Pirate Party of Canada Forum

Hey folks.

As part of our attempts to provide transparency in the political processes that define our country, we should encourage all elected Pirate Party officials to provide daily (work week) vlogs for the Canadian public. Just brief updates of what happened that day and what is motivating you, etc.

I think it would show a lot of due dedication and could be a great promise to make on that campaign trail.

I know if I ever got the chance to record a Vlog as the MP, I would.

Daily might be taxing Does an MP want to tape every meeting? Will people care? I would rather suggest a weekly or twice-weekly audio blog or vlog, supplemented by microblogging like Twitter.

I'd be willing to go for a weekly video address. Any more would be a waste of time, and most people wouldn't watch it anyway.

I imagined it as a short, end-of-they day type habit to have. Just a quick 40 seconds to a minute or two to quickly sum up what what going down. If you, as an elected member of the people, haven't done enough stuff to merit a vlog update, you might actually be failing your people.


It's hard to define anything that is about the free flow of information and sharing of knowledge as a "waste of time"

I mean, I respect your right to do less vlogs as an MP than I would, but I think part of the strength of the PPCA could be how we're very open, and we don't fool around with "political" bulljive. Even if there wasn't any news to share, we could be sharing information about how the political system works, how to get involved, etc. It would be a good habit to have and it would show a lot of dedication to our policy.

That being said, by no means should it be a PPCA policy that we all would do that. I just want to encourage people to because I think it's a good idea.

Ever try to do a daily blog post? "Oh, um, I don't actually have anything to say today, but I thought I'd say it anyway for the sake of listening to myself speak." There's nothing underhanded about releasing information on a weekly basis when you actually have something to share.

underhanded is a word I would never use to describe that, it is true. but also, doing them less frequently will make them a bigger deal, where I see them as a tool of total transparency

but really, like I said, like 40 seconds. MPs are paid for these days, it is work to them. They are doing something each and every day (or they better be at least) so personally, as an MP, I would want to be doing it every weekday, however brief.

Well video blogs tend to be annoying more often than not. Especially if they have an incredibly high frequency.

I think Mikkel is right in that a once a week, 2 minute video blog at the end of the work week is probably more efficient and will have more 'substance' to it than a 40 second video blog at the end of every day.

Still a weekly one is probably much better than most MP's will be doing.

Well, I would expect a weekly vlog to be rather longer than 2 minutes, perhaps 10-15 depending how much material there is to cover. Of course, as Mike says, it's natural to supplement that with Twitter.

I think we should spend more time focusing on the reality - the fact that we are not going to elect a seat and what we can doing about that.

FTFY

I doubt we will ever get a seat. I don't think it is useful to even try for such a goal. Getting votes is important though. So is raising awareness about our manifesto.

As for vlogs, I think its worth considering but Twitter seems to be the way to go. I find politicians who use Twitter to be so much more informative, open and interesting than those who don't. I'm even a little suspicious of those who don't hehheh. Are they technology illiterate? Too private? Why?

Twitter seems to be a sufficient way for our party to communicate with the public at this time. Facebook works well for that purpose  too.

If we don't intend to win, why are we running? Why even form a political party rather than a lobby group?

I am running to win. (https://www.pirateparty.ca/forum/index.php?topic=234.0)

Ya good points. Ultimately we want to win seats so the party has some power to move forward with it's platform. Although I doubt we will, I don't think its impossible. With the party still being in its infancy its hard for me to imagine getting all those votes. I think it would take a while. The Swedish PP did it. Maybe I underestimate the traction the party has in Canada. Some ridings in BC seem like they would be really tough.

It takes time, energy and a lot of effort to get elected. Especially as a new party.
The Swedish PP managed to do it relatively quickly.
The Reform party in Canada also managed to get elected within 6 years of being formed.

The Bloc was elected in its first election.

Weren't most Bloc members incumbents and/or members of the Liberal Party prior to the Bloc's formation? I would say they're more of a party split than a 'new' party. Just like all those other ones where parties split, merge, reintegrate, etc...

That's true, but they were also advancing a radically different platform from anything that had come before.