Prominent Academics Respond to the TPP (via EFF) We asked several academics to let us know their thoughts about the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). The TPP is a secretive, multi-national trade agreement that threatens to extend restrictive intellectual property (IP) laws across the globe and rewrite international rules on
Continue readingTag: transparency
eaves.ca: Transparency Case Study: There are Good and Bad Ways Your Organization can be made “Open”
If you have not had the chance, I strongly encourage you to check out a fantastic piece of journalism in this week’s Economist on the state of the Catholic Church in America. It’s a wonderful example of investigative and data driven journalism made possible (sadly) by the recent spat of
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Hundreds of Canadian women join RCMP harassment lawsuit
In March, Janet Merlo, a 19-year with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), filed a lawsuit against Canada’s national police force. In May, Corporal Catherine Galliford filed a claim of being sexually harassed by her male superiors during her 16 year career with the RCMP. Now hundreds of current and former female Mounties
Continue readingeaves.ca: What do I think of the Canadian Senate?
Read Jennifer Ditchburn in the Globe and Mail – Senate stubborn on making information about chamber more accessible. It is laughable about how hard the Canadian Senate makes it to access information about it. The lower house – which has made good progress in the last few years on this
Continue readingeaves.ca: Is Civic Hacking Becoming ‘Our Pieces, Loosely Joined?’
I’ve got a piece up over on the WeGov blog at TechPresident – Is Civic Hacking Becoming ‘Our Pieces, Loosely Joined?‘ Juicy bit: There is however, a larger issue that this press release raises. So far, it appears that the spirit of re-use among the big players, like MySociety and
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: RCMP’s Misogynistic Response to Gillford Sexual Harassment Claim
In May, Corporal Catherine Galliford filed a claim of being sexually harassed by her male superiors during her 16 year career with our national police force, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Predictably, the responses from the four accused Mounties is denial. But, in this country famous for compassion, how
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: MPs in the dark about the billions in Conservative government spending
Now we know why Treasury Board President Tony Clement did not think twice before spending $50-million of G8 funds in his Muskoka riding. Why Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page threatened to sue the Harper government for refusing to comply with his repeated requests for financial and related information. Now we
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Canada’s Worst Government Body: Board of Internal Economy
The governing body of the House of Commons continues to fail Canadians on the important questions of transparency and oversight. In his recent report, Michael Ferguson, the Auditor General of Canada, called for more transparency. But board has “further limited public transparency over its secret meetings and decisions.” It meets in camera. Parliamentary
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Harper Government Must Set Canadian Scientists Free
Nature, one of the biggest and most-read scientific journals in the world, made this call in a February 29th editorial. The journal lamented the Harper Government’s undisguised hostility to openness, expert opinion and publicly-funded scientific expertise. Rightly so. At some point, the government’s stated communication policy, posted on a federal website and
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Worst Canadian in The World: Senator Patrick Brazeau
Meet Patrick Brazeau (pictured), the sexist Canadian senator who called Ottawa-based reporter, Jennifer Ditchburn, a bitch yesterday. Her crime: she’d done her job by highlighting his poor attendance record in Canada’s appointed upper house of Parliament. He immediately issued a “reluctant” apology. Why did Brazeau call the reporter a bitch?
Continue readingeaves.ca: Help OpenNorth Raise 10K to Improve Democracy and Engagement thru Tech
Some of you may know that I sit on the board of directors for OpenNorth – a cool little non-profit that is building tools for citizens, governments and journalists to improve participation and, sometimes, just make it a little bit easier to be a citizen. Here’s great example of a
Continue readingeaves.ca: The Transparent Hypocrisy of Ethical Oil – who is really laudering money
The other week the Canadian Minister of the Environment, Peter Kent accused Canadian Charities of “laundering money” because they accept some funds from outside the country. This is all been part of a larger effort – championed by Ethical Oil – to discredit Canada’s environmental organizations. As an open government
Continue readingeaves.ca: Open Data Movement is a Joke?
Yesterday, Tom Slee wrote a blog post called “Why the ‘Open Data Movement’ is a Joke,” which – and I say this as a Canadian who understands the context in which Slee is writing – is filled with valid complaints about our government, but which I feel paints a flawed
Continue readingImpolitical: Financial disclosure for bloggers and others
Noted in the Globe, this headline is, shall we say, a little misleading in the Canadian context: “Why don’t political bloggers want us to know who’s funding them?”The vast majority of Canadian political bloggers receive bupkus for blogging. It is simply not the case that there are bloggers actively denying
Continue readingeaves.ca: Canada’s Action Plan on Open Government: A Review
The other day the Canadian Government published its Action Plan on Open Government, a high level document that both lays out the Government’s goals on this file as well as fulfill its pledge to create tangible goals as part of its participation in next week’s Open Government Partnership 2012 annual
Continue readingPolygonic: The Coyne chrysalis
”This isn’t about the planes, in other words, or costs, or accounting. This is about accountability. This is is about whether departments are answerable to their ministers, and whether ministers are answerable to Parliament — or whether billions of public dollars can be appropriated without the informed consent of either
Continue readingeaves.ca: Using BHAG’s to Change Organziations: A Management, Open Data & Government Mashup
I’m a big believer in the ancillary benefits of a single big goal. Set a goal that has one clear objective, but as a result a bunch of other things have to change as well. So one of my favourite Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG) for an organization is to
Continue readingeaves.ca: My Canadian Open Government Consultation Submission
Attached below is my submission to the Open Government Consultation conducted by Treasury Board over the last couple of weeks. There appear to be a remarkable number of submission that were made by citizens, which you can explore on the Treasury Board website. In addition, Tracey Lauriault has tracked some
Continue readingeaves.ca: Open Government Advocacy: The Danger of Letting Narrative Trump Fact
So I loath making this the first post of the new year, but here we go. Today Canada.com published a story “Tony Clement vows innovative new open government, but critics point to poor record.” In it, Jason Fekete the journalist responsible for the story, quotes a Democracy Watch spokesperson who sadly
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Conservatives Betray Canadians with U.S. Steel Deal
DECEMBER 12, 2011 | MEDIA RELEASE TORONTO – The Conservative government has betrayed working families in Hamilton and Nanticoke by dropping its court case against U.S. Steel despite the company’s clear violations of federal law. …Read More
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