A Winning Campaign

NOVEMBER 22, 2024  –

We’re excited to announce the release of A Winning Campaign, written by Mike Balkwill, VP of Campaigns and Engagement at Small Change Fund, and Sam Demby. This is an inspiring story of grassroots organizing and a victory that has made a lasting impact on communities and ecosystems in Ontario.  

Stories about successful campaigns offer hope and inspiration for grassroots community organizing. Too often, we hear discouraging stories about campaigns that fail. Examples of residents successfully protecting their communities and ecosystems from powerful private interests are harder to find.

A Winning Campaign is a case study that explores how the residents’ group Get Concerned Stratford defeated a factory slated to be built on prime farmland. Stratford City Council and the Ontario government worked in secrecy over a two-year period to make the Xinyi Canada Glass proposal a ‘done deal’. However, once this proposal was revealed, Get Concerned Stratford were able to reverse the plans in just over fifteen weeks. The Stratford residents’ victory was so complete that the Minister’s Zoning Order imposed by the Ontario government was rescinded, a planner associated with the project was disciplined by his professional association and Stratford Council was rebuked by the Integrity Commissioner for its secretive behaviour. 

The authors describe this fight as a ‘textbook’ campaign which illustrates several lessons about effective grassroots campaigning. The main message of this story is that there is a method to winning campaigns that people in communities anywhere can use.