April | 2013 | Pirate Party of Canada

Keep DRM Out Of HTML 5

April 30, 2022

The Pirate Party of Canada has signed an open letter with the Free Software Foundation (FSF) encouraging the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to reject the Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) proposal as a part of HTML, the foundation of the web as most people know it. The proposal establishes the foundation for what will be used as a Digital Rights Management (DRM) system built into our web, this isn't just bad because it blocks Canadians from using content under fair dealings, but also because it ...
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Mutual Mentoring Start-Up Program

April 24, 2022

We would like to see trial programs across Canada in which promising students are paired with older people with contextual expertise and provided with an opportunity to start a business, with state support through the provision of space, legal advice and accountancy, preferably in a startup incubator-like space. This would give both young people the opportunity to start a business and work with people who have long term experience, and would support older people who want to start a business but ...
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Balanced and Flexible Paid Parental Leave

April 24, 2022

Canada should introduce balanced and flexible parental leave, to be available to both partners. We would propose a system where both the mother and father of a child each have a minimum amount of time off 'banked', and then an additional allocation to be divided between them, obviously this includes LGBT people too.

Establish Citizen’s Income (“Mincome”)

April 24, 2022

In Dauphin, Manitoba in the 1970's, Canada tried an experimental minimum income ("mincome") program. The results were encouraging, but it was shut down by an incoming federal government and its results were locked away without study. We want to revive the mincome program, first on an experimental level to prove feasibility, and then on a national level. A Citizen's Income is an unconditional, non-withdrawable income payable to each individual as a right of citizenship. Consumer spending drives ...
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Efficiently Process Asylum Seekers and Treat Them Properly

April 24, 2022

Quite rightly, Canada is a party to international agreements pertaining to asylum. We have an obligation to provide sanctuary to those individuals who have been forced to flee their homes. We should ensure that those people who come to Canada seeking asylum are treated fairly and are given decisions quickly about their status. Once asylum seekers have been granted asylum they should be given assistance to ensure that their time here is productive and beneficial to them and to Canada, including a...
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Digital Accessibility

April 24, 2022

We will promote the inclusion of accessibility features, such as subtitles and audio descriptions for the disabled. Our aim is to make content accessible for disabled people. We will introduce an obligation for publishers to provide a DRM-free copy of their product where necessary to allow the use of accessibility programs (for example, voice synthesiser software to "read out" an e-book to a visually impaired person).

A Fairer Deal for Interns

April 24, 2022

We will ensure that the minimum wage applies to interns gaining experience within for-profit companies to limit the impact of abuses of the intern system.

A Rational Points Based Immigration System

April 24, 2022

Canada is an immigrant nation. It is built on collaborations between citizens from diverse backgrounds. Canada, at its best, serves as a microcosm for the international community. Collaboration and kinship between all cultures and nationalities From an economic perspective, the demand for certain skills that are in short supply in Canada has made immigration vitally important for both the public and the private sector. Well- managed and well-controlled immigration is important to ensure that C...
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Protect Canadians from Warfare Against Computer Systems

April 24, 2022

Canadian computing infrastructure is potentially vulnerable to backdoor attacks, both by hostile states and possibly by non-state actors such as terrorist groups or private corporations. We would argue that the threat is both large and increasing, and hard to counter. To ensure that Canada is as ready to deal with any concerted attacks on its infrastructure and information systems it is critical that there is funding for research into the threats we face and how to counter them. We support the ...
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Focus Spending on Peace Keeping and Science

April 24, 2022

Canada's military spending should be focused on our conventional peacekeeping forces, especially on forces that can be rapidly deployed. Airborne forces, infantry and other front line units bear the brunt of operations in the 21st century and should be prioritized. The fact Canada's military has such old and worn out equipment is a danger to the troops who protect us. The world is quickly leaving the era of countries fighting other countries, and the Pirate Party proposes that we re-focus the m...
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Improve the Rehabilitation of Offenders

April 23, 2022

We will introduce significant reforms to the system of rehabilitation of offenders in Canada. The current recidivism rate is around 50%, in part due to discrimination against former prisoners after release. The Pirate Party will propose removing the requirement to declare spent criminal convictions and toughen legislation making it illegal to discriminate against people with spent convictions.

Make Extradition Fair

April 23, 2022

No extradition should be permitted where a Canadian judges deems that an extradition would not be in the interests of justice. We will ensure that Canadian judges have the power to halt an extradition until they were satisfied that a case is trial ready, as well as the power to refuse extradition where the country seeking extradition is clearly not the appropriate place for trial. We would also seek clearer rules to deal with cases where there is a multinational aspect to ensure cases are handl...
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Adopt the Passive House Standard for All New Buildings

April 23, 2022

The Passive House standard requires a house to be be so well constructed and insulated that it is warm enough without requiring much heating; typically it will require no heating at all. 30,000 passive houses have been built around the world and Canada should work to catch up. We will aim to ensure that all new houses built in Canada adhere to a reasonable standard that is as close to the Passive House standard in terms of aims as possible.

Mandatory “Carbon Footprint” Labelling for Big-Ticket Items

April 23, 2022

We should require that carbon footprint ratings are extended and applied on more products, especially those that have large carbon footprints when created. These items should then be labelled when sold.

Investing in Alternative Clean Energy Sources

April 23, 2022

Power generation will be a major issue facing Canada in the coming decade. The next government will have to get an effective and environmentally sound policy to deal with increasing generation capacity. We believe that the focus should be on renewable energy (such as offshore wind and tidal power generation) as well as investigating and developing new technologies, including nuclear, and continuing to improve the effectiveness of existing ones (e.g. Improving solar cells efficiency, nuclear wast...
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The Polluter Pays

April 22, 2022

We believe that if you damage the environment, it is your responsibility to pay for that damage to be reversed. The air around us, our waterways, and our landscapes are all common property. If they are damaged though an accident or through activity that pollutes, then that damage should be fixed. The government has a duty to ensure that those who cause such damage pay to do so. In the event that damage is global, as with climate change, it is doubly important to ensure that damaging activities a...
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Federal Support For Mental Health and Addiction

April 22, 2022

Some provinces are not providing adequate mental health solutions to their residents, as such the federal government should establish a system which will give incentives to support mental health and addiction programs. Improving the treatment of addicts and mentally ill citizens will reduce the rate of poverty, homelessness, and drug abuse on our streets.

‘Set up A Business’ Experience

April 22, 2022

We will trial a program where 16-year-olds are encouraged to set up a small business as part of a work experience program during or at the end of their final year of school. The program would aim to actually establish viable businesses and provide the skills and experience required to run a small business.

Make Publicly Funded Academic Research Available To All

April 22, 2022

We believe that it is vital that the results of academic research produced in universities that receive public money should be available to all through a Creative Commons BY SA licence.

Let All Schools Access National Media Library

April 22, 2022

The CBC, Library and Archives Canada, and other appropriate groups should be asked to establish a national media library for educational establishments. A large catalogue of material for students and teachers to make use of would diversify and increase the quality of media material available in education and would save money by centralising administration and technical costs.

Invest in Teachers

April 22, 2022

Schools should have the freedom to spend their budgets as they see fit and should be encouraged to invest in knowledgeable, enthusiastic and well qualified teachers. Over the last decade we have seen vast sums wasted on expensive school IT systems, often with maintenance, software licensing and other excessive or unnecessary costs attached. To make matters worse, schools are often locked into these costly systems for long periods, reducing schools' abilities to adapt to new technology and provid...
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Reduce Class Sizes

April 22, 2022

Class sizes have a measurable impact on the performance of students of all ages. We would set a maximum class size, not as a guideline, but as a requirement for all schools within Canada with exceptions for schools where parents and governors actively want to see larger class sizes and are using some other methods to mitigate any negative impact.

Lifetime Access to Education

April 22, 2022

The best time to learn is in the earliest years, but for many people life events can mean that they miss out on education, or due to personal issues they may be incapable of taking full advantage of the education available to them up to the age of 18. We are committed to providing easy access to both basic education and higher education for all; we believe that Canada can build on the excellent foundations already laid by the Open University. University tuition fees should be frozen and eventual...
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