How to contact your councillors
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Search for your city or town website on the internet. Find the page with your councillors’ emails.
Create a spreadsheet with their name, email, and phone number. Use other columns to keep
track of interactions going forward. A shared Google spreadsheet is a good way to collaborate
with friends in your community.
Send a separate email to your mayor and each councillor. Why? If multiple recipients receive a
“Dear Mayor and Councillors” sort of email, councillors are less likely to reply. If they each
receive an individually addressed email, councillors are more likely to reply.
Follow-up with a phone call approximately a week after sending the email. Let them know you’d
like to discuss the matter further and get it on the agenda so you can present it to council.
Work with the most receptive councillors to advance the idea.
Template email
Dear [Mayor / Councillor LAST NAME],
I live in [CITY/TOWN] and I am deeply concerned about climate change.
I’m writing to you to share an idea that’s being advocated for in communities across Canada: climate
change & air pollution information labels on gas pumps. The concept was developed by a Canadian nonprofit called Our Horizon and has been endorsed by over a hundred academics and leaders in their field
from a variety of disciplines at universities across North America.
On January 26, 2015, West Vancouver unanimously passed a resolution “... that all vendors of retail
petroleum products in Canada be legislated to provide warning labels on all pump handles...”. Since
then, Councils across Canada have endorsed the concept. The resolution was also supported by Mayors
and Councillors from across B.C. when it was passed at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities in
September 2015. Several weeks later, the City of North Vancouver became the first jurisdiction in the
world to vote to implement the labels locally. Several other communities followed shortly thereafter
and the idea is now also being pursued in a number of cities in the United States.
North Vancouver’s vote was covered in media across North America (see: CBC, Global
News, CTV, VICE, The Atlantic, Business Insider, Climate Progress, Univision, etc.) and has been shared
via social media all over the world. The idea is spreading and more communities are expected to follow
their example of leadership in the coming months. To share these examples of leadership beyond our
borders, volunteers across Canada have been building a global database of politicians so that Our
Horizon can send a massive email about it to leaders from around the world.
I would like for our community to support the idea in one of two ways:
(1) Support a by-law to require the labels on gas pumps in our community. Our Horizon’s legal
research is available here. Lidstone & Company, a local government law firm based in Vancouver,
conducted a review of their legal report that concluded, “In our opinion, a requirement to place labels
on gas nozzles could be validly imposed pursuant to a municipality’s power to regulate business.” Please
read the full report at Our Horizon’s website for more information.
(2) Pass a resolution calling on the federal and provincial government to implement the concept. If you
have concerns with respect to jurisdiction, this approach still advances the idea and supports Our
Horizon’s advocacy with these orders of government. Oakville’s resolution in support is available here
and can be used as an example.
To learn more, please read Rob Shirkey’s article in Municipal World titled, “Creating a New ‘Normal’:
Using air pollution labels on gas pumps as a step in addressing climate challenges” or watch his TEDx talk
here. Rob is a lawyer and founder of the campaign.
I would like to discuss this with you further at your earliest convenience. Please reach me by email so we
can arrange a phone call or a conversation at your office.
Sincerely,
[FIRST NAME, LAST NAME]
[CITY/TOWN, PROVINCE]