[Mikkel Paulson]

The Federal Council has conducted weekly meetings on IRC since the conclusion of the leadership election. Procedure is still being hashed out, but we've agreed to post meeting minutes publicly, and beginning next week, transcripts will also be available.

September 9
• Copyright licensing of Pirate Party work/logo (CC-BY-SA vs. CC0) – Daniel to consult and to be voted on at September 16 meeting
• Member management/retention – many accounts have expired; Stephane to arrange term extension and online management interface; need reminder email drafted
• Delegation of internal party matters to other members – directors not to hold other positions of authority due to conflicts of interest and being a waste of time; Mikkel to compose a list of positions and descriptions, to be approved and posted publicly at September 16 meeting
• Documentation regarding Elections Canada records – need status update
• Use of VoIP vs. IRC – it's looking like IRC is working better, so that's what we'll use in future
• Public posting of director and candidate bios

September 16
• Clerk, speaker, mod, op – ask for volunteers at September 19 general meeting
• Removal of Directors from administrative positions – matter deadlocked; vote in principle at the September 19 general meeting
• PR director and committee – Mike Bleskie appointed PR Director; Daniel LaSalle to remain in role as French-language PR Director
• Local organization – Daniel LaSalle appointed chair of Local Relations Committee
• Winnipeg North – Jake and Mikkel to conduct telephone canvassing in Winnipeg in anticipation of a by-election

[Mapleson]

I don't really see the need for the default status of any session to be exclusive.  In any case necessary, a motion for closed session can be tabled and swifted determined beneficial or not, and then enacted.

IMO, general meeting etiquette is Open Session, Closed Session, Summary Session (Limited or Open).

If I'm missing some fundamental benefit, please broaden my reasoning.

[Mikkel Paulson]

Some of the matters discussed at the past few meetings have been somewhat sensitive, and the minutes posted above have been edited accordingly. However, from now on, the default status will indeed be open.

[Mapleson]

Obviously the full meetings were not sensitive, or else you would not have shared the limited record of discussion that you have.  Minutes should not be edited to omit senstive matters, but to refer to them indirectly.  Otherwise, they aren't minutes, just what you care to share, a mild form of propaganda.

By saying the past meetings were somewhat sensitive, does that imply future open meetings would exclude sensitive subject matters?

[Mikkel Paulson]

Yes. We will retain certain channels of discussion for sensitive matters that are not open to the public.

[Mapleson]

So the default status will be open, except for everywhere it is not.

[Mikkel Paulson]

Indeed.

[Sean Hunt]

Note that the information should still exist in case the assembly demands to see it

[Mikkel Paulson]

It does. However, we really don't have any sort of freedom of information regulation in place. Honestly, I don't think it sound be terribly high on our list of priorities.

[Mapleson]

It's your party to lead into the ground or the sky.

If you don't think access to information is the basis for party platform, what is?

[Mikkel Paulson]

This is already one of, if not the most transparent political party in Canada. I've been working for the past weeks at making it more transparent and more accountable, but I'm walking a fine line between those who want transparency and those who want efficiency, or just to focus on external affairs and forget about getting things in order internally. You can't have both accountability and efficiency.

So please be patient. This is one of my top priorities, but change happens slowly. In the meantime, the Federal Council was democratically elected to represent you, and we will of course put any major matters before a general meeting to be decided there. Only (some of) the discussion takes place behind closed doors.

[Mikkel Paulson]

Minutes of September 23, 2021 meeting of the Federal Council

In attendance: Mikkel Paulson, Stephane Bakhos, Mike Bleskie, Jake Daynes

• Telephone canvassing: successful in Ottawa, to be applied in other regions
• Public Relations: Jake appointed spokesman; Mike to open further PR recruitment
• By-election: reconsidering target riding based on local activity; Mikkel to consult with Jordan Sagert regarding Manitoba ridings
• Bill C-32: with Michael Geist's opposition gone, we must step up our own lobbying in his stead; Mike to review possibilities
• Style guide committee: Jake to join Mike in development and finalization of style guide; business cards a priority
• Membership renewal and management system: still pending from Stephane; 6-month extension to be granted on all memberships; Mikkel to draft email explaining situation
• Public Domain Manifesto: signing as an organization approved; Mikkel to contact coordinators
• Trademark and Creative Commons licensing: Stephane's research regarding trademark filing in progress; CC-BY-SA retained over CC0 until trademark matter is resolved
• wasme complaints: discussed; Mikkel acknowledged behaving in error

A complete transcript is attached. To the cynics, I would observe that this is in fact the first completely transparent meeting in the history of the Council. Have a bit of patience, please.

[JSagert]

I have those original PSDs for the "Jonah Sucks" design, FYI, as well as the PSDs, files, and fonts required for the WP template. I'll talk to you either via PM here or on IRC later tonight regarding Manitoba as well.

[Mike Bleskie]

I shall be on tonight and for the next few nights. Whatever you have is greatly appreciated.