Freedom

Canadian Political Transparency

- Fraser Birt 1 Comment

Transparency in democratic politics is not only a good thing, it is necessary to the process. In Canada, there are strict rules in place for the recording and reporting of donations during an election campaign. We like to know just much a corporation or rich citizen has donated, and to what party. However, what most people don’t pay attention to, or even know, is that the myriad of smaller donations given to local candidates are also strictly regulated, and scrupulously recorded. Individuals and local businesses give surprising amounts of money to their preferred local candidate. And now, thanks to Elections Canada, you can easily find out the details.

Searchable by candidate, contributor, party or location, see who supports what in your riding. There are also options for searching contributions to party leadership races and even candidate nomination contests. Things are good when you can see.

Jordan Denies U.S. Immunity

- Adam Clare

Jordan’s Parliament has recently decided to reject a bill that would have given American troops immunity from prosecution by the International Criminal Court. Jordan was concerned that their sovereignty would be comprised by agreeing to America’s demands. 100 countries had signed immunity agreements with the USA.

Jordan has made a smart decision because the International Criminal Court is a institution with great potential, and all countries should respect it.

Colombian Justice

- Adam Clare

Four soldiers and one civilian are facing charges for the murder of three union leaders. The international community, including the United States, are putting pressure on the South American country to respect human rights. The majority of the human rights infractions seem to come from the government’s militias committing attacks against civilians. The US has withheld $100 million in aid until progress is made on human rights, inclusing purging human rights violators from the armed forces. Source: New York Times July 15, 2005

Euro Patents No-Go

- Adam Clare

The BBC is reporting that the European Parliament has given a resounding NO to the proposed patent legislation. An amazing rejection vote of 648 – 14.

Here is a brief reason of what is wrong with software patent legislation. This is really good news for small software developers and the open source community.

Democratic Information

- Adam Clare


Direct civic participation in large democracies in the developed world is very hard. It is possible to find out how your elected representative voted, but it is hard to do. That is until now.

You can now find out how your elected official voted!

In the United States there is a great website that seems to have everything you need.

In Canada you can find out your MP voted.

In England your MPs work for you and you can also fax your MP.

It is great to see how elective representatives voted, transparency in governments are always a good thing.

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