The Election is days away: Sample letters to send to Party leaders and Candidates

During Canada’s federal election campaign, there has not been much discussion about defence or Canada’s support for Ukraine. Elections take place on April 28.

Candidates and their teams are still knocking on doors. Let’s ask questions. Let’s remind the candidates that we care about foreign policy, defence and the candidate’s position on Ukraine

We also encourage you to send emails. Please use this sample letter as a basis for your own letters.

Dear Candidate name,
I am writing because I am concerned that I have heard so little during the campaign about foreign affairs except for the tariff issue with the United States.
The Russian assault on Ukraine continues and many news sources (e.g., BBC, Bloomberg, The New York Times) are now reporting that the U.S. State Department is preparing to recognize the annexation of Crimea and use tariffs to pressure allies not to support Ukraine. This is a hideous policy with enormous implications. On Friday’s Anderson Cooper 360 podcast, Gen. Wesley Clark said that even a partial win in Ukraine would embolden Russia to attack NATO allies such as the Baltic states. Western democracies have a principled history of not recognizing illegal occupations, as when they declined to recognize the occupation of the Baltic States by the Soviet Union after World War II. The Russian occupation of Crimea should also not be recognized as legal. We must not let that kind of history repeat itself. This is an assault on Ukraine’s sovereignty, and it should not be allowed to stand.
Many of our parents and grandparents were refugees from Latvia. Their lives and the lives of those who remained in Latvia were tragically altered by the Soviet occupation and the bargain made at Yalta by the allies to give the Baltic states away to the Soviet Union, yet the fact that the West did not recognize the occupation as legal helped pave the way back to independence in 1991.
Please let me know where you stand on this issue and what your party plans to do to make sure the rules-based international order prevails. Canada should live up to its principles and lead the way in ensuring Ukraine’s sovereignty is respected.
Your name
Your address
Your phone number (optional)
__________________________________
It is important to include your name and postal address in the email, because it is the riding constituents’ opinions that are taken into account.

You can write to Mark Carney by filling in this form: https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/connect/contact

If your candidate is currently a member of Parliament, you can find their email address here: https://www.ourcommons.ca/en/contact-us

For candidates who are not currently in Parliament, you can visit www.elections.ca . Enter your postal code in the “My Voter Information” box, then click on “Who are the candidates in my electoral district?”. If the candidate has a website, the address of the website will be given next to the candidate’s name.