Women in the Centre: Launching a Bold Agenda for Ontario’s Future

Letter to the Founding Members of Women in the Centre

To all the incredible women who’ve joined Women in the Centre,

I want to start this letter with humility. As a man writing to a group of accomplished, capable, and community-driven women, I understand that my role here is not to lead, it’s to support. What follows is not a directive, but a set of suggestions. This agenda is meant to offer a starting point, a framework that I hope serves as a helpful foundation as you decide together what this group will become.

Over the last few years, I’ve listened closely to countless women across Ontario; mothers, professionals, caregivers, entrepreneurs that speak about the structural and personal barriers they continue to face. What I heard was honest, often difficult, and deeply motivating. This group exists because those voices matter and because Ontario needs to reflect them in our politics, in our priorities, and in our leadership.

Women in the Centre is a civic initiative within the Ontario Centrist Party, but it belongs entirely to its members. The agenda below is simply a guide, a tool to help us begin moving in a direction that brings meaningful change to women’s lives across this province.

Vision & Core Deliverables

  • Policy Development: Drive policy that reflects lived experience and supports real progress for women in Ontario.
  • Leadership Pipeline: Identify, mentor, and support women into leadership and political roles across the province.
  • Community Mobilization: Build networks that inform, connect, and empower women to lead change where they live and work.

Year One Priorities

1. Women’s Health & Reproductive Care

  • Establish a taskforce focused on OB/GYN access, postpartum care, and rural health gaps.
  • Advocate for improved mental health resources, including perimenopause and trauma-informed care.
  • Push for stronger data collection and research on women’s long-COVID and cardiovascular risks.

2. Affordable Childcare & Early Learning

  • Design policy for affordable, publicly funded childcare with real municipal flexibility.
  • Support pilot programs for workplace-supported childcare in partnership with local employers.

3. Economic Empowerment

  • Launch a Women Entrepreneurs Fund: grants and mentorship for women-owned businesses.
  • Create a provincial directory to promote women-owned vendors for public procurement.
  • Advocate for fair parental leave and re-entry supports in private sector hiring practices.

4. Leadership & Participation

  • Develop a “Women Candidate Bootcamp” covering fundraising, organizing, and digital campaigning.
  • Establish leadership fellowships with post-secondary and professional institutions.
  • Create a Women’s Advisory Council to influence the party’s platform and policy focus.

5. Equity in Policy & Budgeting

  • Push for mandatory Gender-Based Analysis (GBA+) in all provincial budget decisions.
  • Host an annual Ontario Women’s Budget Summit to assess equity outcomes and impact.
  • Publish annual equity performance reports across key ministries and social programs.

Ongoing Initiatives

Initiative Goal Frequency
Policy Roundtables Bring experts and community members together Quarterly
Mentorship Circles Connect aspiring women leaders to mentors Monthly
Public Forums & Town Halls Direct public engagement on women’s issues Bi-Annual
Research Partnerships Collaborate with think tanks and academics Ongoing
Media & Messaging Amplify women’s leadership stories and ideas Monthly

Measuring Progress

  • Policy Wins: Are our proposals being adopted, heard, or debated?
  • Participation Growth: How many new women are engaging, mentoring, and leading?
  • Community Reach: Are we showing up in the places where women need support?
  • Recognition & Visibility: Are our voices shaping platforms, media, and public thinking?

Next Steps

  • Convene a launch session to align around your top two priorities for the year.
  • Establish working groups based on interest, region, and lived experience.
  • Continue growing the group in a way that reflects your vision, not anyone else’s.

With deep respect and appreciation,

Mansoor Qureshi
Leader, Ontario Centrist Party

Get Involved

Whether you’re ready to lead, learn, or simply connect—there’s a place for you at Women at the Centre.

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Ontario Centrist Party: Strategic Identity Framework

Approved for Party-Wide Distribution – June 2025

Public Identity Groups Strategy: Reframing Participation for a Stronger Ontario

Prepared By: Office of the Party Leader, Mansoor Qureshi

Audience: Executive Council, Constituency Association Chairs, Prospective Group Chairs, Core Volunteers

Purpose: To formally establish the Ontario Centrist Party’s public-facing identity groups as a foundational component of its engagement, recruitment, and policy influence strategy for 2025 and beyond.

Part I: Strategic Overview

Key Insight: The Ontario Centrist Party (CPO) does not need more internal structure—it needs more public story. Voters, members, and media must be able to see themselves in us, quickly and clearly.

Core Principle: Every public-facing initiative must be a story people want to join.

Our challenge is not awareness—it’s resonance. This strategy shifts our engagement model from an administrative function to one of cultural participation. Through five distinct but aligned identity groups, we offer Ontarians accessible and purpose-driven entry points into the party’s movement.

Part II: Identity Group Objectives

The following identity-first groups have been formally adopted by the Ontario Centrist Party. Each is designed to fulfill three core roles:

  • Signal clarity of mission (media-ready, culturally resonant)
  • Provide actionable roles for diverse participants
  • Deliver early proof of the party’s values in practice

Each group is led by its own operational team but operates under the shared brand and policy framework of the Ontario Centrist Party.

Part III: Identity Groups – Missions and Initial Deliverables

1. Women at the Centre

The moral and policy backbone of the party.

Mission: Advance the leadership, safety, and lived-policy priorities of women in Ontario’s civic life.

Initial Deliverables:

  • She Votes. She Speaks. campaign: 20 women, 20 stories (multimedia)
  • Launch Policy in Her Hands roundtable series
  • Recruit 50+ women across riding teams for 2025

2. The Ontario Mirror

Our visible commitment to reflection and inclusion.

Mission: Ensure our platform, practices, and public communications reflect Ontario’s full linguistic, cultural, and lived diversity.

Initial Deliverables:

  • Translate core documents into 3–5 non-English languages
  • Launch We Are the Middle Ground multilingual campaign
  • Facilitate Platform Access Test through community reviewers

3. The Next Table

Where young Ontarians co-author their political future.

Mission: Create policy-building and leadership pathways for Ontarians under 30.

Initial Deliverables:

  • Students Write the Platform challenge
  • Youth blog + shortform video storytelling
  • Establish 10 “Civic Crews” in educational institutions

4. Common Ground Ontario

The civic antidote to polarization.

Mission: Facilitate civic trust by fostering cross-ideological conversations rooted in shared values, not partisanship.

Initial Deliverables:

  • Coffee with the Other Side civic roundtables in 10 ridings
  • Release The Civility Index – Ontario political discourse audit
  • Distribute cross-partisan civic literacy kits to classrooms

5. The Work Ahead

Our flagship on economic dignity and future readiness.

Mission: Design regionally grounded policies that restore economic stability and upward mobility for working Ontarians.

Initial Deliverables:

  • The Broken Ladder white paper: wages, mobility, cost of living
  • Real People, Real Work town halls with public + employers
  • Pilot one region-specific policy (trades, housing, rural jobs)

Part IV: Activation Roadmap

Step 1: Executive Endorsement

  • Executive Council formally recognizes all five groups as core components of the CPO brand and outreach structure.
  • One Executive Liaison assigned per group for leadership continuity.

Step 2: Appoint Founding Chairs

  • Identify a qualified Founding Chair (internal or external) for each group.
  • Provide onboarding brief, mission language, and meeting cadence.

Step 3: Build Core 5 Teams

  • Chair, Deputy Chair, Communications Lead, Organizer, Policy Lead
  • Deadline: All teams operational within 21 days of Chair appointment.

Step 4: Launch Identity Kits

  • Distribute branded visuals, tone-of-voice guidelines, and digital assets.
  • Activate WhatsApp groups, mailing lists, and blog categories.

Step 5: Deliver Public Impact

  • Each group produces a visible deliverable within 6 weeks of launch.
  • All deliverables must include a sign-up mechanism.

Part V: Communications and Review

Documentation & Reporting: Each team will maintain activity logs in a shared drive and hold monthly check-ins with Party Executive.

Quarterly Review: All groups report publicly at each quarterly leadership meeting. Strategic adjustments will be made as needed based on outcomes and operational maturity.

Final Note from the Party Leader

These groups are not designed for symbolic outreach. They are designed for action.

They represent our future base—and more importantly, our future leadership. If we succeed, Ontarians won’t just see themselves reflected. They will feel invited to shape this party with us.

Let us now move from vision to voice, and from strategy to story.

 

Mansoor Qureshi
Party Leader, Ontario Centrist Party

A Letter to Milton: Local Leadership Starts With Listening

Strategic Advisory Note: Milton CA Leadership Priorities

To: Syed Mohsin Rizvi, Chair – Milton CA
From: Mansoor Qureshi, Leader – Ontario Centrist Party
Date: June 2025
Re: Milton Needs Leadership That Solves, Not Just Speaks

Mohsin,

Milton’s growth story is undeniable—but the provincial response has been slow, fragmented, and often dismissive of what residents are going through on the ground.

We don’t need to match other parties in messaging. We need to outperform them in problem-solving. Here’s where you start: these are Milton’s five most urgent issues—at the provincial level—and what you can do right now to start solving them.

1. School Overcrowding and Delayed Provincial Funding

The issue: Milton’s schools are among the most overcrowded in the province. Some have capacity over 120%, with kids spending years in portables.
Why it’s provincial: School board funding formulas are set by Queen’s Park, and capital approvals are slow, especially in high-growth towns like Milton.
What to do:

  • Request a meeting with Halton District School Board and identify top 3 pressure points.
  • Advocate publicly for automatic funding triggers tied to population thresholds—not political lobbying.
  • Start a local campaign: “No More Portables by 2027.”

2. Transit Neglect and East-West Disconnection

The issue: GO Transit focuses on getting people to Toronto—but local connectivity inside Halton is broken. Derry Road, Britannia, and Steeles corridors are congested, unsafe, and underserved.
Why it’s provincial: Metrolinx controls GO expansions and is prioritizing regional hubs over suburban mobility.
What to do:

  • Push for local bus pilot programs between Milton, Oakville, and Burlington through provincial transit grants.
  • Make the case for off-peak and weekend GO train expansion—especially for low-income and shift workers.
  • Collaborate with nearby CA teams to present a united Halton Transit Reform proposal to Queen’s Park.

3. Delayed Health Infrastructure

The issue: Milton’s hospital expansion is badly behind pace. Family doctors are scarce, and the town lacks mental health resources for youth and seniors.
Why it’s provincial: Hospital expansions, clinic licenses, and primary care access are under the Ministry of Health.
What to do:

  • Publish a Milton Care Gaps Report—get data on family doctor shortages, wait times, and service deserts.
  • Advocate for a Satellite Mental Health Hub with walk-in counselling for youth, integrated with local schools and rec centres.
  • Propose local medical student placement incentives in Milton through OMA and provincial channels.

4. Mismanaged Housing Intensification

The issue: Towers are going up, but parking, schools, traffic control, and services are falling behind. Residents feel development is imposed, not integrated.
Why it’s provincial: The Ontario government’s housing targets pressure municipalities, but with no enforcement of infrastructure balance.
What to do:

  • Call for a Growth Readiness Scorecard before provincial approvals: no build gets greenlit unless roads, schools, and clinics are accounted for.
  • Position CPO as the voice for “Yes to Growth, Only If it Works.”
  • Publicly challenge MPPs pushing one-size-fits-all targets without infrastructure accountability.

5. Lack of Provincial Investment in Newcomer Integration

The issue: Milton has one of the highest newcomer settlement rates in Ontario, but provincial services (employment, legal aid, community health) are still centralized in Mississauga or Toronto.
Why it’s provincial: Newcomer programs, ESL, and settlement funding flow through provincial ministries.
What to do:

  • Form a Milton Newcomer Working Group to collect lived experiences.
  • Advocate for decentralized provincial service access points in Milton: employment support, legal aid, and mental health.
  • Push for ESL classroom ratios and funding to reflect post-2020 population data, not outdated projections.

Next Steps for the CA

  • Build your leadership team around these five issue tracks: one volunteer per domain.
  • Begin regular contact with school trustees, regional councillors, and parent associations.
  • Host a Quarterly Milton CA Forum with guest experts—urban planners, educators, doctors—who can ground these problems in data, not just headlines.
  • Share one public dispatch per month: what you’re hearing, what you’re working on, and how residents can help shape policy.

Final Thought

Don’t waste time trying to look like a candidate. Build yourself as a connector—between the community and the provincial system. That’s where real influence begins.

Milton doesn’t just need a voice. It needs a bridge. And you, Mohsin, are in the best position to build it—with full support from the party.

Let me know when you’re ready to turn these tracks into team briefs or public campaigns. I’ll back your strategy fully.

Mansoor Qureshi
Leader, Ontario Centrist Party
https://ontariocentristparty.ca