We already reported on the Green Party of Canada saying that we don’t need a Pirate Party of Canada because Canada has the Green Party. This was in response to word that the Pirate Party of Canada was forming in Canada. We’ve now gotten a response from the Pirate Party of Canada about what they think about what the Green Party said.
Note: This is an article I wrote that was published elsewhere first. It has been republished here for archival purposes
Their membership isn’t exactly hitting tens of thousands yet. Their manifesto hasn’t even been completed. They haven’t really been around for more than 6 months in its current incarnation. They have yet to participate in an election at all. You’d think that they wouldn’t really be making any sort of movement on their issues at all, but already, they are making waves in the media and are catching the attention of other political parties. If they are this successful already, imagine what would happen by the time they make it to the point of participating in a national election.
Earlier, in an interview with Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party, there were comments that there isn’t a need for a Pirate Party because there’s the Green Party who has similar stances on issues with copyright and patents. While it seems to be looking like the two parties might have their differences, we also noted that the Pirate Party of Sweden has already chosen to sit with the Green Party in the European election.
The Pirate Party is well aware of the video interview and we asked for their thoughts on the subject.
“The fact that the Green Party has already noticed us and is talking about copyright law is a huge early success for the Pirate Party.” Dusty Phillips, member of the Pirate Party of Canada responded. He then said, “Even if the Green Party had the same stance as us on privacy, digital rights, copyright, and patent law […], they were not talking about these issues in the last election; no party was.”
“The Green Party is both a model and an inspiration for us: two decades ago, environmental issues were not a part of any political platform. Now they are a major player in most political debates. We hope to follow a similar path in bringing another distinct set of very important issues to the voter’s attention.” Phillips added.
Jake Daynes, whom we spoke to earlier when the Pirate Party of Canada was forming, commented, “we feel that our two parties could help and support each other greatly.”
As for being similar to the Green Party on copyright issues, he seems to agree with our note about similarities between them and the Green Party on the international stage while finding an additional example, “We would also like to note the fact that our Swedish counterparts have opted to sit next to the Green Party in the EU, on the basis of similar interest as well as that an Austrian MEP representing the Green Party participated in the first Pirate Party International event.”
There’s been some talk already about how the current political system doesn’t allow very many parties to directly participate in policy making. Daynes commented, “In terms of Proportional Representation, we are very much in support of the idea, and realize that with the help of a PR voting system, both the Green Party and the PPoC would stand a much better chance to erect change inside our government.”
When it comes to patents, Daynes offered an example on how the Pirate Party and the Green Party of Canada could work together. He referred us to a story about how Toyota took out numerous patents on the Hybrid car to stall the competition.
Daynes then said, “we have not taken a solid stance on issues aside from our main platform, we are very open to helping other parties pursue their goals, as long as they do not contradict our purpose, or go against the democratic and constitutional rights of Canadian Citizens.”
He conceded that as of right now, the party is not in any position to help others out yet though appreciates the common stances the two parties have on several core issues.
“Right now we are busy concentrating on getting ourselves established and sorted,” he added, “and would be amenable to collaborating on projects after we have got ourselves sorted.”
The party certainly has a long way to go, but in a short period of time, they’ve accomplished quite a lot. We would like to thank the Pirate Party of Canada for responding to us.
Pirate Party of Canada home page
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Google+.
