The election of 1974 was close at hand, and once again Colin Brown was determined to make the elected relate to the people. He planned an advertisement to be directed to all the political parties contesting the election.  They would be asked to respond to five questions.

Unlike past endeavors, Colin Brown canvassed 1000 business men in advance, asking each to make a $100 contribution toward planned advertising. Those who responded became the original members of the Citizens Coalition.

These contributions were used to place this ad which ran in both French and English in major daily newspapers from coast to coast. The appearance of this ad marked the turning point in Colin Brown's one man fight to establish a national conscience.

As a result of this ad 25,000 coupons reached Coalition headquarters.

The coupons were copied in triplicate so that copies could be sent to the headquarters of each of the three major parties for purposes of confirmation. As promised, the Citizens Coalition gave all the political parties free advertising. An ad was placed after the parties, with the exception of the NDP, answered the questions.

The ad pointedly did not comment or editorialize on the answers. It merely asked the voters to read the answers prior to voting.

It is interesting to note that in the election itself the NDP lost seats. They had refused to answer the questions.