The Pirate Party recently released its campaign ad. In what is probably a unique strategy in this campaign it attacks no
one, ignores superficial fluff, and goes in depth into an aspect of the party platform. In short its a model of what all the
parties should have used their ads for during this super long election: informed Canadians. Enjoy.

Find a political ad from this election that does more to inform Canadians and I will eat my tricorne hat.

Not having received an invitation to participate in the Globe Economy Debate (assumably lost in the postal system) the
Pirate Party of Canada decided to live blog their own answers to the questions asked. The following is the transcript
taken from the party website.

We reject the false duality of being pro- or anti-corporation. Many small businesses, who are the bulk of job-creators in our country, are setup as corporations in order to take advantage of the legal protections that type of business gains. Building a business from the ground up requires a lot of energy and money. It will be greatly unfair and frightening for prospective entrepreneur that one mistake could not only ruin their business, but also take away their home, their car, and every penny they’ve ever earned. 
However, it is also greatly unfair for few companies to engage in corruption, conflicts of interest, and lobbying so they can have an industry clutched within its stranglehold. Since it has become apparent, and recognized by economists, that corporate subsidies do not create jobs, we would redirect those money to invest in ways that will actually benefit Canadians. Our corporate tax rate must remain competitive with other countries, without being exceptionally low. We need to implement a wide range of patent & copyright reform to ensure the development of an Open Market with fair competition. 
Our current economic structure and copyright and patent laws encumbered innovation and propagation of culture. It encourages monopoly, cartel, hoarding of creative works and innovation. Big companies hoards the money instead of creating jobs and expanding or innovating like small businesses tends to do to remain competitive. This is what Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney referred to as the "dead money".

Retort to leader's responses on taxation:
We should ask how do we make our economy sustainable? Political tax credits announced every election complicates the tax system and adds to government cost. It is time to do away with all that and implement a simpler but effective solution through Basic Income Guarantee. There is a continuous need to raise taxes because of this growing complication in our budget. Political boutique tax credits are unfocused, insufficient and does not solve what it claims to solve. BIG on the other hand would prevent senior's poverty, child poverty, disabled and unemployable economic hardship, and the list goes on and on. And it can all be done in a focused and more efficient ways at a much lower cost. 

A common complaint that the electorate has year-after-year is that MPs do not represent them. As party discipline has
tightened into a stranglehold it has, in effect, made it impossible for MPs to represent their constituents' views in
Parliament. The Pirate Party rejects this model of how a party should be run. Fundamentally we see a political party as
an alliance of equals with shared values.

No person matches their party's policy platform exactly. Because of this leeway must be given to those with differing
views. The Pirate Party is committed to reaching a consensus on issues through debate and discussion, not oppression
and fear.

This is actually a rather common tradition within British parliamentary culture but completely unknown in Canada. It is
time we started loosening the chains of party discipline. Not only will parliamentary debate improve but constituents will
finally have better representation.

There are those who say this model is impossible. I have found this view often espoused by the NDP who have made it a
habit of whipping votes when there is absolutely no reason to. I am rather suspicious of parties that do not tolerate 
dissent. Contrary to NDP claims there is a better way.

So today I was at work (I do this a lot these days) and it was fairly quiet. My coworker from the Flooring Department was
visiting my glorious Paint Department. He has been learning how to work in the department in his free time (probably as
part of some plot to supplant me). Anyways, I decided it was time for him to add his name in paint to the old painter's
bench we have laying around. After a rather embarrassing scene where he misspelled his own name I went off to lunch.

This is all backgrounder for what happened next. The joke became that he was Just Not Ready...for the Paint Department.
We all had a chuckle and went back to what we were doing. But thinking back this wasn't the first time someone had
made a similar reference to the Conservative's now-infamous attack ad. While pretty much everyone finds the ads corny
perhaps this is the point? 

It doesn't matter if the ad is being used in a humorous manner it reinforces the original association between Justin
Trudeau and the charge being made by the Conservatives. I'd be interested in the neurology involved in such word
association reinforcement. That the Conservatives have accidentally(?)  created a meme to augment their attacks is
interesting none the less. 

The Liberals may realize that the association that has been created can't be easily undone. In a recent ad Trudeau has
used the phrase but tried to shift the meaning to match his messaging. We will see if he can succeed at this. 

Well, the rumours are flying that Prime Minister Harper intends
to ask Governor General David Johnston to dissolve Parliament
this Sunday. This would begin the longest election campaign in
Canadian history. It seems clear the Conservatives fully intend to
win by outspending their opponents. While this would be a
rather crass political movement if it occurs it would also be very
good for minor political parties such as the Pirate Party of
Canada. Here's why.

After the last federal election in 2011 the Leader of the Pirate
Party of Canada (with help from the candidates) wrote a report
detailing the party's performance in the election. One issue
that came up was the short time available for gathering the
required signatures to get a candidate's name on the ballot. As a
result several candidates who put their names forward after the
writ had been dropped did not end up on the ballot. However, the end date for candidate nominations (red circle) is based on
voting day (green hexagon) and not the day the election
campaign might officially start (blue triangle). Since people tune
into politics more during an election campaign the party has a
very real chance of topping the number of candidates it fielded
last time.
First Prediction: The Pirate Party will field more than 10
candidates in this election.

While the report noted the party had few resources to support
its candidates with it also noted the effectiveness of door-to-
door canvassing. The Pirate Party really can't count money as a
resource during an election. However, time is a resource the
party can use. And if Prime Minister Harper does engineer a
long campaign the party will have been gifted more than a
month of extra campaigning time. Not only that but campaign
signs purchased by the candidates will be up for that much
longer adding value to limited resources. This all adds up to
larger vote totals come election day.
Second Prediction: The Pirate Party candidates will have a
higher percentage of the popular vote.

A long campaign will be exhausting for everyone. It is going to
be exhausting for voters who are going to be bombarded by
attack ads from all three major parties (maybe the others, who
knows). Attack ads for two months is not likely to give people a
good impression of any of the parties. The Pirate Party (not having the money to attack even if it wanted to) will look
rather respectable by comparison. At the same time reporters are going to have a lot of column inches to fill. We Pirates
have been been very good at hitting above the belt when it comes to getting media attention. Every day extra is a chance
to draw positive attention to the party.
Third Prediction: The Pirate Party will gain a lot more media attention this time around.

None of these observations or predictions means the Pirate Party will actually win a seat. It does mean that while the tory
strategy is cynical to the extreme and an affront to good democratic practice, it isn't necessarily bad for the Pirate Party. 

The Pirate Party leadership has been busy working to construct a platform for 2015 over the last year and a half. The creation of the platform is a three step process involving policy submissions by members and the general public, editing by the party leadership, and a party-wide vote to confirm a policy as part of the official platform. The following policies are the first batch that has been approved by the Political Council and will be sent to the membership to be voted on in the near future:

Fairness for Independents
-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 significant 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.

There has been general agreement to start with policies that have wide agreement in the party and work our way outwards from there. The Fairness for Independents & Unbundle Technology sections represent two such natural outgrowths from existing party beliefs. 

Many policies remain to be reviewed and it will take dedicated work to have the platform ready by the end of the year. Some policies had to be rejected but this is a normal part of policy development. Canadian Federalism presents a unique challenge in that some areas near and dear to the Pirate heart cannot be adequately addressed at the federal level. The entire process is a learning experience and I look forward to carrying the project to completion.

Q & A

Where are the privacy protection, patent reform, open government, etc policies?
None of the previous policies from 2011 were 'grandfathered in' to the 2015 platform. That is to say, everything is being re-examined. Since the policies mentioned are fairly fundamental to party identity they will end up in the final document in some form, we simply haven't gotten to them yet.

Why didn't you leave policy creation up to the membership? / why did you have the leadership assume a primary role?
Policy development is a tricky business and we wanted a dedicated group involved to make sure the process didn't flounder. There is also the issue involving popular policies that a federal party has little ability to create policy on. We have tried to keep the policy development process as open as possible by having an extended period where members could submit policies (still on-going) and by giving them the final say on whether a policy is adopted.

I saw X policy on the website I really liked but now it has disappeared. What happened? 
Most likely the policy was rejected by the leadership and hidden from view. The discussion page for all policies (rejected, accepted, and yet to be looked at) can be found on the Party Forum. A document listing rejected policies may be released at a later date but for now you can assume it was a policy that fell outside the federal mandate (since this has been the most common reason for rejecting a policy).

While I previously posted a short overview of my candidacy on the party
forums I figured I would also make something a bit more comprehensive. Since
I've wanted to start a blog for awhile now it works out well. Several things I'm
going to go over won't be any surprise to people. Others might be. Either way I
hope people will have a better idea who I am and where I stand on the
issues.

Some basic info: 
I'm 25 years of age. I born and raised in Albert County, New Brunswick. I
have a degree from Mount Allison University. I'm a Baptist Christian although I
will attend what Christian churches are readily available to me.

Pirate Policy:
> I'm of the school of thought that intellectual property laws can be
eliminated completely without harmful effect. However, I prefer this elimination
be done in stages with the party's policy of a 10 year copyright being a good
first step.
> Provided a basic income can be shown to be fiscally responsible I support it
as a replacement for current welfare programs.
> I am a strong supporter of openness, accountability & transparency in
government. OATs for short.  :)
> Loosening party discipline and increasing MP independence are fundamental to
a healthy democracy, I feel.
> I feel the current policy document goes too far in messing with provincial
jurisdiction on some points. A prime example being the National Minimum Wage
policy which the courts declared unconstitutional in the 1930s.
> The blank media levy needs to disappear.

Political Beliefs Unrelated to the Party:
> I am a strong supporter of Canada's constitutional monarchy and believe it a
government form inherently superior to that of a republic.
> I believe that human life possesses boundless potential and that bringing an
end to that potential is among the worst things that can be done by an
individual or the state. As such I oppose murder, assisted suicide, the death
penalty, and abortion. 
> As far as defence policy goes I'm in favour of an armed neutrality.