New Liberal Highlight: Ramsey Kilani

Ramsey Kilani is a data engineer with a passion for politics and policy, who founded and has run the Toronto chapter of CNL (Center for New Liberalism) since 2019. He has been actively involved in various political activities, including protests, canvassing, and building relationships with local lobbying groups, while also contributing to the founding of More Neighbours Toronto, a YIMBY group that has successfully advocated for urban density initiatives. Ramsey's commitment to new liberal ideals and community building extends beyond local efforts, as he served on the 2023 CNL Steering Committee and is serving for anther term in 2024.

What drove you to the Center for New Liberalism, and what does it mean to you to be a New Liberal?

I initially got involved with the Center for New Liberalism through the subreddit. My political ideas had been slowly evolving over the years, searching for a philosophy that made sense to me and my values. After graduating from University, and finding myself with more free time, I decided to invest it into the Toronto New Liberal chapter, and now we've got a community bigger than I ever could have imagined.

To me, being a New Liberal means valuing progress, equality, and freedom, while focusing on finding the best policies to actually implement these values, from both an evidence based and pragmatic perspective. It's about balancing those values with the policies that can actually implement them. Sustainable, real progress is incremental and requires making positive trade-offs. By accumulating these small but meaningful changes, we work towards creating a better society.

You're the chapter lead for the Toronto New Liberals. Can you talk a little bit about what you've done to advance New Liberal values in Toronto?

Two main things I would point to. One, is the huge community of like minded people we've founded here in Toronto. These people all exist, want to make Toronto and Ontario better, and have similar ideas about what that looks like. Between our monthly meetups and our online chats, I've turned a disparate group of politicos into a strong community network. We can go to each other for political, life, or job advice, and learn from each other on what we can do next in the work that we do.

Which leads to the second, the impact we've been able to have in the city. Toronto New Liberals are heavily involved in More Neighbours Toronto, as well as the Ontario Liberal party. We've managed to push the city's politicians, and its policies, distinctly more YIMBY through More Neighbours. And our distinct presence in the Ontario Liberal Party has seen the new leader take a hard swing towards not just building more housing, but an overall abundance agenda. It's amazing what you can do when you get a group of good people talking together.

You serve as one of our international representatives on the CNL steering committee - with your international perspective, why do you think it's so important to advance new liberal values not just in the US, but in Canada and around the world?

While the US is central to the liberal international order, the US can't operate on its own. With growing illiberalism in China, Russia, and India, it's becoming increasingly important that as many people as possible are introduced to and brought into the liberal tradition. The values we inherit are the ones needed to make a better world, and everyone in the world deserves to be part of that. Much of Africa is still growing and will be a huge presence in the future, and we can't forget anyone if we truly want to see a globalized sustainable liberalism.

Why should people get more involved with their local CNL chapter?

I think the obvious answer here would be to help you get more involved in your local politics where you can make a real difference. Going to events with other people with similar values is a LOT easier than going alone. You get to lobby your local politicians together, and who knows, people in your chapter may already have some good connections to people you would love to meet and influence.

But to me your local chapter is more than that. Its a community of like minded individuals, who can easily become friends given enough time together. I've met some of my closest friends through the Toronto chapter, and if you consider yourself a New Liberal, I'm sure you will meet many wonderful people at yours.