Friday, February 4, 2011

OTTAWA - Today, Democracy Watch announced that in only its first week, the CoffeeParty.ca movement site has had more than 85,000 hits from across Canada, and dozens of people are contacting Democracy Watch about spreading the word and organizing coffee parties to write letters pushing Canadian governments to strengthen good government and corporate responsibility laws.

Media in a few cities in Canada have gone to local coffee shops and asked customers whether they support changes to make Canadian governments and businesses more honest, ethical, open, representative and waste-preventing, and have found widespread support for the CoffeeParty.ca movements goals.

"Surveys over the past 20 years show that a large majority of Canadians want stronger good government and corporate responsibility laws and enforcement systems, and the CoffeeParty.ca movement will keep pushing for those changes until politicians across the country finally clean things up," said Duff Conacher, Coordinator of Democracy Watch and its five nation-wide coalitions made up of more than 120 citizen groups from across Canada with a total membership of more than three million Canadians.

With a federal election looming, and with elections scheduled this fall in Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan and Yukon, the window of opportunity is open for many Canadians to elect politicians and governments committed to making themselves, and big businesses, more accountable and responsible.