Fundy Royal Goes Liberal

The 'Change' Election That Really Wasn't

Peter Stoffer & Pat Martin Defeated

The Tories Remain In A Good Position

The Pirate Party Needs To Reflect

"The NDP is not planning any changes to our current form of the parliamentary system. Our
focus is on meeting the challenges of middle-class families for better jobs, affordable
childcare and reliable healthcare."

"At the 2012 Liberal Party Convention, delegates were invited to introduce, debate, and vote
on Liberal policy. Delegates explicitly rejected a motion to include severing Canada's ties with
the monarchy as part of Liberal policy. My view is that severing our centuries-old connection
to the monarchy is not a decision to be made lightly. The monarchy remains a cornerstone of
Canada's foundation, and any debate surrounding changes to this institution must include as
many Canadians as possible in the discussion."

Question 1: Jobs
Canada is facing structural, rather than cyclical change. Do you have a
job plan, beyond taking things out of the ground?

Question 2: Energy & Environment
In the last campaign, the NDP put a cost of $21 billion on its carbon-
pricing policy. What is the cost of your planned cap-and-trade proposal?

Question 3: Infrastructure
You are committed to taking us into deficit to fund your infrastructure
plan. Spending money is an easy promise. What does success look like?

Question 4: Immigration and the Economy
All parties agree immigration is central to Canada’s long-term economic strategy. What is the right balance between economic migrants and those seeking family reunification?

Question 5: Housing
Canadians have been on a borrowing binge to buy ever more expensive homes. What would you do to guard against a housing bubble?

Question 6: Taxation
You will raise the corporate tax rate from the current 15% to 17% What economic, rather than political, reason justifies your decision?

Leader’s debate on: Creating a New Economy

Post-Debate Statement on: How to make Canada a world leader on democracy and economy.

"The party will avoid the use of whipped votes in Parliament. Instead opting to seek caucus consensus through debate and discussion."

"The party will for each vote state a recommended way of voting but will not hold its members to it."

"We propose allowing independent candidates to raise funds in the two months leading up to a scheduled general election provided the candidate submits the names of their official agent and their auditor to Elections Canada beforehand. Should the independent candidate receive a party's nomination, they must hand over all money raised during this period to Elections Canada. All funds will be subject to the same reporting rules as those raised during the election itself."

"Additionally, we propose a new system by which money raised by independent candidates before the end of an election will instead be held in trust by Elections Canada until the next Federal election. If the person runs again as an independent candidate, the money that is held in trust will be returned to them for use in their campaign. If the person decides not to run at all or runs as a candidate under a party banner, the money held in trust will be forfeited to Elections Canada in whole. All interest accrued from money held by Elections Canada in this manner will belong to Elections Canada."

"Finally, we would reinstate the ability of independent MPs to introduce amendments at a bills report stage. As independent MPs do not currently get a vote on committees, this would allow for a more fair playing field."

"We will shorten copyright terms from the current length of the author's lifetime +50 years to a more economically justifiable length of 10 years from the date of publication. 
Copyright owners will be granted the ability to commit their works to the public domain permanently at any time."

"We will establish a system of automatic licences for copyright and patents. Innovators will be able to pay a flat fee for the right to use works of intellectual property held by another. This is similar to the provisions made for ‘cover songs’ in the music industry. As the intellectual property holders will not be able to reject an automatic licence request we will set the royalties received from sales of products using their intellectual property at a level above the market rate as a means of compensation. License fees for intellectual property whose owner is not known (known as ‘orphaned works’ in copyright) will be paid to the government. The government will hold onto the payment until the intellectual property holder is identified."

"All government copyright (“crown copyright”) will be released under a Creative Commons Non-commercial licence."

"An artist has the right to have their work attributed to them when used by another where it is reasonable to do so unless this right is waived by the artist. An artist has the right not to be associated with beliefs they find offensive through third party use of their work. A third party may be required, at the request of the artist, to include a disclaimer dissociating the artist from the third party using their work. The moral rights of an artist last for the lifetime of an artist. These rights may not be transferred to another but they may be permanently renounced if the artist chooses to do so."

"We will seek to abolish the copyright levy"