Digital Copyright Canada

The Swedish Pirate Party (Wikipedia) has won one seat (possibly two) in the 2009 European parliamentary elections.

The by-elections are now being extended into a general election. As of the dissolving of this parliament the seat standing was as follows:

Conservatives 127
Liberal 95
Bloc 48
NDP 30
Green 1
Independent 3
Vacant 4.

Pollster Nik Nanos did a talk (Video online) on how the Internet is changing politics.

First he notes that it hasn't thus far increased engagement, with declining voter turnout being one indication. I don't know if that is a good indication as my perception has been that the people most engaged on the Internet are more likely to feel their vote doesn't currently count, and thus are more likely to support electoral reform.

There is a video on Lessig08.org about the Change Congress movement he has launched as well as his current thinking about whether he might run for congress.

This should be interesting to Canadians for a few reasons.

Read the rest of this entry on IT World Canada's BLOG »

While watching a TV Ontario show last night (See BLOG post) with a panel on Copyright I heard a familiar statement: That Copyright is too distant an issue from people to actually change their votes.

This isn't what I have been hearing.

Copyright, Patent, etc lawyer Howard Knopf speculates about how Copyright could become an election issue given how some very articulate and informed Canadians are watching this file.

While there has been considerable finger-pointing about the past from all parties about Kyoto, a vote last night has clearly stated the current position of each of the parties. There is really no more need for debate about what parties will help do Canada's share in ensuring a future for our planet and our children, and which will not.

I'm not the sort of person to follow a specific political party. The concept of a political party, in general, deviates from my approach to democracy: I prefer to focus on the local candidates rather than the party for fear of inaccurate representation. An example of this would be when back in university where Peter MacKay was running in the Central Nova riding. At that time, he might've seemed an unlikely choice for me. He was so well spoken and energetic that I seriously considered voting for him. In the end, though, I felt he was too committed to his party's platform to be an adequate MP for me.

List of Political Parties with candidates + Independent

• Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada (1)
• Bloc Québécois (75)
• Canadian Action Party (34)
• Christian Heritage Party of Canada (45)
• Communist Party of Canada (21)
• Conservative Party of Canada (308)
• First Peoples National Party of Canada (5)
• Green Party of Canada (308)
• Independent (85)
• Liberal Party of Canada (308)
• Libertarian Party of Canada (10)
• Marijuana Party (23)
• Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada (69)
• New Democratic Party (308)
• No Affiliation (5)
• Progressive Canadian Party (25)
• Western Block Party (4)

Database source: Elections Canada.

See also: Registered Political Parties and Parties Eligible for Registration (Elections Canada) , Political Parties (this site)

The following was sent to the leaders of all 15 registered parties, and the candidates in my riding of Ottawa South.

I strongly agree with Michael Geist when he says that the party leaders should take a Copyright Pledge. It would hold that:

No Member of Parliament who has accepted financial contributions or other benefits from (i) a copyright lobby group, (ii) its corporate members, or (iii) senior executives as well as (iv) a copyright collective shall serve as Minister of Canadian Heritage or as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage, nor sit on any legislative committee (parliamentary or standing committees) conducting hearings or deliberations on copyright matters.

Pledge comes from Cleaning Up Copyright, by Michael Geist.

Update: Online Rights Canada has an online petition for all Canadians to sign onto to ask politicians to take the pledge.