Calling all CAMRA Vancouver members,
The time has come to make your voices heard. At the AGM this past years many of you told me that you wanted us to take a stronger advocate stance on liquor policy. Well, that doesn’t start and end with the Executive Team; that starts and ends with all of us! The City of Vancouver is holding a Liquor Policy Survey here. They want to know your thoughts on how liquor is important in city life, what role does it play, how should it change. This is your chance to be heard – take a few minutes to click through the Survey and tell the city what you think. I would love to know what you thought of the survey, or even if you took it – feel free to shoot me an email or tweet at me. I’d be happy to correlate some of your thoughts and responses into a community post so feel free to get in touch! Let’s do this advocacy thing together!
Next, the city of Vancouver is hosting two “Pop-up City Halls” over the weekend. One on Saturday at Nat Bailey Farmer’s Market from 10:00am-2:00pm and one on Sunday at Hastings Park Farmer’s Market from 10:00am – 2:00pm. In true government form, they are only announcing it a few days before hand, making it hard for organizations like ours to mobilize. That being said, members of the Vancouver and BC executive teams will be there and we strongly urge you all to try and come out and have your voices heard on liquor policy. This is the best way for us to lobby directly to the government in a public setting – and we want it to be from all of us, not just the elected board. Much like the survey, this is your chance to speak to something you are passionate about and bring about some real change!
Now, a little something to keep in mind when doing any kind of lobbying or speaking with official entities. They are less likely to take your feedback with legitimacy if you are speaking from a knee-jerk, emotional place. It is important to come to these discussions calm, collected, eloquent and passionate. We do not want CAMRA members to be seen as screaming, swearing or being aggressive; nor do we want to come across as whack jobs that don’t know what they are talking about. Come in calm. Come in educated. Come in ready to discuss and find common ground.
Hoping to see you on the weekend!
David Perry
President
CAMRA BC, Vancouver Branch
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