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