Saskatoon Change Makers—organized by Upstream and the Broadbent Institute—was an an evening of discussion and inspiration that considered the best ways to bring about positive change in the city of Saskatoon!

Mitch Stewart, principal at 270 Strategies and President Obama's former Battleground States Director, spoke to the crowd about how he got involved in politics.

Lasia Kretzel
January 31, 2014
This article originally appeared on CKOM Newstalk 650.

Barack Obama’s top swing state strategist is coming to Saskatoon to talk about how everyday people can bring about the social changes they want through grassroots action.

Mitch Stewart directed the American president’s successful 2012 campaign within 10 of the 11 swing states votes. He was also involved in Obama’s 2008 campaign and several organizations.

“To say (the campaign was) magical probably doesn’t do it justice,” Stewart said.

“The thing we really learned during the campaign is the nexus of using better data and analytics on one end and probably more important is this relationship or community based organizing.”

Saskatoon Change Makers is co-organized by left-wing think tank the Broadbent Institute and two-time provincial NDP candidate Ryan Meili’s UpStream.

“Mitch brings that real on the ground experience on how to win campaigns and we look forward to hearing what his advice is for folks in the local context,” Graham Mitchell, Broadbent Institute training and leadership director said.

Stewart will talk about the tactics he used in the 2012 campaign to usher in a second term for Obama including building social networks.

“Teaching how you can build those relationship structures and teams … making sure groups have that information, how powerful it can be and guide them through that process,” Stewart said.

Through his organization 270 Strategies, Stewart has also spoken at other Canadian venues including Ottawa and Vancouver. He was also brought in to stress the importance of grassroots movements and "progressive change."

“The important thing about grassroots movements are everybody has a role to play in making change. “

(The Broadbent Institute is) pushing for people to take seriously the opportunity to get involved in politics,” Mitchell said, adding what progressive means changes depending on the community.

“For different organizations and different communities it means different things, that’s partly why we’ve pulled together other local communities and working with UpStream to identify challenges that local communities face.”

Stewart will be joined by co-speakers Meili, University of Saskatchewan student union president Max FineDay and Idle No More co-founder Erica Lee, at the Roxy Theatre at 7 p.m Friday.

OTTAWA—The Broadbent Institute is delighted to welcome keynotes Julia Gillard and economist Mariana Mazzucato to its inaugural Progress Summit in March.

Canadian-born French National Assemblywoman Axelle Lemaire, Human Rights Campaign's Director of Marketing Anastasia Khoo, former Privy Council Clerk Alex Himelfarb, economist Don Drummond, and others will also take the summit stage to add their voices to debate fairer and more sustainable approaches to building a prosperous 21st century Canadian economy.

"Progressive legislators like Julia Gillard and Axelle Lemaire will offer unique perspectives on cutting-edge ideas," said Broadbent Institute Executive Director Rick Smith. "Mariana Mazzucato's highly-praised work reinforces the important and positive role of government in enabling innovation and growth."

"The summit is all about bringing together top-notch policy experts to provide an innovative and tangible contribution to the Canadian public policy debate," added Smith. "The participation of well-known Canadians like Alex Himelfarb and Don Drummond underscores the kind of solutions-oriented discussions we're going to be having at the Progress Summit."

The Progress Summit will take place from March 28-30 in Ottawa. The latest speakers list, including keynote speaker biographies and photos, is available online at www.broadbentinstitute.ca/en/summit.

In last year’s Speech from the Throne, the Harper government promised to introduce legislation to require “balanced budgets during normal economic times, and concrete time lines for return to balance in the event of an economic crisis.”

This proposed legislation makes little sense in terms of sound economic policy. But it will likely be introduced as part of the federal budget, expected early next month.

As Christopher Ragan argued in a previous Economy Lab commentary, it is simplistic to think we can set out firm rules for responsible fiscal policy, the conduct of which demands a nuanced understanding of the state of the economy and of public finances.