Coffee Party of Canada proposes better way to spend coffee break

The mythical “Tim Hortons voters” of Canada now have a political movement to call their own — the Coffee Party of Canada, for those who want better service from their governments and big business. It’s not a Tea Party movement, nor is it affiliated with the U.S version of the Coffee Party.

In fact, this Coffee Party is not a political party at all — it’s an offshoot of Democracy Watch, a long-time Ottawa ethics advocacy group led by Duff Conacher. “If Canadians spent as much time writing politicians about their concerns as they spend lining up to buy coffee, we would have the good, democratic governments and responsible big businesses we want,” the Coffee Party declared in its debut news release Thursday.

Conacher says the Coffee Party, to be launched Friday, will be composed of citizens who want to make “governments and big businesses operate more honestly, ethically, openly, representatively, efficiently and effectively.”

The Canadian version of the Coffee Party wants voters simply to use their coffee breaks to press for more accountability from governments and business.

“So please gather a few friends together, make or buy some coffee, and no matter what problem concerns, you help make Canadian governments and corporations solve your problem by writing letters, printing out the “I’m Voting for Good Government” sticker, donating and telling everyone you know about CoffeeParty.ca,” the news release states.

This new movement comes just as the issue of corporate tax cuts — and the issue of corporate privilege overall — is shaping up to be a major issue in any future election campaign.

Pollster Nik Nanos says corporations may be emerging as a target of public antipathy because of high-profile failures in recent years that have resulted in economic chaos, unemployment and lost pensions, on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border.

“Things like Enron, the demise of Nortel and the banking crisis have severely undermined the confidence that many Canadians have in big business,” Nanos says.

“In terms of the cuts to corporate taxes, a key factor is that the greater the proximity of a political initiative to the everyday lives of Canadians the more likely it can move the numbers. Personal income tax relief can move numbers — corporate tax relief is once removed for most Canadians and therefore has less of a direct impact.”

As well, since the banning of corporate donations to political parties, federal politicians may now feel freer to be less cozy with big business. On Wednesday, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff described big corporations — once a large source of Liberal donations — as the “richest and most powerful” interests in the country, at odds with the interests of Canadian families.