The Elections Canada Broadcast Arbitrator Is Trying to Make It Harder for You to Be Informed. Here’s What You Can Do.

June 24, 2022

Gatineau, QC - For the past 3 years I have attended the Elections Canada Broadcast Arbitrator meetings, where the current Arbitrator Peter S. Grant lays out his decision for how much air time political parties have the right to purchase during elections. In those 3 years almost every minor party has requested equal treatment and access to purchase airtime, just as the larger parties are allowed. These requests have gone ignored, with small parties being given 6 minutes of time while larger parti...
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Prohibit Cross-domain tracking

November 19, 2021

Cross-domain tracking , multi-site tracking or tracking outside the tracker’s own domain will require user’s active acknowledgement (opt-in), notwithstanding any privacy policy posted on the website. A similar form of acknowledgement is required if collected information are passed to third party, with the list of the third parties recipients provided to the user. The following policies have been approved by the Political Council and will be sent to the membership to be voted on: The pirate part...
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Updating the Spirit of Privacy Law in Face of New Technology

November 5, 2021

We will update the Criminal Code to ensure that use of newer and/or untested technological means to accomplish something that would be a privacy violation if a person physically did it themselves is also illegal (such as using a drone to commit voyeurism). An act that would have otherwise been legal or illegal using more conventional methods will be treated accordingly as having accomplished the act with conventional means. The following policies have been approved by the Political Council and ...
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Require Court Order For Any Covert Surveillance

April 22, 2022

Any body, including the police, should be required to obtain a court order in order to perform any covert surveillance of specific individuals. Where obtaining a warrant would prevent the police acting on an immediate threat or pursuing a lead in an investigation, a court order should be obtained alongside the ongoing surveillance and, if denied, the subject of the surveillance must be informed. The court order required should be proportional to the amount of surveillance, the degree of the susp...
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Protect The Right To Protest

April 22, 2022

The right to protest and express dissent without fear of reprisal is fundamental to a democratic society and the exercise of freedom of speech. The Pirate Party seeks to uphold and protect this right, wherever people wish to make use of it. Withholding labour is also part of the tradition of protest and must also be protected. The following policies have been approved by the Political Council and will be sent to the membership to be voted on: -Small groups of protesters will no longer require a...
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Respect Privacy

April 22, 2022

The privacy of the individual should be respected at all times. We feel that citizens' right to private and confidential communication is vital, but at present it is not respected. We will forbid third parties from intercepting or monitoring communication traffic (i.e. telephone calls, post, Internet traffic, emails), and require specific warrants to be issued by a court before the police are allowed to monitor communications traffic. We will ensure that the freedom to encrypt data and communi...
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Create a Formal Notion of Pseudo-Public Space

April 22, 2022

There's very little genuine and accessible public space in Canada; whether you are looking for it online or offline, but there are many places that are private and yet modern life strongly encourages you into, like shopping centres, walkways, parks and open spaces around churches and other buildings.These spaces become so important to people, that it is time to recognizing that citizens have rights in them, despite being private places. The Pirate Party intends to define a legal notion of "pseu...
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Reform Libel Law To Bolster Free Speech

April 22, 2022

Canadian defamation law needs a thorough overhaul. At present they present an unacceptable risk to free speech. We will make it clear that the truth is an absolute defence against any defamation claim and significantly reduce the burden and costs faced by defendants in defamation cases. The following policies have been approved by the Political Council and will be sent to the membership to be voted on: -The Pirate Party will reform Canadian defamation laws to make truth an absolute defence agai...
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Support Those Who Expose Wrongdoing

April 22, 2022

The Pirate Party has shown its commitment to whistleblowers by being the only party to actively and consistently support Wikileaks. We will stand up for the rights of any whistle blower. We recognize the value of whistleblowers to society and we will defend the right of citizens to expose illegal practices in the workplace and elsewhere. We will introduce stronger protections for whistleblowers. Exposing corrupt or illegal activities must take precedence over contract law and copyright law, and...
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