Poverty is an ongoing and tragic failure of Canadian governance. It has been an issue for so long that it is suspected themajor parties no longer believe they can truly solve the issue. The Pirate Party of Canada does not embrace such uglydefeatism. But what is the solution? It obviously
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The Tory Pirate - Politics & Policy: Pirate Party Platform Spotlight (Part 1): Intellectual Property Reform
Welcome to the Pirate Party Platform Spotlight where I explain a selected planksfrom the party’s 2015 election platform (since I highly doubt the media will). Ok, letsget this over with. What’s with the attitude? Well, the Pirate Party of Canada is hopelessly typecast. Ifpeople are aware of the Pirate Party they already
Continue readingThe Tory Pirate - Politics & Policy: Random Thoughts: Just Not Ready For The Meme Campaigning
So today I was at work (I do this a lot these days) and it was fairly quiet. My coworker from the Flooring Department wasvisiting my glorious Paint Department. He has been learning how to work in the department in his free time (probably aspart of some plot to supplant
Continue readingThe Tory Pirate - Politics & Policy: Education Reform In New Brunswick: What Japan Can Teach Us (Part 1)
As a graduate of New Brunswick’s education system I sometimes reflect onthe quality of the schooling I received. I also have a longstanding interest inJapanese culture. It is natural then that I would eventually get to looking at howJapan does education. What I found was a school system that better instills thevalues of leadership, sense of
Continue readingThe Tory Pirate - Politics & Policy: A Long Campaign Season Would Be Good For The Pirate Party
Well, the rumours are flying that Prime Minister Harper intendsto ask Governor General David Johnston to dissolve Parliamentthis Sunday. This would begin the longest election campaign inCanadian history. It seems clear the Conservatives fully intend towin by outspending their opponents. While this would be arather crass political movement if it occurs
Continue readingThe Tory Pirate - Politics & Policy: Random Thoughts: Scattering the Provinces
If you’ve been paying attention lately you’ll know that the provinces have been trying to work through their differences (mostly involving pipelines). You may also be aware of the low-level animosity between the East and the West. In short, the provinces could get along better. While it is tempting to
Continue readingThe Tory Pirate - Politics & Policy: An Update on ‘100 Remedies for a Broken Democracy’
As a wrote before I really like the idea behind this website. New ideas continue to flow in every day. I thought I’d take a second to focus on what ideas for electoral reform have been proposed. Proposals are listed from oldest to newest (to be fair) with the original
Continue readingThe Tory Pirate - Politics & Policy: A Court Case With Serious Implications For Free Speech
National Post Article Worth keeping an eye on. If law becomes a matter of personal opinion rather than some kind of objective standard we may as well close up shop and call it a day because Canada will be done for.
Continue readingThe Tory Pirate - Politics & Policy: The Case for a Province of First Nations
UPDATE: It appears I am not the first to consider this idea. A paper was published by Queens University which goes intomuch more detail than I ever could. Link The problems facing Canada’s First Nations are many and longstanding. Some of these problems are structural. Bandleadership often has to deal
Continue readingThe Tory Pirate - Politics & Policy: On Whether it is Preferable to Attack or Rehabilitate Offensive SymbolsÂ
Recently several New Brunswick retailers pulled the ConfederateFlag from their shelves in light of a racism-fulled shootout thatoccurred in the US. Great! I have had the privilege to spend time in rural areas across Canada and that damn flag always seemed topop up. The Confederate Flag is an odious symbolic mixture
Continue readingThe Tory Pirate - Politics & Policy: A Look at ‘100 Remedies for a Broken Democracy’
I received a link to this site from The Friends of the Reform Act. It is essentially a site to crowd source the top 100 ideas forimproving Canadian democracy (there is a separate effort for the USA). So far they are halfway to 100 ideas. Notsurprisingly electoral & Senate reform
Continue readingThe Tory Pirate - Politics & Policy: Random Thoughts: Ammunition Expiry Dates & WarÂ
A few days ago I was talking to a coworker who is in the Reserves. He happened to mention that the munitions he uses often has very short expiry dates (3-5 years). This got me thinking. I wonder if you cross referenced weapons purchases and military engagements (of the USA
Continue readingThe Tory Pirate - Politics & Policy: June 26th: The Day Canada Was Robbed
The ‘c’ stands for corruption, corporatism, cowardice, and caged. Oh, and copyright… but I repeat myself. If a government employee were to go to your home and steal the flyers from thenewspaper on your front step I am sure you would be very upset. It’s not because theflyers were particularity valuable or
Continue readingThe Tory Pirate - Politics & Policy: Electoral Reform: Bennett Method 2.0
Note: An earlier version of this article had a calculation error in regards to the Bloc Quebecois. I have corrected it and added additional information in italics regarding calculating voting power. I have been posting about electoral reform for a while now. Mostly this has been concerning a new system
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