LeadNow. If you haven't, it's worth reading: (see http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/04/13/cupe-leadnow-federal-election_n_7058128.html) In fact, there are lots of progressive critics of LeadNow's campaign who agree with us. Key organizers from across the country who worked on the Stop C-51 campaign have signed our petition, and told us they are willing to help take it even further. One organizer wrote: We're thrilled to help with this effort through our new grassroots campaign, The Real Vote, which will be launching officially soon (you can see a preview here: https://www.therealvote.ca)… stay tuned for updates! It's also revealing who isn't on our side. For example, Liberal MP Joyce Murray has publicly defended LeadNow's strategic voting campaign. She was last seen stoking fear to promote Bill C-51, when she told an NDP MP that he would have blood on his hands if he didn't vote for the police state. Murray actually said: “I would ask the member whether he would want it on his conscience should there be an attack that leads to deaths of Canadians because of the loopholes that the bill is attempting to fix?” (see https://youtu.be/imhw21xu__k) Apparently, the Liberals think our civil liberties are "loopholes" that stand in the way of their re-election. They haven't bothered listening to Canadians' reasonable concerns about the bill, and they don't even seem to care that their strategy is backfiring badly, and hurting their prospects in the next election. A new EKOS poll shows that the Liberals are at a long-time low, with only 23.9% in the polls. At the same time, the parties who voted against the police state have seen their support surpass even their numbers from 2011, when the NDP was elected to Official Opposition. If an election were held today, those parties together would win more seats than any single party, including the Conservatives. (see http://www.ipolitics.ca/2015/06/05/the-ekos-poll-mulcair-is-picking-up-all-the-marbles-as-trudeau-fades/) This just goes to show that excluding parties who voted for a police state is not only the right thing to do, it's also strategic. The fact remains, if we want to live in a democracy and not a police state, we can't vote for a party that voted for Bill C-51. Let's continue to stick together, and let's show the country what real change looks like. Let's show them that the real vote for change is a vote for democracy. In solidarity, Chris Wiseman The Real Vote p.s. If you haven't shared the petition with friends and family yet, please do so now! We need to elect a majority of MPs committed to repealing the police state and implementing ambitious democratic reforms: http://is.gd/ANIS3P p.p.s. You may have heard that the Senate vote on Bill C-51 has been delayed until Tuesday evening, and also that the Senate expense scandal is causing panic in the upper chamber. In fact, the Conservative Senator who seconded Bill C-51 just resigned from the Conservative caucus while under investigation. You can read about that development here: http://is.gd/MWKhpy It's very possible that this resignation will make it more difficult for the government to pass the bill on schedule—or even pass it at all before the next election. That makes it a good time to remind Senators that if they vote for Bill C-51, they will be inviting a fast-tracked campaign to get rid of both Bill C-51, and the unelected Senate. You can contact them using OpenMedia's excellent tool, here: https://stopc51.ca/senate