OTTAWA – Today, as legislatures begin to open again across Canada, Democracy Watch called on Canadians to hold coffee parties through CoffeeParty.ca to write letters to politicians calling for key democracy and corporate responsibility reforms, and to let Democracy Watch if they are holding a party by sending an email to [email protected].

Democracy Watch created the CoffeeParty.ca movement to help Canadians coordinate their efforts to change politics in Canada and to raise awareness about some of the more effective ways to make governments make the changes Canadians want and deserve.

The CoffeeParty.ca movement is pushing for well-researched and broadly supported changes that will make Canadian governments and big businesses operate more honestly, ethically, openly, representatively, efficiently, and effectively.

With new governments having been elected in Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, and the Yukon in 2011; in Alberta and Quebec in 2012; and in British Columbia this year there is a window of opportunity before the next elections for Canadians to push politicians, governments, and opposition parties to make themselves, and big businesses, more accountable and responsible.

“We’re calling on Canadians to get together, have a coffee, and send a message to politicians,” said Tyler Sommers, Coordinator of Democracy Watch. “If Canadians spent as much time writing politicians about their concerns as they spend buying, making and drinking coffee, we would have the good, democratic governments and the responsible big businesses we want.”

No matter what problem concerns them, Canadians can find solutions at CoffeeParty.ca where there is key information about writing letters, sending messages to key politicians across Canada through the Action Alerts on each Campaign page, getting their politicians to sign the Democratic Good Government Pledge, printing and hanging up the “I’m Voting for Good Government” sign, donating, and contacting the media and others across Canada.