David Ascroft

David Ascroft joined the Pirate Party of Canada in April 2011 but was too late to get on the ballot in time for the May 2nd, 2011 General Election. A Carleton University alumnus he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and continues to hone his acquired language skills whenever possible. He has served as community chairperson/mayor for the military enclave communities of Fort Henry Heights (East Kingston) and Elizabeth Park (South Ottawa). A former serving member of the Canadian Forces he retired as a Chief Petty Officer in 2006. Since retirement he has applied his talents to a number of successful commercial business ventures in Rideau-Carleton, the National Capital Region and across Canada.

His dedication to working with Youth at Risk earned him a House of Commons award for volunteerism and he has been awarded distinguished citizen and humanitarian awards by the Canadian Blood Services and the Canadian Red Cross Society. He has also been awarded the Special Service Medal, the Canadian Forces Decoration with clasp and military commendations.

David currently owns & operates a micro-farm in Rideau-Carleton raising sunflowers, heritage breeds of fowl, pheasants and emus..

A proponent of rural issues, he has been a director or member of the Carleton Landowners Association, the former Ontario Small Farm Producers Association as well as the Metcalfe Agricultural Society, the Central Canada Exhibition Association, the Ontario Farmers Association and other farming & ranching associations. He seeks to curb suburban sprawl because of it’s deleterious influence on family farms, orchards and agri-businesses. His aim is to find a better balance between the needs of the suburban and rural groups in our community.

He is a staunch proponent of open, transparent & accessible government.

Proudly Canadian!

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>>>Pourquoi le Parti Pirate?<<<

Why Pirate Party?

1. Open Democracy

One of our main founding principles was Open Government. This means an Open Data policy with proactive disclosure and free access to government data. This will allow anyone to scrutinize and catch any error, negligence or corruption early on. Open Government also means increased transparency, and giving constituents real voices. This can be achieved with electoral reform .

2. Mincome / Basic Income Guarantee (B.I.G.)

Unemployment and income inequality is on the rise and we risk a breakdown of social cohesion without a system for resource distribution as we face increased automation. We're shifting from a bureaucratic culture of constant work-demands to a culture of passion, joy, and learning for the sake of learning.

Mincome will lead to cost savings and create a sustainable economy. See our press release for how that can be achieved.

3. Autonomy and Decentralization

We believe that the world works best when individuals are making informed decisions. It is our goal to get all information to all people, so they may be more informed voters, consumers, participants, and teachers. We do not need to force information culture & the hacker ethic onto people we can simply allow them to choose access. We believe the right to choose our identity, name, and appearance is inalienable.

4. Copyright and Patent Reform
Copyright and patent's main purpose was for propagation of culture and innovation. Our current copyright and patent laws are continuously being corrupted due to lobbying by copyright and patent monopolist. These monopolist refuses to innovate and provide wider access and pass on the savings from the new lower distribution cost. Instead the copyright and patent terms keeps getting extended to benefit the few to the detriment of the public interest. The opposite should happen. Copyright and patent terms should be shortened since our new information infrastructure (i.e. the internet) have brought us cheaper and faster means of distributing media contents and information. Mandatory licensing, owner's rights to a non-DRM product, open access to research data and shorter copyright term are some of the natural changes that is needed if we want to create a more open and progressive society. This will ensure future artist and innovator are not hampered by patent and copyright gatekeepers who uses rent seeking law for anti-competitive purposes.

Human beings increasingly have a moral duty to share information with one another. Libraries are stuck in the last century, enforcing artificial scarcity on digital content. If libraries were upgraded for the modern age, we would no longer need filesharing. And let's face it, watching and listening to whatever you want to is fun. It breaks down arbitrary global borders of access and creates a global culture defined by people- not by corporations.

At the Pirate Party- we believe more information leads to better decisions. We believe that more voices leads to better compromises. We believe in Canadians.

Our democracy need a serious upgrade and Pirate Party aims to change politics to the way it should be.