Canadian Alliance Constituency of Fredericton Newsletter

I trust your summer is going well. These are exciting times in Canadian politics; with all the other parties in leadership turmoil. It must be true that what goes around comes around. As for the Canadian Alliance things have very much stabilized. We have come up another three points in the polls since May. We are now at 18%.

Locally, we have some great events planned for the new few months. By the time you get this letter, a golf tournament will have taken place with special guests John Reynolds (house leader) and Rahim Jaffer (critic for National Revenue) at Mactaquac Provincial Park.

Here is some great and exciting news and we need your help. We are calling this the ‘$10 solution’ which will cost you only $2.50, thanks to our Federal government. We are asking you, our members, to commit to donating $10 per month. If 200 members agree to do this, we will raise $24000.00 in one year, and possibly as much as $72000.00 in three years, to go towards our next election campaign. This will be a tremendous boast to our local candidate and will go a long ways in getting our first ever Canadian Alliance MP in Fredericton! Towards the end of August you will receive more information. We aim to implement the ‘$10 solution’ at the Annual General meeting.

Our AGM will occur Thursday, Sept. 19^th at 7:00 p.m. at the Fredericton Inn. Please plan now to attend.

A pancake breakfast and yard sale will also be held in September. Invite a friend to come. Anyone interested in volunteering please contact Zack Ward or Georgina McArthur (446-6104).

Finally, we are anticipating our leader, Stephen Harper, to visit the province sometime this fall. We are awaiting confirmation. A special workshop/training session will be held September 20^th & 21^th in Charlottetown, PEI for the purpose of election readiness. The leader, as well as many other speakers, will be taking part in this seminar. All members and volunteers are invited to attend.

Election Readiness: Atlantic Regional Conference – Open to all members who wish to get up to speed. Charlottetown, Sep 20-21. Stephen Harper will leading a Focus on Election Readiness Training and Strategy.

National Council Elections - our NB representatives on National Council are:

Mr. George Richardson of Saint John has been elected President of National Cou ncil. The Secretary is Rod Farrell from Nova Scotia. We Maritimers are well represented on National Council.

Policy & Constitution Books – These are available on the Canadian Alliance website http://www.canadianalliance.com We expect printed copies to be available soon.

Stephen Harper Maritime Tour – This fall, probably in September. The phone committee will contact you. Please make sure we have your correct phone number.

Yard Sale, Bake Sale and Pancake Breakfast – Lincoln Lions Club, Saturday Sep 7, the weekend after Labour Day weekend. Please consider donating anything that you want to dispose of, which we will then sell at the Yard Sale. We need helpers for both the Yard Sale and the Pancake Breakfast. Please come along and help us out. Contact Zachary Ward. 472-0085 or 449-1362. E-mail at zachward34@hotmail.com

Raffle For Painting – Please consider selling raffle tickets on this fine original oil painting, on behalf of our rising association. To get tickets, contact Zachary Ward. 472-0085 or 449-1362. E-mail at zachward34@hotmail.com

Financial Support For Our Riding Association - To be adequately prepared for the upcoming election, our riding association must be funded to approximately $60,000. This is easily achievable. Therefore, we are inviting you our members to commit to donate at least $10.00 per month to your Canadian Alliance Fredericton Riding Association.

By doing so, you make possible several things to happen: 1) When our riding association is well-funded, we will have a much stronger position re the PC’s. and we will be able to take advantage of pre-Writ campaign promotional opportunities. After the Writ is dropped, we are limited to a campaign maximum expenditure of $60,000. (Our Fredericton Riding Association retains 80% of donations given directly to our constituency. Otherwise the National Office in Calgary gets the 80%.) Please send all donations to our Treasurer, Mr. Eugene Hill, 1111 Regent Street, Unit #3, Box 311, Fredericton, NB E3B 3Z2

Membership - Make sure your Canadian Alliance membership is up to date. To renew your membership or sign up someone else (with their permission, of course) contact any board member. (You may renew for as many years as you wish). Or log on to www.canadianalliance.com Why not do it today?

E-mail Addresses - All Fredericton Canadian Alliance members are asked to send your e-mail address to Janet McKay at kilbride@nbnet.nb.ca This will help us to send you Canadian Alliance news in the most efficient and least costly way.

Letter Writing - Got a gift for the written word? We need members who can write letters to the editor of our local newspapers to ensure our policies are continually in the public eye. If you have ideas for subject matter and want help writing your letter, let us know. This serves two purposes: 1) to educate the public about what the Canadian Alliance wants to happen and why that is good for Canada, and 2) to raise the profile of the Canadian Alliance here in the Fredericton region. If you have a desire to help in this way, please contact our Letter Writing coordinator, Pat Lynch at pamlynch@fundy.net or 451-1112.

Next Federal Election - Only 3 years’ off – about 1,000 days – if that! Folks, this is not a lot of time. Please don’t get caught in the trap of thinking we have lot’s of time. We don’t. Let’s begin looking for suitable candidates. Volunteers are needed to work in various areas including the polls. Please contact Georgina McArthur (Tel: 446-6101)

Board Meetings – Members are welcome and entitled to sit in on the Board meetings. We meet at 7 pm on the third Thursday of every month at the Fredericton Motor Inn at the top of Regent Street.

Annual General Meeting – Thursday, Sept. 19, 2002. 7 pm Fredericton Motor Inn.

Phone	Name	E-mail	Position
452-9236	Richard Bragdon	rbragdon@sunsetchurch.com	President
	David Clark		Policy & Constitution Committee
	R. James Cougle		Events Co-Chair, Media Spokesman
	Paul Crabbe
	Russell Crosby		2nd VP, Chair: Communications
	Perley Demerchant		Expired Membership Follow-up
	Eugene Hill		Treasurer
	Stephen Kilbride		Co-Chair Database
	Bob Lindsay		Expired Membership Follow-up
	Pat Lynch		Chair: Letter Writing Committee.
	Georgina McArthur		Poll Chair
	Janet McKay		1st VP & Co-Chair Database
	Russell Seeley		Policy & Constitution Committee
454-9639	Richard Sullivan	sullibar@aol.com	Secretary
	Wally Tidd		Chair: Telephone Committee
	Zach Ward		Chair: Youth & Co-Chair Special Events

July 15, 2002