| Please don't sue me |
[Apr. 15th, 2007|02:58 pm] |
Dear Hon. Peter Van Loan, Minister for Democratic Reform,
I'm emailing you to make sure our government doesn't sue me.
Well, there's more. I ask that you to open up more civic data in Canada, including postal code data. This would benefit taxpayers by avoiding duplication in government departments. It would also avoid the disgraceful practice of misleading some Canadians as to who their elected representative is.
Let's start with the legal question. Is it illegal for me to copy a list of members of parliament from parliament's website? I made a copy after hearing a couple different (non-partisan) advocacy organizations had staffers copy and paste the database from web pages into their excel databases. You can find my list here:
http://lokobo.com:3000/mps
To import it into excel, you can obtain it as CSV:
http://lokobo.com:3000/mps.csv
Several people have told me that this constitutes copyright infringement, although it seems to me a straightforward list of facts.
Once I had completed this list, I was asked for a function that retrieves a member of parliament for a postal code. (More precisely, something that returns a list of possible electoral districts ids for a postal code.) You can see that function here:
http://lokobo.com:3000/
Is that illegal? Again, straightforward facts. I'm not even redistributing a database or making any efforts to build an exhaustive one.
Advocacy organizations across the ideological spectrum use similar tools. Egale, Preserve Marriage, CLC, United Steel Workers, Automotive Industries Association's Consumer (Right to Repair campaign), Micah Challenge, Make Poverty History, CAHPERD, The True Voice, CNIB, all exhort supporters to "Contact your MP".
Some groups link to the parliament's website, others copy the information. The richest buy data from Statistics Canada. If we care about democracy, this information should be freely available to all. A government that spends millions encouraging citizens to vote in media campaigns can surely forgo a few thousands in licensing fees to make it easier for citizens to express concerns on policy issues.
Besides the cost to democracy, there are a couple other points worth considering.
-Elections Canada is not a customer of this product. They also buy a file from Canada Post, a crown corporation, duplicating the costs of development.
-The elections.ca website results seem less accurate than those on the parliament's website (which I hope was obtained from StatsCan rather than duplicated).
You can verify this for yourself by searching for 'H1T4C6' on
http://www.elections.ca/scripts/pss/FindED.aspx
and comparing it to:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/house/PostalCode.asp?Language=E&txtPostalCode=H1T4C6
Is it one or one of five possible MP's?
Making this data freely available in an open format is a great way to ensure citizens are given accurate information, to increase participation in our democratic process and reduce error-prone bureaucratic duplication.
I have copied some of your colleagues, hoping they will support you in changing policy on this matter before the next election is called. When every political party has a function to find their candidate by postal code, advocacy organizations should be entitled to the same.
Some of my colleagues want sites where a citizen could input their postal code to find all candidates in their riding, along with their programmes and other communications. It would be nice if we could do that without the threat of litigation.
I look forward to hearing from you.
----
Note: that parl.gc.ca link broke. It's now
http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Compilations/HouseOfCommons/MemberByPostalCode.aspx?Language=E&Menu=HOC&PostalCode=H1T4C6
Dozens of advocacy groups in Canada had their links to the parliament website broken by this change. Sigh. |
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| Quebec elections today - nature hates a vacuum. |
[Mar. 26th, 2007|06:51 pm] |
Polls close in an hour. I'll definitely be watching the results tonight; it looks like Quebec might get its first minority government since 1878.
When a liberal political worker told me they were going to call an election because the PQ was down, I expressed concern. Tonight's results, if they are anything like opinion polls suggest may show the Liberal's decision was a strategic blunder.
The usual concerns with calling an early election is you look opportunistic, taking advantage of an unpopular leader. The PQ's leader keeps saying stupid things and generally shooting himself in the foot, so this might have appeared like perfect timing to call an election.
Unfortunately for the Liberals, they're not very popular themselves. Their performance is widely considered to be lackluster and Charest, well, lacks charisma.
If nature hates a vacuum, you can apply the same to politics. Instead of voting PQ or Liberal, many people are being swayed by the ADQ - Action Democratique du Quebec. Not quite as in-your-face about separation as the PQ and definitely more right-wing their success in the polls has surprised most pundits. Mario Dumont has been branded as a one-man show with no team to back him up, attacked from all sides - and still the ADQ goes up in the polls. Some have said they could go from third-party status to minority government.
The greens don't seem to be getting any traction, and the NDP barely exists. The party that surprised me the most and IS getting some traction is Quebec Solidaire. Their male spokesperson, Amir Khadir, has more charisma and speaking ability than the leaders of all the other parties put together. Thierry mentioned that in one radio debate, other leaders were at a loss for words and falling under his spell. I saw the same thing during his TV appearance on "Tout le Monde en Parle", which I think is Quebec's most watched TV show. Imagine someone on the left of the NDP having a Tory nod in agreement. Yeah, that good.
Some of his policies - getting more money for "national" resources like water and wind, saving money by re-negotiating with pharmaceuticals, bringing the minimum wage to $10 are quite popular. Today, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives published a report arguing for a minimum of $10/hr in 2005 dollars, indexed to inflation. "The Centre recently released an Environics Research poll showing 88% of Canadians support raising minimum wages to help reduce Canada’s growing income gap."
When savvy, charismatic lefties argue forcefully for policies that have that level of support, it's no surprise that their support increases. It also puts the right-wingers in a very tough position.
Tonight should be quite interesting. Quebec's -and Canada's- political future could change fairly radically. |
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| Canadian MP Data, take 2 |
[Mar. 25th, 2007|05:22 pm] |
Yesterday I released a new feature on my Canadian MP data web service: MP lookup by postal code. It got some coverage on David Akin's blog and provoked some discussion on the civic access email list.
I'll be quite happy when this data is made freely available by government. Until then, I intend to run this web service for all those that need it at no cost and without usage restrictions.
Now if only transit data were as easy to obtain as MP data... |
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| Conservative Pork |
[Mar. 24th, 2007|08:21 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | auto, canada, car, conservative, ctv, david+akin, global+warming, harper, ndp, politics | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Quebec, QC, Canada | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Moby - Down Slow | ] |
Conservatives have no shame. CTV's David Akin quotes Dennis Desrosiers:At $5,600 per tonne this policy has the dubious distinction of being even more expensive per tonne of GHG reduction than the previous record holder - the Conservatives' transit pass tax credit ($2,000 per tonne, because about 97% of the subsidy recipients were already daily transit riders). [in fact it’s] The most expensive environment program anywhere in the world by a wide margin. I wanted to defend this policy as visionary, an example of feebates / revenue-neutral tax shift. Sadly, it appears to be nothing but pork. Check out Transport Canada's listing of qualifying vehicles Who had the bright idea of giving the same $1000 subsidy for buying flex-fuel vehicles that get 12.3 L/100 km (19 miles per gallon) as well as normal cars getting 8.3-6.3 L/100 km (28-37)? Perhaps if those 'flex-fuel' vehicles were actually running on E85 fuel (which I understand isn't even available), they might have comparable CO2 emissions. Given the last-minute include of E85 vehicles and the proximity of the factory producing most of them to the minister responsible, it tastes of poorly cooked pork. Yummy.
What a program like this needs is some serious transparency. Audit auto-makers to get CO2 costs for building the car (the so-called 'embedded energy'), and calculate emissions for cars in CO2 per 100 km. A good formula might be the embedded CO2 / 10 + average yearly CO2 emissions for driving X km. This creates a clear, technology-agnostic metric for auto-makers and consumers alike. Plug-in hybrids, flex-fuel or even flex-fuel plug-ins: it doesn't matter what's under the hood, only what comes out of the tail-pipe.
I'll admit to really liking the idea of a tax shift. This program could have been revenue neutral, with the rebates being balanced out by the fees imposed on the dirtier vehicles. This has the added benefit of avoiding an unnecessary subsidy for cars and appearing 'fair' rather than a tax-grab. If there is a clear commitment to continuing this type of policy over time, it creates a strong incentive for companies to get their cars out of the gas-guzzler category, and continue R&D on efficient models.
The NDP wasn't fond of such approaches at first, but their policy play-book included the idea of a tax shift after the Green Party started getting better poll results. Many left-wingers oppose such a tax policy because it can penalize the poorest while subsidizing the rich (who can afford the more expensive hybrids). This time around however, the NDP complained that this program doesn't do enough to subsidize Canada's poor auto-makers. Sigh. As NDP Auto Industry Critic Brian Masse points out:“There is no change in the research and development tax credit. There is no financing program. There is no auto strategy, period. The Conservatives’ only strategy is distraction and avoidance of the real issues.” The NDP is not only completely off the mark, they miss an opportunity to call out Conservative incompetence and apparent pork, demonstrate a modicum of vision, and propose a policy that could actually provoke a change in our auto industry.
I'll want to check the Liberal and Green responses to this measure but it's a Saturday night, and I have a movie to watch :) |
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| Canadian MP data |
[Mar. 18th, 2007|07:32 pm] |
I wonder if the government is going to sue me for copyright infringement. As they say on the website I got the information from:The material on this site is covered by the provisions of the Copyright Act and related regulations and international agreements. Such provisions serve to identify the information source and, in specific instances, to prohibit reproduction of materials without written permission.
The visitor should be aware that some of the material found on this site might be subject to copyright held by third parties.
It is the sole responsibility of the visitor to determine the copyright of the content and to obtain all necessary permissions. If publishing the list of MPs with their contact information is somehow illegal, we're definitely not living in a democracy. I didn't ask permission because I don't think I should have to.
Make Poverty History had a campaign asking people to call their MP. Sadly, the email did not include the MP's phone number - even though they know who the MP is. There was no public database they knew of that had a list of MPs with their corresponding data. Through civicaccess.ca I heard of other organizations and similar cases, so I decided I would compile the information. That database now exists, and is in the public domain (as long as I don't sued!):
http://lokobo.com:3000/mps
download a CSV version at http://lokobo.com:3000/mps.csv
The source code for retrieving the information and the website is also public domain:
http://rubyforge.org/projects/mp-ca-scraper/
(Geeks don't copy and paste information from websites into spreadsheets. Oh, no! We take twice the time, and use programming tools. And publish the whole thing as open source.)
(Comments deleted because of a deluge of spam. Project is offline, code is still up for anyone that wants to take it over. Let me know in private if you do, I'll update this post) |
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| Greening politics |
[Oct. 24th, 2006|10:41 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | canada, conservative, environment, layton, liberal, nuclear, oil, politics, sierra+club, sustainability | ] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Dartmouth, NS, Canada | ] |
A couple weeks ago I got bulk mail from Jack Layton about the NDP's green policy. It looked good, and I've been meaning to take a closer look. Here's some thoughts on the subject, with some comments on how we can push a consensus that can reach to both the left and right in Canada.
Before Elizabeth May became leader of the Green Party, the Sierra Club released an analysis of the environmental platforms of the different political parties. This time the Greens come out slightly ahead, with 97 points to the NDP's 91. The Liberals, Bloc and Conservatives trail with 53, 46 and 31.
I have two main problems with the SCC's (Sierra Club of Canada) approach. First, it relies on promises rather than record. Second, it's a "laundry list" that doesn't reveal what the critical steps are that must be taken. No doubt they would argue that all the things on their list have to be done.
Sill, a vague promise to "increase funding for science in environmental departments" is worth 3 points, the same amount of credit that you can get by cutting the $163 million a year in subsidies to Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), or the obscene amount (over a billion a year) to feed the profitable oil extractors.
If I was a politician, I could be getting all those easy credits and doing everything possible to avoid pissing off Big Oil. Don't get me wrong. I'm glad the Sierra Club is documenting all this, and pleased they want to spend more money on scientists. I just want to keep politicians far more accountable, and force them to actually take tough decisions.
In the last federal election, the SCC had given the NDP a higher mark than the Greens. It seemed like a genuine shame to me, because the Green party then had transformative proposals. The ideas of tax shifting are now part of the NDP's platforms. The idea is simple: tax bads, not goods. Income and employment are good, pollution is bad; decrease taxes on the first, make it up on pollution taxes.
A few years ago, this was a political taboo, considered regressive and too market-driven. Yes, if we cut subsidies to oil companies we will have to do something to address increased costs for people on fixed incomes. Still, subsidizing Shell is no way to keep grandma warm this winter. And it's something both the right and left-wingers should be able agree on.
The Liberal and Conservative parties are the only ones that are not calling for an end to subsidies to the AECL and oil companies.
These Conservatives are a pretty funny bunch sometimes. They want to scrap the Wheat Board because they favour free and unimpeded markets. They cut a wasteful $5 million on Status of Women. And then they give 300 times more to their rich friends. Eeewww. What's that smell?
Over a billion dollars to oil companies, a hundred million to nuclear. If enough attention is brought to bear on this issue, politicians will have to cut the subsidies. It's against the right-wing pro-market ideology. It's offensive to those who hate big oil or think it's making enough money not to need federal cash. And it's offensive to those who would prefer seeing this money spent on solutions to climate change.
This could be the acid test, how we could tell who is simply checking off items on a cheap laundry list and who gets the big picture.
I wonder how much pressure would be needed for this to pass. |
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| On Peter MacKay, and how Layton missed an opportunity |
[Oct. 22nd, 2006|07:52 pm] |
Paint me a cynical bastard, but I'm guessing he didn't refer to Belinda Stronach as a dog. At least not for the recent incident he's accused of.
The Speaker didn't hear it, and couldn't make it out in the recordings. He should be innocent until *proven* guilty. So let's consider for a second that he is innocent. What does that mean?
Well, he's still a sexist asshole. That's why the allegations seem credible. The comments he made about walking his dog after he went back to the family farm implicitly compared Stronach to a dog. And telling Alexa McDonough she should be knitting... there's a clear pattern of sexist remarks. He still needs to apologize to Canadians, and especially Canadian women. In particular, he owes McDonough a public apology.
What's equally distressing is that the Liberals could be lying about this, just to score political points. They know MacKay is a sitting duck, and won't even be prime minister. Still, he'd be a high-profile "kill", and any outrage by women directed at the conservatives help them. That Liberals would pretend to have heard MacKay's remarks would be no more surprising than MacKay actually having made a canine reference.
Jack Layton may be falling in a trap. Instead of following the Liberal strategy and calling for an apology, he could be taking the high road. The comments made about McDonough are on the record, and there has been no apology. The cuts to Status of Women are proof of an anti-woman bias, and should be reversed. By bringing back the discussion to proven events and policy, he would shine in contrast to the Liberals' personal attacks and allegations.
Fundamentally, I believe it's that point-scoring that makes politics so toxic, especially for women and minorities. We need leaders that will rise above that. |
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| Toronto Star uses Wikipedia as authoritative source |
[Jul. 31st, 2006|01:55 pm] |
Ok, so the Liberal leadership race isn't the most fascinating topic. Still, check out this Toronto Star article: Liberal frontrunners emerge - "Different camps are monitoring Wikipedia updates".Some 900 MPs, senators, past candidates, riding presidents and assorted other party brass are automatically entitled to vote at the Liberals' December leadership convention. Wikipedia is tracking their endorsements. Candidates say it's accurate, and at least the Toronto Star is using this list.
How's that for validation? |
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| State surveillance |
[May. 29th, 2006|06:27 pm] |
CBC News: 'Home-grown terrorists' living in Canada: CSIS Am I reading this right? Canada's spy service is warning of an increasing threat from "home-grown terrorists" already living in communities across the country. Be afraid. Be very afraid. Oh, and give us more funding."They are virtually indistinguishable from other youth. They blend in very well to our society, they speak our language and they appear to be — to all intents and purposes — well-assimilated," [Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) deputy director of operations Jack Hooper] said. We don't have a sweet clue about how to tell the difference between an actual terrorist and an immigrant. They could be anywhere, be very afraid.Of the roughly 20,000 from the Pakistani-Afghanistan region, Hooper said CSIS could only vet about "one-tenth." Only 2,000 Pakis are under surveillance. We need ten times more money to make sure all those dirty immigrants are under proper surveillance.Training camps in Afghanistan produce terrorists, said Hooper, including a Canadian resident who played a key role in an earlier attack. [...] That is a good reason for Canadian troops to remain in Afghanistan, he said. The way to prevent immigrants in Canada from becoming terrorists is to kill their parents in their home country. |
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| Harper can speak French |
[Feb. 1st, 2006|05:08 pm] |
Yeah, I missed the debates so I'm late to notice this.
His French is really, really good. Even my dad thinks so. Seriously, I have NEVER heard an anglophone politician in Canada sound THAT GOOD. Alexa? She sounded bad. Layton? Obviously he's put a lot of work into it, although it's still cringe-worthy. Chretien was natively bad in both languages, so he doesn't count.
To a [my] francophone ear, Harper's french sounds more like "International French" than even Martin's.
I'm not fawning here folks: I hate most of his ideas. Still, if you want your politico to win an election in Quebec or with francophones, his approach should be emulated. Does anyone know who his trainers were?
Not only does he have an excellent vocabulary, he's put a lot of work into eradicating FIA - French immersion accent. Aye, if you have FIA, no parl-ay franc-ay around me, thanks. Not to be mean, it's as painful as hearing Duceppe (try to) speak English.
I *think* I heard him make a couple mistakes according gender- a subject esoteric enough a lot of francophones don't get it either. They certainly won't hold it against you.
Now I'll put out a theory about the Quebec vote. My reading of the situation is that by practicing an internationally-neutral accent, Harper can't be compared to Quebecers. You're going to fall short anyways, so why invite the comparison? |
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