What can you do about it? One idea. The Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto. Among other activities, they developed the psiphon censorship circumvention software. Using the software, people outside the firewall can let in people inside the firewall to browse the web anonymously and without restrictions. Curious that the psiphon website is down for remodeling this week, but other similar software packages like PHProxy are available. I suppose this kind of software can also be used in restrictive workplaces if you have an outside server to install it on. Wonder if anyone has tried that?

Freedom to Read keeps alive awareness that books are removed from the shelves in Canadian libraries, schools and bookstores every day and free speech on the Internet is under attack. The 2010 campaign is running this week. In honour of that event, I have temporarily replaced my Reading Gallery with images of all the posters used since the campaign started in 1984. Each time you refresh my homepage you will see a randomly selected image from that collection.

Here are some pics. Click the photos for full size …

This one captures the Victoria Park banner at the gate.

“Haiti Yes Harper No”. I particularly liked this homemade sign. Obviously Haiti is the priority right now for Canadians. It’s distressing that we also have to watchdog our democracy at this time.

There was a good-sized crowd with people perched on the gates. Did I underestimate the count at 500?

P.S. I hope Elizabeth May wins her seat in B.C.

Dear Mr. Preston,

I am one of your constituents. We met on a plane from London to Ottawa a few weeks ago and talked about matters of mutual concern in our riding. I appreciated your candour and perspective.

A private member’s bill, C-398, has been tabled by NDP MP Charlie Angus to make sure future development of the Internet is not impeded by unfair throttling or interference by the telecom corporations. Bandwidth throttling is often misrepresented as being only about music downloads. In fact, throttling creates an uneven playing field for access to the web. Net neutrality is important for everything from kids being able to do their homework to free speech.

I urge you to vote in favour of Bill C-398.

Kind regards,

John Miedema
Thorndale, Ontario
mail@johnmiedema.ca

(Copy to follow by email and regular mail)

I don’t think of myself as an ideological person. I have voted Progressive Conservative, NDP, Liberal, and Green. Despite a certain affection for Preston Manning, I never voted Reform or what became the current Conservative Party. Certainly I could be accused of being biased against the Conservatives. But this turn of events took me entirely by surprise. I believe that surprise has allowed for some clarity in my evaluation of it.

My first reaction was that Stephane Dion and Jack Layton were making a power grab. I started paying attention. Harper planned to cut the subsidy to political parties based on the vote. Political outsiders will never get the problem there, but the subsidy is one small way of getting proportional representation in Canada. Next, Harper wanted to veto the right to strike for public service workers. Ugh. But Harper backed down on both those things. Not enough for Dion and Layton, who insisted that the core of the non-confidence motion was the lack of an economic stimulus package in a time of crisis. That one didn’t move me. What did move me was that Harper backed off on that too, promising to push up his budget date and provide a stimulus package. Harper back-pedaled on his entire platform. How competent is that?

Canadians are naturally frustrated. We just had an election. We voted in the Conservatives. Actually, we voted in a minority Conservative government, and, of course, a majority opposition. It is the job of the opposition to call the government to account. Americans must think this all weird too, since they don’t have politics like this. To be honest, I found myself brushing up on my Canadian history. As it turns out, Canada was founded with a coalition government. There was a coalition government to foster unity before WWI, and cooperation between parties has been associated with some of our more progressive social policies, including health care, the Canadian Pension Plan, and the Canada Student Loans program. It turns out that coalitions are a normal and often positive event in Canadian politics.

If I still thought this was a power grab, I would denounce it. I don’t think so. Dion was defeated in the election and announced he was stepping down in May; he still plans to do so. Harper, on the other hand, has never done anything progressive until he was backed into it. And after two years of Harper pushing and picking at Dion to call a confidence vote, now that he is getting one, he is using “all measures” to avoid it.

I, for one, hope the coalition succeeds. Canada started with a coalition government; let’s start it again. We’ve seen some inspiring change in the south, and we need some here. Time to reboot Canada.

Also posted at http://www.greenparty.ca/en/node/8633

Dear Mr. Harper, Mr. Flaherty, and Mr. Preston,

I am deeply concerned about your proposed cut of the subsidy to Canadian federal political parties.

While I understand this cut affects all parties, it is particularly harmful to fledgling political parties, such as the Green Party which received 6.8% of the popular vote in this year’s election. Canadians are speaking through the popular vote, but this vote is not adequately represented in the current first-past-the-post electoral system. As you know, the subsidy gives $1.95 for each vote to a political party. It is a minimal resource, allowing new parties some voice in representing the Canadians who voted for them. It is one important way to balance the electoral system with proportional representation.

The cut to the subsidy is being proposed as a measure to help in the current economic crisis. In the election campaign, the Green Party put forward some innovative economic ideas. While you may not agree with all of the ideas, in this time of economic crisis it is vital to hear and debate them. This diversity is essential to solving our economic problems.

The subsidy is an investment in democracy, and that is important in good and bad fiscal times. Please reconsider your cut. Mr. Preston, as my Member of Parliament for Elgin-Middlesex-London, I trust you will follow up with this concern with Mr. Harper and Mr. Flaherty.

Respectfully,

John Miedema

Letter delivered by email with my contact information. Recipients notified that the letter was reposted here and at the Green Party website, http://www.greenparty.ca/en/node/8608.