Unwanted paper flyers

4 responses to “Unwanted paper flyers”

1. 2011 Apr 18 Charlie Halpern-Hamu writes:

   Hi John,

   My apologies for the volume of mail. Unfortunately, you will be getting more from Adriana and more from other candidates as bulk mail. We would much prefer it if the Green Party got more media attention so we wouldn’t have to resort to this to get our message out. If it’s any consolation, we did pay the extra money to ensure that our flyers were printed waterless on 100% post-consumer recycled paper with all vegetable inks and powered by 100% renewable energy.

   Elections Canada and Canada Post rules distinguish between political and commercial flyers during an election period, so we are allowed to deliver our flyer even to no-junk-mail households. We’ve emphasized to our delivery service that they are not allowed to deliver junk mail together with our political information. I just spoke again now to the proprietor, who apologized that one of his Eastmount-area employee is a ornery truck driver who may need to get the message twice. Again, we’re paying extra for single-flyer delivery, and we’ll switch service providers if we get more complaints.

   Making the choice to potentially annoy no-flyer households was agonizing. But Adriana has been canvassing door-to-door continuously for a couple of years, covering most households more than once. When she met people at the door who had no-junk-mail signs, she did make the effort to ask how they felt about political information, and most said they were happy to get political information. When people aren’t home and have no-flyer signs between elections, she limits herself to leaving a small business card with a handwritten note.

   Again, going door-to-door, Adriana has learned that campaign signs indicate households that are politically engaged, and are often the most keen to receive literature. Our core campaign team includes ex-NDP, ex-Liberal and ex-Conservative (as rare as they are in this riding) members. We have a 15-foot wide Green banner on the back fence of a household with a competing party’s sign in the front yard. In this case, it’s a husband and wife voting differently. But in many cases, individual voters have asked for signs from two parties, and won’t be sure of their vote before May 2.

   Thanks for your feedback, and sorry for the trouble.

   Charlie
   Campaign Manager

2. 2011 Apr 18 John S writes:

   Thanks Charlie, all good points.

   I had hoped that our sign (first time ever!) would give us immunity from canvassers while we quietly went about our online research on candidates… oh, well. (-;

3. 2011 Apr 18 Charlie Halpern-Hamu writes:

   Hi John,

   Thanks for your understanding.

   If you are doing online research (after putting out your sign, hmm…) you will be pleased to learn that Adriana is a bit of a policy wonk.

   One starting point is the left-side menu on our site.

   Another place is Adriana’s postcard from 2009.

   If you hover your mouse over the image of the card back, each point has a link to an expanded explanation.

   Thanks again,
   Charlie

4. 2011 May 9 Charlie Halpern-Hamu writes:

   Here’s an article in the Torontoist about what various Green candidates are doing to reduce their environmental impact.

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