Blue Skies Toronto Report November 2014

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Blue Skies:Idea Incubator for Ontarios Centre-right

Toronto Ideas Incubator Report

September 6, 2014


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Contents

Contents ............................................................................................... 2

Blue Skies Ontario .................................................................................. 3

Acknowledgements ................................................................................ 3

Disclaimer ............................................................................................. 3

September 6 Ideas Incubation Summation ................................................ 4

Appendix 1: Expanding Ontario's centre-right; unlocking voter blocks, creating

new ones.............................................................................................. 7

Appendix 2: Policy-making, De-industrialization, and Ontario's Future.......... 9

Appendix 3: Features of a successful centre-right political party in 2020..... 10

Appendix 4: Communicating the centre-right brand: its not what you say, its

what they hear.................................................................................... 12

Appendix 5: Participant Feedback .......................................................... 13


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Blue Skies OntarioThe Blue Skies Initiative is a catalyst for blue sky thinking about how to build a

stronger centre-right in Ontario Provincial politics. The participants in the Blue Skies

Initiative have a common goal: growing the centre-right movement in Ontario. The Blue

Skies Initiative believes the centre-right in Ontario and its institutions should be as

strong as the centre-left. Some participants are motivated by electoral politics, others

want to bring reformist policy ideas to Ontario, and others want to grow the political

movement beyond electoral politics.

The Blue Skies Initiative is an effort by a group of young and mid-career Ontarians to

address capacity on the centre-right in Provincial politics. The Blue Skies Initiative is

organized by Steering Committees dedicated to specific events and activities, supported

by Executive Directors (interim).

The Blue Skies Initiative participants are concerned about the future of the centre-right

movement in Ontario. Moving from recent electoral results to reaching a broader

majority of the electorate does not have a single solution By employing creative

processes, the Blue Skies Initiative seeks to generate new and positive ideas to spur

actions that will reinvigorate the centre-right in Ontario for the next generation.

AcknowledgementsThe September 6, 2014 Toronto Ideas Incubator was organized by a Steering Committee

including Carly Luis, Chris Loreto, Katlyn Harrison, Jamie Ellerton, Leif Malling, Ginny

Movat, Nita Kang and Danielle Peters. The Steering Committee wishes to acknowledge

the support of our sponsors for the September 6 event: StrategyCorp (Lead Sponsor)

Summa Strategies (Supporting Sponsor). The Steering Committee also acknowledges

Dentons Canada LLP for providing the venue.

DisclaimerThe views and observations expressed in this document do not necessarily represent the

views of the Blue Skies Initiative, its creators or the Steering Committee for the

September 6 event. The purpose of the Toronto Ideas Incubator was to provide a

supportive forum where centre-right Ontarians could pose challenging questions about

Ontarios centre-right movement and propose creative approaches to building the

movement.

This report seeks to summarize the discussions and ideas offered on September 6, 2014.

This report was developed by neutral third-party facilitators who led the discussions.

The Steering Committee developed the final draft, but did not interfere with the

observations and conclusions of the facilitators.


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September 6 Ideas Incubation SummationThe Toronto Ideas Incubator on September 6, 2014 brought together a diverse group of

Ontarians to discuss creative approaches to building the capacity of Ontarios centre-

right. With an initial goal of 50 participants, over 100 Ontarians took part with a

particularly strong representation by young and mid-career professionals.

The Toronto Ideas Incubator was not a conference. It was a structured exercise to

generate new ideas, build networks and develop capacity for positive action.

Participants of the Toronto Ideas Incubator were divided into 4 breakout discussions:

1.

Expanding Ontario's centre-right; unlocking voter blocks, creating new ones

2.

Policy-making, De-industrialization, and Ontario's Future

3.

Features of a successful centre-right political party in 2020

4.

Communicating the centre-right brand: its not what you say, its what they hear

Each discussion was led by a professional facilitator and this report is the product of theneutral observations by the professional facilitators.

Within each of the four (4) breakout discussions, participants were asked to express their

short and long-term goals for the centre-right movement, and work with colleagues to

organize these ideas into themes for potential concepts for follow-up. Each discussion,

including the key ideas and themes, is summarized in an appendix to this report.

The facilitators classified the overarching themes emerging from the day as follows:

Positive Messaging

There is a need to have a more positive and uplifting message for voters. This messaging

should encompass compassion and forward thinking, and policy should be communicated

in a way that focuses on a solution and highlights specific benefits. Messaging should be

uplifting and help Ontarians dream about the future. The movement needs to stop being

prescriptive and show that the centre-right is listening to the public.

Community Outreach & Engagement

The movement needs to conduct more outreach and engagement within the centre-right

community and the public at large. It should ask more people what do you think?

There was a sense that this does not occur frequently enough, and the movement has

not conducted outreach to a broad range of stakeholder groups to seek their input and

collaborate with them. The centre-right needs to better respect individuals and show that

it is open, flexible and empathetic to diverse community needs. It should also reach out

to groups it traditionally does not work with to hear what they have to say, and

potentially find areas of alignment.


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Youth Engagement

Youth within the movement feel disengaged and undervalued. More work needs to be

done to better support youth, their ideas and initiatives within the centre-right

movement. More training, mentorship and a more general belief that youth are the

future of the movement is required.

Historical & Proud

The centre-right movement is often not proud enough of itself and its past

achievements. The centre-right movement has been at the forefront of many major

milestones in Ontarios history; this needs be better celebrated and incorporated into its

culture. Members of the movement also need to move forward and be proud to be a part

of the centre-right members often feel ashamed to admit they are a part of it. The

movement also needs to better take advantage of good ideas that are made in Ontario

there is too much of an emphasis on taking ideas from the United States and other

jurisdictions.

Dynamic Leadership

The leadership of the movement/party needs to be more charismatic, likeable and ableto deliver the centre-right message well. Leadership also needs to recognize systems and

processes within the party that are not working (such as the candidate selection process)

and work to address it.

A Policy Eco-System

The process of policy development should not just occur within the formal party but

amongst the community. In developing policies, the movement should seek to engage

stakeholder groups and listen to their input. There should also be a centre-right think

tank developed to help formulate and evaluate policies.

Future-Oriented

The movement needs to focus on the future, align itself with emerging trends and be in

touch with todays Ontario. Policies and ideas should embrace innovation, up-and-

coming markets, and the centre-right should unite behind a profound vision for a world

class province.

Increasing Diversity

There was a sense of needing to increase diversity within the movement. From working

with groups that the centre-right does not traditionally work with (such as environmental

groups or unions), to more youth representation and increased outreach to women;participants wanted to better embrace diversity and understand what it means for the

centre-right.


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Clear Metrics, measurement and results

The movement needs to adopt an approach that emphasizes metrics, measures and is

results oriented. From the policies that are adopted to tracking progress and results

within the movement, this should be a major part of the centre-rights operations. The

movement should be known as the one that delivers on the needed end results for

Ontario.

ConclusionThe dominant sentiment shared among those attending the Idea Incubator was that of a

vision for a more authentically present centre-right movement in Ontario. The centre-

right has the ability to reimagine itself as a movement driven by an authentic and

relational listening first approach to its policy and constituent development.

In order to accomplish this, there needs to be a greater emphasis on engaging

stakeholders and the broader public by all members of the movement and not just the

Leader of the Ontario PC Party. This can be accomplished with a greater commitment to

ensuring core leadership qualities such as authenticity, forward thinking and a

responsible approach to issues by developing a more engaged approach to conversing

and working with specific stakeholders and the broader public.


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Appendix 1: Expanding Ontario's centre-right;

unlocking voter blocks, creating new ones

Discussion in Room One centered on building up the movement and improving

connections both within the party and with the general public. Participants wanted to find

improved ways to connect with other centre-right members in order to express

frustrations and find support. Participants expressed a desire to be able to wear one'sconservative beliefs and leanings proudly. There was also a desire to be part of a political

party that delivered its messaging with greater authenticity, as well as taking a more

optimistic tone. Overall, there was emerging sense of optimism of what could be

developed from previous learnings.

Key Barriers

The key barriers to building the movement identified during the session include the

following:

1 Poor and lacking engagement

with the following groups:

Minority groups

LGBT individuals Growing urban segments

Young couples/families

Individuals with a post-secondary degree or higher

Active, moderate and undecided voters

2 Disconnect and inadvertence inoutreach and messaging

Improve verification process of voter assumptions

Balance research/data with imagination and

understanding of public/voters (less rigidity)

3 Modern political activism -

How to engage an increasingly

difficult to reach public

Increasingly difficult to reach and make contact with

people in person Virtual means have their place but don't make for

strong bonds - movement needs real bodies and

face-to-face interactions to grow and rebuild

Block exists in finding new and effective ways ofestablishing and developing new non-traditionalsupport base

4 Need for ideas/vision over

policy driven outreach,

messaging and leadership:

Lead with message over labels

Lead with good ideas over attacks, jargon or

branding

Key Ideas

Key ideas emerged on how to overcome the barriers detailed above:

1 Outreach and relationship withthe 'other':

Change the way we think about and treat the'other', aka non-conservatives More extensive internal and external outreach

efforts are required

Be proactive and broader in outreach efforts

2 Improve public engagement: Start anew, go back to basics and spend time with


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grassroots Be inclusive of minorities and non-traditional voter

base (union members)

Recruit executives/leaders in the movement and

foster development

Consider new means of engaging public, holding,

for example, a large-scale party event Go fishing, visit the farm, stop the election/party

bus and talk to real 'folks'

Connect with youth clubs Make it fun to be part of movement!

Outreach through more town halls, focus on

empathy - how you say the message vs. the

message itself

Create idea salons

Utilize a broader consultation process

Utilize likable and visible people

3 Establish a leadership that is: Uniting Solution-oriented

Broad appeal

Authentic

Younger

Able to break the Green Party monopoly on

environment Personable, empathetic

Listening and drawing speaking points from party

base

Conscious of the way it engages (both the Leader

and the Leadership): actions speak louder thanwords

Recruiting based upon candidate networks

4 Establish a Party that is: Flexible - rigid views and approaches are alienatingvoters and conservative base

Develop cult of personality as core image driver

Breaks political fiefdoms that create silos within

5 Re-Branding: Dream big and stand up for what we believe in

proudly Shift negative to positive messaging

Become the party of inclusivity/ party of ideas

Make being conservative cool

Modernize brand - improve graphics, host events

at trendier locations

Dispel stereotypes

Base party ID on good policy not ideology

emphasis on evaluating ideas across spectrums Revert to grassroots to regroup and rediscover

who and what "conservative" is to the people

Be proactive - define movement/party in the

media for ourselves, don't wait to be labeled


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Appendix 2: Policy-making, De-

industrialization, and Ontario's Future

Discussion in Room Two centered on two key areas: specific policy aspirations, and the

development of an eco/support system for these policy goals. Participants were

enthusiastic in their discussions, particularly related to determining ways to reform

existing policies and develop new policies. The latter part of the session looked at how

four overarching themes for policy development could be worked into three aspects of a

policy support/eco system: building centre-right think tanks, policy messaging and action

on specific policy aspirations.

Key Themes

The four overarching themes for policy development were:

1 Movement

History:

The centre-right movement needs to be proud of its history and

recognize its importance. Historically, the centre-right was at the

forefront of major policy initiatives and projects, such as foundingOntarios community college system or developing the University of

Ontario Institute of Technology. These past victories need to be weaved

into the narrative of the movement and be a basis from which to build

upon.

2 Metrics: There is a need to ensure that there are measures and metricsincorporated into government policy. Government programs need to be

better tracked and should be funded and awarded based on merit and

metrics.

3 The Future: The movement needs to be forward-thinking and develop policies thatcapture emerging trends. There is a strong desire to embrace change and

innovation in all policy development.

4 Positive,Simple

Messaging:

The messaging of centre-right polices needs to be easy to understand,pragmatic and positive. There is a need to embrace messaging around the

benefits and vision of policies, rather than prescribing technical and

wonk-ish policies. Policies should empower and help Ontarians build forthe future.

These themes led to the following key recommendations:

Better engage with electorate groups in the development of policies through the

creation of an engagement strategy.

Developing education labs to test out education policies.

Frequent and genuine engagement with teachers, principals and students oneducation issues.

Creating an arms-length institute/think tank to draft and evaluate centre-right

policies.


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Appendix 3: Features of a successful centre-

right political party in 2020

Discussion in Room Three focused on reflections of what it means to be a centre-right

party and movement in 2020 and what this movement would look like. Participants

reflected on three key areas: quality and substance of the movements community; youth

engagement and improved engagement with the public.

Key Themes

After reflecting upon the identified key areas, clarity emerged regarding the kind of

movement and Party that participants envisioned for 2020:

1 A movement that

respects people:

A party known for getting it understanding what

communities want and what they need, and helping to bridge

that gap Serve appropriately individuals who voted based on certain

issues (one-issue voters)

Stakeholder engagement approach that is more thorough and

proactive

Evidence of delivering value philosophy, policy and messaging

should be focused on what people care about

Respect for all people is critical in developing a movement that

inspires true commitment Centre-right to be known for being honest about the issues and

respectful of the various concerns and interests that must be

balanced

2 Results-oriented: Centre-right to be known for being oriented towards achieved

the needed end-results for the province

Movement that rewards hard work

3 Being there for

Ontarians:

Reflect a centre-right movement that has a desire to build

community through listening and address these concernsthroughout

Develop organic relationships

Listen to stakeholders

Dont make assumptions and make space for new ideas

In touch with Today's Ontario

4 Genuine

community

movement:

Grassroots-driven

United behind a profound vision for a world-class province andfocused on building a movement that is dedicated to achieving

this vision

Working together to get things done

Defined by community leadership - not just by the Party

executive and caucus

Open, collaborative and willing to take risks


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Key Ideas

1 Quality and substance of themovements community:

What is the motivation to be a member?

Headquarters: "the Queens Park Bubble"

Internal players arent responsive to dynamic outside

the Party Perception of party membership being undervalued

Need for more training

Party compensation needs to be more merit andperformance based

2 Youth Engagement: Youth wing of the Party feels undervalued and

pigeonholed Youth are the future of the Party, but they don't feel

supported, need to increasingly invest in youthmembers

Feeling that youth members are valued primarily as

tokens of the party's ideas about representation

3 Better engagement with the

public:

Need to better understand Ontarians perception of the

Party

Outreach to specific stakeholder groups/communities is

not proactive enough Need to listen to the needs of Ontarians, continually

ask what do you think?"


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Appendix 4: Communicating the centre-right

brand: its not what you say, its what theyhear

The discussion in Room Four focused primarily on public engagement by the centre-right

and the movements message.

Key Themes

1 Inviting people to

talk with us about

what they think,

and really

listening:

Listening to people, not telling them

Engaging people via proactive outreach and inviting them in

Survey non-conservatives on their perspectives

Hosting town halls and policy committees

Inviting non-traditional groups to speak to us (i.e. unions,

environmental groups)

2 Taking control of

our messaging:

Relating to people by working to address their problems

Ensuring the proper supports to allow grassroots activism;they are the ones who deliver our message locally

Not ceding policy areas (i.e. environment) to the Liberals

Talking about how we care; being open and empathetic

Choosing overt areas to demonstrate a difference (poverty,

environment)

3 Representative

policy:

Policy developed by listening and connecting with grassroots

Reflecting conversation and input of party

membership/general public and ensuring it is reflected in the

movements policy platforms

Support the development of ideas

Create a large tent to prevent wedge politics

Key Ideas

1 Outreach anddevelopment of

new relationships:

Change the way we think about and treat the 'other', and

dont assume we are the only one with good ideas Candidates should represent all walks of life in the province

Roundtables on urban issues to rebuild relationships in urban

ridings and develop policy that reflects this understanding Dont go to the U.S. for answers - we have plenty of good

ideas right here Grassroots in many ways has to be our biggest advocates; by

allowing them to see their ideas reflected in policy they will

be supportive and active in support in the movement2 Message tone: Embody a sense of pride in the party

Express how the centre-right movement cares about people;

compassion as a communications priority Communicate a positive vision for the future of the province

New leader must be relatable and likeable


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Appendix 5: Participant Feedback

Following the Idea Incubator, the Blue Skies Initiative provided a survey for feedback

from participants. This summary of the survey feedback was compiled by the Steering

Committee for the Toronto Ideas Incubator.

Key findings from the survey include:

1.

Overall, participants were very satisfied with the Idea Incubator, with 89% ofrespondents indicating a 7/10, or higher, satisfaction with the event.

2.

Many participants stated it was a needed event and helped drive momentum and a

positive feeling following the recent election loss.

3.

The Idea Incubator did help to develop big, bold ideas for the centre-right

movement (91% of respondents indicated that the Idea Incubator generated

some or lots of ideas), however:

Participants acknowledged that rebuilding the centre-right would take

significant time and effort;

Follow-up is required to ensure that concepts and preliminary ideas

developed at the Ideas Incubator are turned into actionable items; and

Many participants believe that more people should be involved in future

events, and that proactive outreach is required to bring in individuals who

wouldnt traditionally be involved.

4.

86% of respondents would be willing to donate time to turn ideas from the Idea

Incubator event into action.

5.

100% of respondents would participate in a future Blue Skies event.

A number of key themes from participant responses were noted:

1.

Redefining the PC brand by clearly communicating the virtues of centre-rightpolicies and how they would help individuals and families

2.

Taking control of the centre-right narrative through positive messaging and change

perceptions in our favour

3.

Concept of unity within the party: Ensure grassroots members and other groups

(i.e. youth) feel valued as a part of the centre-right movement

4.

Outreach and relationship building with groups traditionally not associated with the

centre-right movement

The overarching theme of the survey responses was the excitement by participants that

there are many individuals concerned with the future of the centre-right movement, andthat the enthusiasm exists to rebuild are reframe the centre-right movement moving

forward. The Blue Skies Initiative looks forward to providing a forum to help foster new

conservative ideas and the activist development that will build a movement to foster the

renewal and sustainability of the Ontario PC Party and the centre-right movement in

Ontario.

Blue Skies Toronto Report November 2014

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