When writing to a politician, please personalize your message by adding, for example, that you live in their riding and why you support a Basic Income Guarantee (BIG).
Please send more than one letter. A politician who hears from you more than once knows this issue is important to you! If you don’t hear back from them, phone their constituency office and ask to meet with them. If you do hear back from them, please don’t forget to reply and thank them for their response.
Please consider sending letters by both email and by Canada Post. Sending letters by email is fastest and easiest, but letters sent by Canada Post can be a more effective because MPs tend to read them as they reflect more personal commitment since they take more time and energy to write and send. Letters can be sent postage-free to:
- Your Member of Parliament (MP): MP’s name, House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0A6. You can find email addresses for all MPs here.
- Your Senator: Name of Senator, Senate of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1A 0A4. You can find their email addresses here.
- Your Provincial Member of the Legislature/Parliament (MLA of MPP): Letters can also be sent free-of-charge to these politicians, if they are mailed to the provincial legislative building. You can find their email addresses by going to the list of Members on each provincial government’s website.
Different messages for different parties: Generally, members from different political parties need to hear different arguments that align with their differing values and views. So we sometimes craft different letters for members of different parties. We focus our efforts on member of the Liberal, Conservative, NDP and Green parties, and we ask our Québec colleagues to draft letters for members of the Bloc Québécois.
When we draft a letter, we sometimes suggest who to copy (CC) your email or letter to. We suggest you also copy other MPs you know or have a relationship with. Please also consider copying the Senator(s) from your province.
And finally, please also send a copy to us at basicincomecoalition@gmail.com so that we know you have taken action and who you have written to. It will help us keep the pressure up when we speak with your MP, by reminding them that voters in their riding have written to them about BIG and that this issue is important to them.
Thank you for advocating for a Basic Income Guarantee, ensuring there is an income floor beneath everyone’s feet, so that no one in Canada is left living in poverty, or is at risk of falling into poverty.
We are now in a federal election period, which ends with the vote on April 28, 2025. Here is a draft letter you can send to candidates running in your federal riding.