About Leadnow
Leadnow.ca is an independent community that brings generations of Canadians together for progress through democracy. Leadnow was founded in 2010 by a group of young people who care about a wide range of issues and wanted to create a new way for people to participate effectively in our democracy.
Our founding objectives are to deepen our democracy, strengthen our communities, advance social justice, extend economic opportunity and protect our planet. We're building an independent community that works together to help set the political agenda, take effective action on important issues, and shift elections.
Our community launched before the federal election by facilitating a process that brought thousands of Canadians together to create the Declaration for Change. Then we helped turn the vote mobs into a national movement to rally the youth vote and tell politicians they needed to sit up and listen. After the election, over 8,000 Canadians joined us to tell Prime Minister Harper that he won a majority of seats, but he does not have a majority of support. We told him that we would build a movement to hold him accountable, build support for democratic reform, and achieve progress on the major challenges facing our society at all levels of government. Now it’s time to step up, get organized, and act.
Campaigns Director
Matthew Carroll is Leadnow's Campaigns Director. He has a decade of experience as an organizer, facilitator and campaign strategist, working with a variety of non-profits, public institutions and governments. Originally from England, he now lives in Grimsby, Ontario, where his wife's family have been farming for seven generations.
Executive Director & Co-founder
Leadnow's full-time co-founders, Adam Shedletzky and Jamie Biggar, are working with a multi-partisan network that has a wide range of passions and expertise. Both Adam and Jamie started organizing and campaigning in Canada's youth climate movement.
Advisors
- Alex Michalos – Emeritus Professor (Political Science), University of Northern British Columbia; Author of 22 books; Editor in Chief for the Journal of Business Ethics; Director of Research for the Canadian Index of Well-Being; Member of the Order of Canada
- Alnoor Ladha – Director of Strategy, Purpose.com (building 21st century movements); Formerly at Ogilvy & Mather, J. Walter Thompson and Mother
- Ben Brandzel – Int'l practitioner & trainer in online organizing; Former Director of New Media for Barack Obama, Founding Adviser/Board Member of 38Degrees.org.uk and Avaaz.org, Advocacy Director for MoveOn.org
- Beth Wilson – Managing Partner, KPMG (Community Leadership), Board member of National Ballet of Canada & Cabinet member of United Way; one of Canada's "100 most powerful women"
- Ian Capstick – Owner, MediaStyle.ca; Former Press Secretary to Jack Layton, Frequent Media Commentator
- Jim Stanford – Economist, Canadian Auto Workers; Frequent Media Commentator
- Judy Rebick – Journalist, author, political activist and feminist; Founding Publisher Rabble.ca, Former Chair in Social Justice and Democracy at Ryerson University
- Julia Pope – Communications director for a company developing asthma therapeutics; Background in regional electoral politics and journalism; Participant in the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives’ 2012 NextUp leadership program.
- Robin Sears – Partner, Navigator Ltd (Strategic Communications); Former Nat'l Campaign Director, NDP
- Ross McGregor – Director, Tides Canada & Waterfront Toronto; Former President & CEO of Ketchum Canada & Toronto Region Research Alliance
- Susan McLennan – President & Founder, Babble On Communications
- Vicky Husband – Long-time Environmental Activist; Former Conservation Chair, Sierra Club of BC; Member of the Order of Canada & Order of BC