It all began in June 1984 when Freedom Party Action Director Marc Emery sent a letter to the editor of the London Free Press which was critical of London City Council's attempt to host the 1991 Pan-American Games in London. The event would have cost municipal, provincial, and federal taxpayers over $100 million. Emery's letter, lengthy because of its many facts, statistics and philosophical arguments, was printed by the paper but edited significantly enough to leave anyone reading it only partially informed as to the economic and political significance and long-term effects of London's hosting such a large government sponsored extravaganza.

What to do? How could he make sure that Londoners had all the facts necessary to base their decision on, a decision that would affect the future of the community of London for many years to come? So, on the advice of his lawyer, Emery decided to reprint his original unedited letter in the form of a pamphlet and after gathering a team of volunteers to help him with deliveries, 15,000 pamphlets were delivered in the immediate area around his home.

In addition to his original statement, Emery's pamphlet encouraged citizens to call their aldermen and to write letters to the editor of the daily paper. Sure enough, within two months, over 50 letters of support showed up in the pages of the London Free Press, prompting the media to focus attention on his efforts. City Councillors were swamped with calls protesting the tax-financed Games, while Emery himself received over 100 calls of encouragement.

Clearly, Pan-Am 1991 was an issue with long-term political potential.

By October 1984, Emery, in conjunction with Freedom Party, printed an 8-page, much more sophisticated brochure to deliver to every home in the city of London. Though not promoted as an official Freedom Party publication, the party was given credit on the brochure as the supporting organization behind Emery's efforts. Donations were solicited and post-paid cards were enclosed to obtain an active and current list of donors, volunteers, and supporters.

Response to the campaign was generated so quickly that by November our first issue of the No-Tax for Pan-Am Newsletter was printed to keep respondents updated and informed as to developments on the issue.

By December, our second newsletter encouraged its over-500 subscribers to attend a City Hall Council meeting where an important vote to commit tax dollars to Pan-Am 1991 was coming up. Supporters packed City Hall's public gallery, despite having to wait for over three hours for the issue to be motioned. Throughout the entire event, including over sixty minutes of debate on the issue, Freedom Party supplied free coffee, banners and placards for supporters in attendance. With obviously nervous and agitated glances cast back at the packed gallery, municipal politicians nevertheless chose to vote in favour of the tax-funded scheme, though this was certainly not unexpected.

We lost the vote, but we gained the respect of the public and a good deal of long-term political credibility. By this time, Freedom Party President Robert Metz assumed the role of "chairman" for the No-Tax for Pan-Am Committee, and he used the position to focus his efforts on deflecting comments and opposition criticisms that insisted Emery was nothing more than a "one man band" who was out to make a political reputation for himself --- despite the fact that the No-Tax for Pan-Am Committee was the only group offering any documented evidence of the support behind it.

In fact, every straw poll taken on support for tax-funding Pan-Am 1991 averaged a 75% rate of opposition to the idea --- which meant a rate of 75% support for us. One supporter, Stan Hall, became so irate when he watched a local cablecast program promoting the Games that he called the cable company up himself and scheduled Metz and Emery to be his "guests" on a talk show presenting the other side of the issue. The program was re-broadcast regularly during the period that a decision on Pan-Am was still pending.

As the campaign continued, over 1,000 cards of support and over $2,000 in donations were received by April 1985, which helped to offset Emery's personally incurred costs of over $10,000.

Our fourth newsletter mailed to supporters contained two cards addressed to government representatives: one to Gordon Walker, MPP, and the other to Otto Jelinek, federal Minister of Fitness and Amateur Sport. After receiving over 600 cards and letters from No-Tax for Pan-Am supporters, Jelinek sent letters acknowledging their receipt to everyone who mailed in their cards.

It was Jelinek, of course, who was the minister responsible for calling a halt to federal funds being used to host Pan-Am 1991. And it wasn't long afterwards that London City Council conceded defeat on the proposal.

By the time our No-Tax for Pan-Am campaign wound down, over 45,000 homes in London had received a copy of our brochure, over 140 letters of support appeared in the editorial pages of the London Free Press, and Metz and Emery received extensive media coverage on the issue, including C.B.C. radio and television, local television, radio talk shows, cablecasts, and public debates and presentations.

It took exactly one year, $10,000, and the efforts of many committed supporters --- but we did it! Freedom Party, Marc Emery, the No-Tax for Pan-Am Committee and its supporters can share in the knowledge that they played an effective and significant role in saving $10 million of Londoners' taxes, and over $90 million in federal and provincial taxes. By helping convince the federal government not to subsidize another gigantic money loser and by keeping City Council clearly on the run for over a year, there's only one way to judge the results of our efforts --- we won! --- and against all the odds. Remember, much of the print media and broadcast media was definitely against us on this issue, yet the ultimate decision still worked in our favour.

This is just the beginning of things to come!

How about you? Freedom Party's Marc Emery or Robert Metz will be glad to come to your community to help you out in a similar style campaign for freedom! It does not have to be a "partisan" issue for us to be involved.

We'll show you how to organize for the long-term, how to issue press releases, raise money, get lists of supporters and volunteers, how to pack City Hall, how to philosophically control the direction of public debate, etc., etc., etc. Our experience will be invaluable to you in saving money, making efficient use of your time, getting the issue across and winning the battle!

Call us!

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Page last updated on April 28, 2002