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The Tory Pirate

Pirate Party Platform Spotlight (Part 3): Fairness For Independents

8/21/2015

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Every election people across Canada seek to be elected as independents. Independents face a number of hurdles not
shared by their party-nominated cousins. Obviously, they do not benefit from party brand management and national advertising. Perhaps more unfair is the requirement that all money raised by independent candidates be forfeited to
Elections Canada after the election, forcing them to start over next time. The Pirate Party of Canada believes that this
inherent unfairness is both harmful to democracy and easily fixed.
"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."
Parties can raise funds for years before an election. It seems only fair to give independent candidates a small head start
in raising funds for their campaign. However, safeguards must be taken to prevent this from becoming another way for a
party to raise funds or for a candidate to raise money under false pretenses.
"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."
Having Elections Canada hold onto money between elections makes running as an independent less of an all-or-nothing
proposition and may encourage more independents to run. For its part Elections Canada gains a stable source of funding
independent of Parliament from accrued interest. While the amount will be modest early on it is hoped as independent candidates start seeing that they can compete on a more even playing field the amount of money parked with Elections Canada will grow.
"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."
Once elected independent candidates face further hurdles in Parliament. For many years independent MPs possessed
special privileges related to a bills Report Stage. These privileges were removed by the Conservatives.

Democracy benefits from multiple viewpoints and everyone who seeks elected office should have a fair shake.
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Pirate Party's Letter to the CEO of Elections Canada

12/6/2014

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On December 4th & 5th representatives of the Pirate Party of Canada attended a meeting hosted by Elections Canada to discuss new rules and regulations resulting from recent changes to the Elections Act. At the meeting party member Ric Lim presented the CEO of Elections Canada with a letter outlining commonsense changes that the party feels need to be made in how independent candidates are treated. The full text of the letter is below:

Greetings to the Chief Electoral Officer & our colleagues among the other parties,

These meetings are an important part of maintaining Canada’s election laws. Here concerns,observations, and new ideas can be shared freely with those charged with enforcing Canada’s election laws and the representatives of the parties who have to live by those rules and, at times, legislate them. It is in the interest of fairness and an acknowledgement that political fortunes can change quickly that has, for many years, led all registered political parties to receive invitations to attend these meetings.

However, an important group has been conspicuously absent. Independent candidates. Independent candidates are also affected by political finance laws but have no advocates here. They are a voice that is not heard. Perhaps this is why that while political parties have created many ways to raise and store vast campaign war chests independent candidates have only those methods first available to all candidates in 1867 to make use of. While it may be tempting to think of independent candidates as irrelevant this is largely because we, collectively, have made them so.

In the 2011 Federal Election I counted 61 independent candidates who got their names on the ballot. Some did quite well. In fact, after the Green Party of Canada independent candidates are arguably the most important political grouping. This, in the face of systematic disadvantages.

The Pirate Party believes that an effort must be made to include a voice for independent candidates at these meetings. We call on Elections Canada to work towards including a representative from a group whose insight is sorely missed.

While including independent candidates in future meetings will bring a necessary voice to the table it will not immediately change the cumulative disadvantages that independent candidates face.

A number of months ago the Pirate Party proposed possible solutions to the problem of independent candidate financing rules.[1] We argue there needs to be limited means for independent candidates to raise money before an election to adequately compete with party candidates who receive transfers from riding associations who have been raising funds for years before the election. There also needs to be a way for independent candidates to have their hard-earned donations carry over from election to election. To have their fundraising efforts reduced to nothing at the end of each election while party candidates can transfer their money back to the association further widens the gap between independent & party candidates.

We welcome questions about the implementation of our ideas but we firmly believe that this is a paramount issue in party financing rules in need of addressing. Canadians have spoken often and loudly about the need for candidates who are not beholden to party interest. Let’s make it a viable option again. Thank you for your time.

With respect,

James Wilson
Leader
Pirate Party of Canada



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[1] https://policy.pirateparty.ca/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.


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A New Brunswicker in Alberta: The Yellowhead By-election

11/17/2014

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So I just finished voting in my first ever by-election (yay, politics). Here are my thoughts on the campaign and how the candidates did.

First, this is the riding of Yellowhead:
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Yes, It was necessary to try and draw a bow tie on the border between Yellowhead and Wild Rose.
And here is the candidate list from the Elections Canada website along with their photos:
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The Campaign

Overall it was a very low-key campaign and if you weren't looking you would not be able to tell a by-election was going on. At least, not where I was residing. But to be fair I'm way out in rural Alberta and this riding butts up against Edmonton. I was probably doomed to a quiet campaign from the get-go. I did see one, small, Conservative sign by the road. But no door-to-door volunteers that I saw and no debates held in town.

Elections Canada was out in full force online. I must have seen a dozen or so ads on YouTube. Unfortunately the candidates were not as proactive.

Making Contact

Throughout the campaign I tried to contact the candidates to get their views on policy issues important to me. Doing so proved a challenge. Only the Conservative, Liberal, and independent candidates had a phone number listed on the Elections Canada site. I eventually got a hold of the Conservatives via phone. One down.

Online was much the same; only the independent and Libertarian candidates had Facebook pages while the independent also had a campaign website. I got in contact with both through Facebook.

I only managed to get someone to pick up at the Liberal campaign office on election day and the candidate was not in so no policy answers from them.

And finally we have the NDP candidate. Oh boy. I'm still not sure how he expected anyone to contact him. Smoke signals, maybe?  

Voting

Elections Canada really needs to work on their signage. Not only were there no visual cues put outside but the building being used does not include its full name on any of its signs. Voting was fairly painless despite not being pre-registered. 

Awards

Let's have some fun:

Best Signage: Not Awarded
Quickest Response: Jim Eglinski (despite being the last successfully contacted)
Most Thoughtful Response: Dean Williams
Best Slogan: Dean Williams, "Vote Yellow for Yellowhead" (it makes about as much sense in context)
Best Online Presence: Elections Canada, followed by Dean Williams

And finally the booby prize.

Most Likely to be a Theoretical Entity Only: Eric Rosendahl

Final Remarks

Overall a typical sleepy by-election. I would advise the candidates that in this day and age you need some form of online strategy. Best of luck to all of the candidates today!
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    James Wilson

    Likes: Government Transparency, Constitutional Monarchy, Politics

    Dislikes: Political Dishonesty, Canadian Republicans, Intellectual Property

    Ambivalent Towards: Pears, the Green Party 

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