PRESS RELEASE: CBC Should Change Online Comment Policy

Post Date July 10, 2022
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Category CBC, Internet

Fox Creek, AB - July 10th
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Members of the Pirate Party of Canada recently examined the CBC.ca comment policy as it is applied in practice. While the comment policy itself [1] strikes a good balance between encouraging dialogue about current events and protecting vulnerable individuals featured in their stories, the policy’s implementation appears at times to be inconsistent.
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The policy states that commenting is disabled if “comments may cause harm”. Examples of this type of situation include death of individuals and kidnappings (one would assume any crime …

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PRESS RELEASE: All-time low in Voter Turnout Should be a Wake-up Call

Post Date July 10, 2022
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Category Elections, Fairness

Fox Creek, AB - July 10th
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The by-elections held last week have officially set a new low for voter turnout with less than 20% turnout in the two Alberta races. Part of the reason for this is believed to be the election date which was set to occur right before Canada Day. While by-election turnout is generally lower on average the government should try to avoid making the problem worse. The Pirate Party of Canada believes that it was irresponsible to pick such a date to …

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PRESS RELEASE: NDP rejection of candidate Not Just Their Loss

Post Date July 10, 2022
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Category Elections, Party Discipline

Fox Creek, AB - July 10th
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On July 2 the CBC reported that Paul Manly had been blocked from seeking the NDP’s nomination in Nanaimo-Ladysmith. This is the most recent in a string of issues with federal party nominations among the ‘big three’ parties in Parliament. The reason given was that the NDP feared Paul Manly was going to make Mideast politics an election issue. An assertion that Mr. Manly denies. The Pirate Party of Canada feels that even if that were true it would be insufficient and …

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PRESS RELEASE: Harper Government’s Failing Free Trade Strategy

Post Date July 10, 2022
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Category CETA, Consultations, FIPA, Government Transparency, International Agreements, International Issues, TPP

Fox Creek, AB - July 10th
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Last week Canada was host to negotiations surrounding the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The meetings were held in secret and were not even open to federal ministers. Meanwhile the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) as well as Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Act (FIPA) remain stalled. One of Prime Minister Harper’s only free trade successes has been the free trade agreement with South Korea. At this point what was going to be Harper’s legacy of greater free with …

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Holding Power to Account – Investigative Journalism Conference in Winnipeg

Post Date July 6, 2022
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Category National Issues

We had the pleasure of attending the Investigative Journalism Conference in Winnipeg in June 2014. We always admire journalists who risk their lives to expose the truth. It was nice to see academics, journalists and students gather together learning and discussing investigative journalism.

Here is a short summary from some of the panel and talks from the conference:

Exposing Corruption in Quebec

The CBC Quebec’s counter part Radio-Canada discussed how they exposed the widespread corruption in Quebec. Enquete - the Quebec version of Fifth Estate related how …

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PRESS RELEASE: Pirate Party Opposes Anti-Internet and Anti-Privacy Bills

Post Date June 12, 2022
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Category Internet, National Issues, Parliament, Privacy

Parliament Bills C-13 and S-4 pose imminent threats to privacy and net neutrality

Winnipeg, MB – June 11, 2022 – The Pirate Party of Canada, is a registered political party supporting civil rights, improved democracy, reform of intellectual law, free sharing of knowledge, information privacy, transparency, freedom of information, and network neutrality, announced today its opposition to several anti-internet and anti-privacy bills recently brought before Canadian Parliament. The announcement of opposition is in specific reference to Bills C-13 and S-4, successors to Bill C-30.

Bill …

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Pirate Party Signs Joint Statement Against Mass Surveillance

Post Date May 23, 2022
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Category Internet, Legislation, National Issues, Privacy, United Action

“Over 35 leading academics and 19 organizations sign on in support of the Ottawa Statement on Mass Surveillance, which sets out what needs to be done to protect Canadians from out-of-control mass surveillance”

“Professor David Murakami Wood, Canada Research Chair in Surveillance Studies, Queen’s University, said: “Canada is deploying ever more surveillance in the name of safety and security, but the end result is discrimination, the reduction of privacy and the chilling of free speech. We need to stop and take stock of where Canada is going …

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PRESS RELEASE: Party Discipline or Democracy; Pick One

Post Date May 9, 2022
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Category Elections, Parliament, Party Discipline

Fox Creek, AB - May 9th

On Wednesday Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau announced that all future party candidates would be expected to vote pro-choice in Parliament and he will not be signing the nomination papers of candidates that refuse to agree to do so. Currently voting on this issue is a matter of conscience. The Pirate Party of Canada views Trudeau’s actions as a further tightening of party discipline in Canada.

It is also an open question how Trudeau intends to enforce this if MP Michael Chong’s …

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Full Text and Video From Senate Hearing on Bill C-23

Post Date April 12, 2022
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Category National Issues, Parliament

Here is the full text from the opening statement given by Ric Lim for Pirate Party of Canada. Link to video can be found at the bottom.

This was delivered on April 10, 2022 before the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs. The proceeding as described by the Committee chair Bob Runciman:

“Bill C23, An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act and other acts and to make consequential amendments to certain acts. This bill proposes amendments to numerous aspects of Canada’s electoral law …

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PRESS RELEASE: Increased Fundraising Ability in C-23 a Potential Harm to Democracy

Post Date April 12, 2022
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Category Elections, Parliament, Political Fundraising

While issues concerning the elimination of vouching have been discussed at length it is not the most damaging change proposed in Bill C-23. Several of the provisions of C-23 would greatly increase how much money parties can fundraise. As events south of the border demonstrate the infusion of greater funds into elections does not lead to better democracy but instead provides a constant distraction to parties and elected representatives.

In the US Congress new representatives are instructed to devote at least four hours every day to …

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