Attend All Candidates Meetings

During provincial and federal elections, attending an All Candidates meeting in your riding is a great way to let the candidates know that you want to see a basic income guarantee for working-age Canadians.

There are a number of ways you can take action in these meetings:

It depends on how the meetings are organized:

  • Some meetings take questions from the floor. In this case you can just show up at the meeting and raise you hand or line up at a microphone to ask your question.
  • Some meetings have a prepared list of questions that will be asked, or a list of people who will be asked to present their question. In some cases, the public has the opportunity to submit questions in advance of the meeting.
  • If you are not able to raise your question, it is still worthwhile attending these meetings to get to know your candidates’ views on the issues you care about. This is also an opportunity to approach the candidates you would consider voting for when they are greeting the public. Introduce yourself and ask your question to them directly.

Before you go to the meeting, do some basic research:

Find out who is sponsoring the meeting and reach out to them:

  • Let them know that you would like to ask a question about a basic income guarantee and explain why this question is important.
  • Ask them how they are gathering questions to ask the candidates: Are you able to submit questions in advance?
  • If you can submit submit a question in advance, see if you can find others in your community who would like to join you in this request. The more people signing onto the request for your question, the more likely it will be asked.
  • Reach out to local basic income, poverty reduction, food insecurity and/or organizations that serve low-income/unhoused people, and ask them to join you in your request to ask a question about a basic income guarantee.

We have drafted some scripts to help you frame your question about basic income:

Draft Scripts and Questions

If others in your community have their own questions they would like to ask, discuss how you might collaborate to get all your questions asked. For example, consider whether you and your colleagues would like to host an All Candidate’s meeting in your community focused on common themes, like affordability and poverty, to ensure all your questions are addressed.