Report

Yukon Voter Education Project 2006

No doubt some of you have wondered what we were up to during the recent Yukon election. A lot of it was planned, some of it was extemporaneous, and for a couple of months it occupied much of our time.

The Opportunity

Over a year ago we started thinking seriously about what to do around the territorial election that we knew would happen by November 2006. Several advisory council meetings and strategy sessions later, we decided to start by assessing the opportunity. In January 2006, Mac Hislop produced an analysis of past elections, voting patterns by riding, swing ridings, party strengths and vulnerabilities, recent political trends and manoeuvres – basically delineating the political landscape.

Then in late June we commissioned a public opinion poll on Yukon politics and the environment. The poll indicated that the territorial election would be a three-way race between the major parties in the Yukon. While the NDP held the lead in mid-summer, both the Yukon and Liberal Party were close enough that they too were within striking distance of forming government.

Polling also indicated that environmental issues had increased in public saliency since 2002 (the last time CPAWS did a poll) and could be a vote determinant regardless of what the three parties might contend.

• Conservation High Priority for Yukon Voters (August 17, 2006)
  (Acrobat [PDF] file, ~40K)
• Conservation Issues Poll (June, 2006)
  (Acrobat [PDF] file, ~100K)

Key findings included:

• 91% of respondents agreed (including 66% strongly agreed) that the territorial government should ensure that land use and conservation planning happens before large-scale industrial development.
• 73% supported increasing protected areas to 30% or more of the Yukon.
• 88% agreed (including 67% strongly agreed) that the Yukon government should act to protect key portions of the Porcupine Caribou Herd winter habitat in Yukon.
• 93% agreed (including 66% strongly agreed) that the territorial government should implement a climate change action plan, including a strategy to promote renewable energy sources and energy conservation.

The polling results pointed to an excellent opportunity for garnering conservation commitments from whomever would form the new Yukon government.

With this encouraging new information we embarked on a Voter Education Project.

The Project

The project aimed to raise the profile of conservation issues during the election campaign. Our approach was to share information with Yukoners about environmental issues, to urge citizens to vote, and to encourage environmentally aware voters to align their vote with their values. We wanted to engage the public and help political parties and candidates appreciate that many voters are concerned about our environment. More to the point, we urged all three parties to strengthen their environmental platforms and commitments.

1. Raise the profile of environmental issues during the election campaign.
2. Urge parties/candidates to support action on the conservation issues put forward by CPAWS-Yukon and allied groups.
3. Build strategic capacity, supporters and lists for post-election work, regardless of election outcome.

Do’s and Don’t’s

Canada Revenue Agency requires that a charitable nonprofit organization conduct itself in a politically non-partisan fashion. This sounds straightforward but believe me it isnׄt. It requires a lot of stickhandling around issues and the media, and very careful wording of public statements, documents and communications materials.

Permitted activities during an election campaign include: Public awareness and outreach projects designed to help citizens learn about issues of concern to the organisation. Telling people where to get background information if providing well-researched and factual material. Meeting with individual politicians or parties, to present our issues and questions-but all must be offered the chance to meet. Survey of parties, requesting responses to questions on issues of concern. Publishing the results of such a survey. Hosting all-candidates meetings or similar events, as long as all parties are invited to participate. Prohibited political activities include: Direct or indirect support, or opposition to, any political party or candidate for public office. Partisan political comment in general. Highlighting the voting record of political candidates. Issuing a “report card” for individual politicians or political parties, on issues connected to the organisation's purposes.

What We Did

First we developed a focused strategy, informed by the polling results. We distilled three primary conservation issues on which most Yukoners wanted action.

Click here to download the six main conservation issues. (Acrobat [PDF] format, ~510K)

1. Protected Areas/Wildlife Protection
2. Clean Water & Watershed Protection for Healthy Families & Communities
3. Climate Change/Renewable Energy

We developed other specific commitments under these headings to round out the issues, but tried to focus on a few specific and realistic actions or policies.

As in the past we spoke with other conservation-minded Yukon groups and came together in a coalition. Yukon Conservation Society, Bringing Youth Toward Equality (BYTE), Raven Recycling, Wilderness Tourism Association of the Yukon (WTAY), Yukon Environmental Network (YEN), the Southeast Yukon Proper Land Use Society (PLUS), and CPAWS-Yukon joined the coalition. Then we drew up a list of key issues and questions, the issues ultimately becoming six to accommodate the range of interests of the coalition members. After much forth and back, we settled on an overarching theme and a slogan: Keep It Green, Keep It Clean, Keep It Wild.

Initially we met with the political parties and gave each an identical presentation about the polling results.

Think Green and Vote newspaper ad

Then we got the conservation portion of the polling results out to the public by means of posters and handbills, a press conference, a news release and media coverage, an op-ed, and newspaper ads.

We reckoned that a website was needed, a standalone voter education website, distinct from the websites of any of the coalition members. The domain name, thinkgreenandvote.com, was critical. We couldn’t tell people how to vote, but we could encourage them to think about green issues when evaluating parties and candidates, and to get out there and vote, period. The website was designed and then we “populated” it with relevant and appropriate information.

Meanwhile we had another round of contacts with the political parties, to present the coalition’s six issues and a questionnaire, urging them to provide clear answers on their conservation commitments if they had not already. Click here to download the responses. (Acrobat [PDF] format, ~30K)

Then we made a concerted effort to get the word out to the public about our issues and the party responses to our questionnaire. We had another press conference and news release about the questionnaire, with attendant media (newspaper, radio, TV) coverage and accompanied by newspaper ads and a newspaper insert about party responses. We attempted to drive people to the thinkgreenandvote.com website with posters, handbills, e-mail. We sent a direct mailing to all Yukon addresses and several broadcast voice messages to territorial telephone numbers.

We also staged two well-attended voter contact events, each accompanied by advertising and attracting considerable media coverage.

Rock the Vote September 29, 2006

Leaders' Environment Forum October 2, 2006

What Happened?

Overall the Voter Education Project was very effective in generating interest in the key conservation issues and bringing environment onto the political agenda. All three political parties were aware of the importance of conservation and conservation issues to Yukoners.

When the dust settled, Yukoners had elected 10 Yukon Party MLAs, 5 Liberals and 3 NDP. By comparison, in 2002 the Yukon party won 12 seats. As predicted, the election was decided in Whitehorse. The Yukon Party won 5 of the Whitehorse ridings, the Liberals and NDP each won 2. In the closest races that the Yukon Party won – Riverdale North, Riverdale South and Southern Lakes – vote-splitting between Liberals and NDP was likely a factor.

The election was about maintaining the status quo. 13 of 14 incumbents were re-elected, including those 3 who had switched parties. All 7 cabinet ministers of the previous government were re-elected. Voter turnout was about 73% (of 18,679 eligible voters), down from 78% (of 18,071) in 2002.

Thanks to our coalition partners, supporters, communications advisors, the CPAWS crew, and the volunteers who helped out on this project, in particular Lena Taylor, Paul Davis and Gill Cracknell. We look forward to working with all Yukon MLAs to advance the conservation priorities that Yukoners have identified.