Feedback from Ceasefire.ca supporters

Reducing the influence of Canada’s military industrial complex and transferring military spending to issues more relevant and beneficial to Canadians should be the top priority for Ceasefire.ca in 2014, according to many of its supporters. More than 1300 supporters completed the Annual 2014 Member Survey, and 124 posted comments, expressing their goals and concerns for the upcoming year.

Jim Coupland, a Ceasefire.ca supporter, wrote,

I like the direction that Ceasefire is taking and it’s sharing of various points of view. We must first use our resources to meet the needs of those who inhabit this world.

Ceasefire.ca supporters are looking for Canada to get out of the business of arms sales and manufacturing, to reduce military spending, and to cancel unnecessary equipment purchases such as armed drones and the F-35 fighter. The cancellation of the planned $2-billion purchase of close combat vehicles, which even the Army eventually decided was unnecessary, shows that such projects can be stopped (read more about Ceasefire.ca’s campaign against the CCV here).

Soraya said,

I really appreciate Ceasefire’s hard work on exposing the Industrial Military Complex. It’s great to see Stephen Staples on mainstream media enlightening people of what is really going on in our so called democracy… We need a ‘Mandela’ to get us back on track working for peace, not war. Keep up the good work

Another Ceasefire.ca supporter, M. Warner, wrote,

Please keep doing the research and providing reliable information about matters affecting peace, violence, and Canada’s role in the world. This past year, I greatly appreciated the evidence-based revelations about relationships between our politicians and the war/military industry, and about the costs of our highly selective (i.e. arms and combat vehicles) military expenditures.

Ceasefire.ca supporters want a new Canadian government that will adopt a more far-sighted approach to peace and security issues, the environment, social justice, and global citizenship.

However, with elections quickly approaching in 2015, opinions vary on how best to ensure the defeat of the current government. Although the Green Party (25.8%) and Liberal Party (12.2%) have been gaining in popularity in our supporter surveys in recent years, nearly half of Ceasefire.ca supporters would vote in favour of NDP in an upcoming election (45.1%). Among decided voters, 53.4% would vote for the NDP, compared to 30.7% for the Greens and 15.2% for the Liberals.

Differences exist between supporters concerning voting strategies — in particular, whether to vote for the party of their preference or the party most likely to defeat the Conservatives. For example, Fiona, a supporter of Ceasefire.ca, argued that

The Liberal Party is our best chance of crushing the Harper Government next time round. We all have to vote strategically if we finally hope to end the Harper tyranny.

Other supporters see little difference between the Liberals and the Harper Conservatives and urge different approaches.

Over 1000 supporters (more than 81%) said the frequency of Ceasefire.ca’s emails was “just right”, indicating that the high level of satisfaction of recent years continues.

For more detailed statistics and results from the 2014 Ceasefire.ca Member Survey please click here.

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Tags: Arms industry, Canada, Canadian military spending, Ceasefire.ca, Close Combat Vehicles, Defence spending, Drones, Election, Military spending, Public opinion, Stephen Harper, Steven Staples