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Behind the Scenes of Canada's Movie Piracy Law
An anonymous reader writes "Michael Geist's latest Toronto Star column features a behind-the-scenes look at how Canada got its movie piracy bill based on internal government documents obtained under the Access to Information Act. Few will be shocked to learn that Hollywood lobbyists provided draft legislation months earlier as part of their barrage of lobbying, though the documents show that advisers to the Minister were skeptical that the proposal would accomplish anything. From the article: 'The industry's lobby efforts were clearly successful. Ignoring the inconsistent claims, the absence of evidence that Canadian films are being affected, the contrary internal advice, and the bracing reality that Hollywood has acknowledged that the U.S. is by far the largest source of illegal camcording worldwide notwithstanding its movie piracy legislation, Bill C-59 is expected to sail through Parliament. In doing so, Ottawa is sending Canadians two messages. The first is what drew the industry standing ovation - unauthorized camcording will not be tolerated in Canada even if it means diverting law enforcement resources from health and safety issues to movie theatres. The second is that private meetings, foreign pressures and lobbyist drafted bills is how law gets made in Canada.'"
"even if it means diverting law enforcement resources from health and safety issues to movie theatres"
I'd rather not do that... to me, health and safety is worth more than money.
~/.sig: No such file or directory
And this is news? Come on, you don't really think Canada (or any other "civilized" country is soverign, do you? What Hollywood (or any big business, for that matter) wants, they get, governments be damned. Face it, the only vote anyone on this planet really has is measured by how much money they have in their wallet.
All it means to me is that it will be harder to smuggle food into the theatres.
"Evil will always triumph over good, because good is dumb." - Dark Helmet (Spaceballs)
...not that there's anything wrong with that...
A film maker's job is to create an alternate reality and make it believable. They've just done that in real life.
I don't know about you Canadians, but if I lived there this would piss me off beyond comprehension. (It still pisses me off even though I don't live there, but if I did live there and my wife died at a car accident scene because no cops were around and someone else ran into her car....yeah. It would be time to kick ass and chew bubble gum.)
Living With a Nerd
First, it was his words of admiration for the Republican party , then is was the "normalizing" of relations with the Bush administration after he got elected. Prime Minister Stephen Harper supported everything Bush did: from dodging climate change responsibilities to supporting what remains of cowboy diplomacy. And just last week, he ticked off Bono at the G8!
Now, he is a friend to Hollywood executives by taking their drafts and passing them as Canadian law.
When will this guy stop embarrassing Canada?
Whilst I'm no fan of Draconian laws, or excessive interferece in the making of those laws, I feel that the number of law enforcement resources that will be diverted is not going to be significant. After all, it hasn't been a factor in the States, has it?
init 11 - for when you need that edge.
The bill, at Bill C-59 says that it's only a crime if the theatre manager says so.
This allows the manager to set his own camera up in the projection room, which is conveient, but not as convenient as running the film through a scanner or the DVD through a duplicator.
Perhaps the drafters think that theatre managers can't be bribed?
--dave
davecb@spamcop.net
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
They bought it.
No one should be the least bit surprised. Its how governments work now.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
The first is what drew the industry standing ovation - unauthorized camcording will not be tolerated in Canada even if it means diverting law enforcement resources from health and safety issues to movie theatres. A nice exaggeration if I ever saw one... Anyhow. To be the devil's advocate here, has anyone taken the time to do some research on where bootleg movies come from? Before people anywhere start shooting off at the mouth, they should take a look at where the vast majority of RECORDED movies comes from. Then they should focus on fixing that solution. Implementing moronic laws such as "No Camcorder Left Behind" lobbied by deep pocketed Hollywood sharks will never fix the problem. Common logic will dictate survival of the fittest with this said let me be an usher at a movie theater. Let someone come in with a camcorder... My wage is say $15.00 per hour as an usher... Someone is paying me $1000.00 to play Ray Charles/Stevie Wonder. Guess what? Survival of the fittest. This is anywhere you go.
The second is that private meetings, foreign pressures and lobbyist drafted bills is how law gets made in Canada. Unless the one who posted this has been living in a bomb shelter for the past 50 years... Has anyone ever noticed that businesses have been dictating laws since the inception of time? Coca Cola and others did similar things in Latin America once upon a time, Airbus in France, and countless other companies here in the US. Get over it.
Infiltrated dot Net
Sickening. Genuinely sickening.
Despite no proven detrimental effect to Canada they have passed laws to restrict behaviour and use tax money to enforce the restrictions, all at the say so of corporate interests.
This pretty much sums up what I hate about the world right now. Democracy is dead.
But that movie pirates in Canada have now their own laws is cool.
Do they prefer to pirate French movies now or is it some kind of Reinheitsgebot like with the German beer to stop ripping/spreading/promoting the crap from Hollywood?
Still, how can anyone say its OK to videotape movies?
You are taking content that isn't yours.
There's really not much that these new laws will do aside from giving Canadians early screenings again. It'll be good to see movies earlier once more and I'm sure that Pacific Mall will not be put to any real danger by this new act. Yes it's sad that more money and resources are wasted on this futile jesture, but the baby needs it's bottle.
Really. What the industry wanted was a DCMA type act in Canada. They didn't get that and they won't get that. Instead they settled for an anti-camcording law. Not many people will argue that camcording in the theatre is good. Not even the pirates like it, makes for lousy copies. In the end the industry gets a sop, and the government says, okay, we did our bit. It will make no difference to piracy in the end (Canada is not the major source of pirated movies in the world).
No, cops won't stop doing policing over it. They are certainly not going to drop a car chase or a stakeout to go pick up a kid with a camcorder. That's just silly.
As for the thin edge of the wedge, the conservatives are not doing well in the polls, and they only managed a minority government last time after catching the liberals in what they billed the scandal of the century. They are not going to be around for much longer anyway. Then we will get the do-nothing liberals, and that's what htey wil do - nothing.
"The second is that private meetings, foreign pressures and lobbyist drafted bills is how law gets made in Canada."
Isn't politics pretty much like this everywhere though? If politicians don't actually listen to people and take actions (albeit yes they should be able to discriminate between ordinary Joe citizen and a paid lobbyist) - what exactly are they there for?
The movie industry nievely thinks that having an extra law will reduce the piracy - it won't - even with greater enforcement the pirates will find another less risky way (like pirating the free DVDs handed out to the Oscar judges etc).
Video Game cheats, hints a
Right. That would never ever happen in the land of the brave and the free. Ever.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper? Isn't he the guy who, when IDF warplanes killed UN Canadian Peacekeepers said "Well, what were they doing there anyway?"
Wonder if he's going to give the Canadian people back their CD levies? ($0.29 per unit for Audio Cassette tape (40min or longer); $0.77 per unit for CD-R Audio, CD-RW-Audio & MiniDisc; $0.21 per unit for CD-R, CD-RW (non audio) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_copying_levy )
Stop voting for people like this. It only encourages them.
I don't see how camcordering a movie really has any effect on the sales of movie tickets or DVDs of the film. Has anybody actually seen one of these camcordered movies? The quality is terrible. If the MPAA think that this is competing with their product, then they better come up with a new product. Also, wouldn't this already be considered illegal under current copyright laws? Do you really need a specific law against using camcorders to record stuff in theatres? Especially in a way that allows it to be done if the manager of the theatre says it's alright?
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
I thought this whole business was remarkably clever of the Canadian government. They managed to sidestep a messy showdown with Hollywood by outlawing something that isn't a problem. Seriously, our movie theatres are not giant igloos, and pirating movies on a camcorder hasn't been an issue for a decade or more (has it ever been?). These days pirated movies usually come from stolen or "borrowed" cinema masters.
Given the choice between having Hollywood lobbying against something stupid, like a camcorder ban, or something more serious, like a DMCA equivalent, I'd much rather pacify them with the stupid stuff.
The reason the law passed is because it is useless.
Provinces are responsible for law enforcement - they'll just ignore it as another idiotic Ottawa publicity stunt.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
he second is that private meetings, foreign pressures and lobbyist-drafted bills is how law gets made in Canada
Annnnnnnnnnnnnnd everywhere else in the Western world (and a good many other places as well). So what's new? Were you surprised by this?
http://xkcd.com/386/
This is the fundamental problem of capitalism: how is democracy possible in the face of huge, rich, powerful corporations that can by-pass any control of the government by the people?
I am anarch of all I survey.
Law enforcement is a provincial issue. The Provinces will just let out a collective yawn and ignore it. This law is just a publicity stunt and has no real meaning. Bear in mind that even the Supreme Court of Canada isn't really supreme. The provincial courts have a higher status than the Supreme Court in Ottawa. If you are found guilty in a province and not guilty in Ottawa, then you better stay in Ottawa and not head home. It happens once in a while.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
"Stephen Harper is so far up George Bush's ass that he can almost see Tony Blair's feet. The only reason they can get both of them in there is because John Howard is so short."
my friends went to the movies on Saturday, and guess what the police is hired to do? The police is hired to check everyone's bag as they enter the theatre to make sure there is no camcorder. That is the most idiotic thing that Canadian politicians did - cave in to a foreign country's lobbying group, at the expense that each teenager and older person has his or her bag examined.
Greater lineups? You bet! However, it's not so much the lineups as the feeling that a little bit of dignity is robbed away from you.
Don't you know that the most egregious and offensive crime you can commit is stealing (back) from the rich?
You're using her as bait, Master!
"The second is that private meetings, foreign pressures and lobbyist drafted bills is how law gets made in Canada"
To which Bush added : "Canada is now officially part of North America"
Clearly 'Anonymous Reader' and editor Zonk have failed to present any credible justification to support why camcorder piracy should be legal and why we should be concerned about this law.
Democracy is supposed to represent the interests of the people, not of whoever pays the politicians' reelection funds. It's corruption. Now if only we could actually persuade the populaton to vote out assholes thsat do this...
but american idol is far more fun and far less effort.
Canada's laws are not brought on by lobbyists. Sorry to say, but just look at the trust fund tax fiasco. The conservatives promised not to tax trust funds, then all major corporations decided to go under trusts and the conservatives did a complete 360 realizing the impact that would have on tax revenue. You think these multibillion dollar companies could've bought their way into government to prevent that from happening?
Mafiaa's influence is only by proxy through the US Government. It's their weight that has pushed (re: bullied) Canada into starting to adopt more draconian laws.
I'm god, but it's a bit of a drag really...
It's hilarious when the plebes get all foamy at the mouth over something they've totally missed the point of. This was a clever move, not a nefarious one.
An inconsequential smolder has been smothered rather than face an inferno from Hollywood's fattest wallets. That's a good move -- it represents a certain economy of action that's often lacking in Canadian government.
No DCMA equivalent in Canada! Vive le Canada semi-libre!
These stories are free but worth money.
And just last week, he ticked off Bono at the G8!
Quite frankly, this was the first time I ever approved of anything Harper's done.
He acts like every other slimy politician most of the time, but he earned quite a bit of respect from me that day. As a Canadian, I haven't had much respect for any federal politicians for decades. Was rather proud of my country, if only a little more, that day.
Politicians chasing photo-ops with celebs is just one reason I think they're all scumbags. Nice to see a refreshing change from the status quo.
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
They may have had several scandals but at least the were a Canadian govenment not an American proxy.
Undetectable Steganography? Yep, there's an app fo
Glad to see American "values" have gotten to Canada...
Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
That's a shame, because everybody knows that washed-up Irish rockers are experts on Canadian foreign policy (just ask Bob Geldoff).
Support Right To Repair Legislation.
Well if thats the way law are made in canada now, why arnt we playing their game? Why are people getting together en mass and demanding the laws we want? Why arnt we forcing them to follow what we want, why arnt we taking collections for multi million dollar bribes to politicians to get what we want. Why dont we get like 200 of us to be lobiests, get 5 million or so in bribes ready and then get them to create a national P2P network completly free of any copyrights or Intelectual properly regulation get them to create a pirate haven. If thats how its got to be done and they dont care...then lets abuse the system.
-Ours is the wisdom of Solomon, the magic of Merlyn, the fall of Icaris.
Almost daily there is news in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) of crimes, including murder, committed with hand guns. Legally obtaining a handgun in Canada is very difficult (and has been since the mid 1930's), so the vast majority of these hand guns are illegal imports from the USA.
:(
I wish governments and big business on *both* sides of the border would devote as much attention, time and money to the issue of illegal handgun imports into Canada as they do about movie piracy. I don't know about the rest of you people, but I am a lot more afraid of somebody walking into a local movie theatre here in Canada with an illegal handgun than an illegal camcorder. Are movies worth more than lives anymore?
The other issue to me, one that Hollywood & the studios and others never address, is that for me and my family (two adults, two children) to go see a movie in a theatre today, with admission, parking, car gas, popcorn, drinks, etc, etc, I'll spend at least $100. I don't have that kind of money to go as often as I would like too. Sorry Hollywood, but this month the car needed fixing and the kids needed dental work. I am sure most of you have similar stories. I am also pretty peaved that the very fews times I do go to a movie theatre, I have to sit through several minutes of commercials for an event I PAY to attend. This turns me off completely. Are you guys litening out there?
But I will and do buy DVDs.
With everybody buying larger and larger TVs, home theatre systems, etc, etc, why not release DVDs of new movies at the same time as they are released in theatres? I imagine you would kill off a lot of piracy right there and then. I don't have the big screen LCD TV myself (yet), but someday when I do, I'd rather stay home and watch movies in the comfort of my own house.
Movie distribution today is bascially a very flawed business model due to many factors, including some of those listed above,a nd trying to place the blame on piracy will do nothing to help. Wake up and smell the coffee.
That's right! Everyone knows what's most important is the needs of the corporations. If it weren't for the corporations, no one would have jobs, then where would they be?! Friggin' people, always getting in the way of progress. If only we could bring back the days where if someone stepped out of line, we could just stick 'em in a woodchipper. Ahhhh, the days of innocence...gone forever they are. Give these laborers a little freedom and they expect to keep it!
Which is more painful? Going to work or gouging your eye out with a spoon? Find out!
http://www.workorspoon.com
I have no problem with lobbying groups supplying draft legislation. It is better that legislation be written by somebody that has knowledge of the topic in question rather than a lawmaker just pulling it out of his ass. I believe that most bills affecting the private sector do come from lobbying groups of some sort.
That doesn't mean that this law was in any way useful or good (it isn't), but the fact that it was written by a lobbyist is not inherently evil. If the FSF had pushed for a bill requiring the govt. to consider Free Software for all procurement purchases over $X, I don't think Slashdot would be screaming.
Of course, that does not absolve lawmakers from their responsibility to look over any proposed legislation and suggest it be modified or tanked...
SirWired
Living in Canada, I'm fairly certain this is going to do little "good." 95% of the theatres' employees, and more importantly all of the ones taking tickets, are 14-16 year old high school students. They don't want to make their job any harder than it has to be, so they don't want to stop you, they don't want to check your bags/clothes, and they certainly don't want to possibly start a fight/scene with someone for $7 an hour.
Sure it's sad to see our government cave to external pressure, but this is going to just be a token law to keep them happy and enforcement is going to be non-existent.
"Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much." - Oscar Wilde
I think Geist feels like he needs to 'spice up' these dry copyright stories with wild allegations, spurious correlations and appeals to Canadian nationalism. It's all getting a bit ridiculous. In reality, the police will care as little about the new law as they did the old: the police in Canada barely enforce soft drug laws and have some of the laxest white-collar crime policing in the Western world. I'm confident we're not going to see a huge spike in crime as the RCMP is re-tasked to the Montreal Galaxy theatre.
Geist has to write to his audience, the Toronto left-wing who read the Toronto Star and love nothing better than to re-affirm their moral outrage at American corporate and social intrustion into Canadian life, real or imagined. Especially pathetic were Geist's last couple of articles about the dangers of new copyright law to 'independent Canadian media', which absolutely nobody watches or cares about in Canada, and is mostly used by big Canadian media companies to soak culturual grants out of the Federal government. In terms of irresponsible corporate influence and wastes of taxpayer money, the shameless corporate welfare to Canadian media companies and unions is far more of a scandal than these new camcorder laws.
The American Revolution. Where people's voices are denied, they speak from the mouth of their cannons.
I never spellcheck and I freely admit it. Save your karma for more worthwhile "lol erorrs" replies
They are going to put cops in movie theaters to protect corporate profits?! What a joke!
"Our law that we wrote says its illegal to use a camcorder in a theaters, and we have had local athorities install automated gun turrets installed to enforce it." -- The MPAA
Bringing liberty to the masses. - http://freetalklive.com/
Sure, some people who may have the same name as a convicted pirate may end up getting hassled and pulled aside for extra attention every time they go to the theater, but that's a small price to pay to protect the movie industry's profits against the piracy of another Ocean's 11 sequel.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
That government has degenerated to a parasitic, degenerative, sellout, noise making machine and, barring realization and self correction, should be vestigilized.
Finally, a post on this topic that isn't biased against the Canadian film industry. Sticks to the facts and the most obvious of assumptions. Mod Up.
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
"The second is that private meetings, foreign pressures and lobbyist drafted bills is how law gets made in Canada.'"
And how did it get use to be made, and when did it change? And more importantly what makes you think this is just a MPAA issue, let alone a Canadian issue? Yes folks, this is on Slashdot because it's about big business (a particular one in this case), and not because someone just had an epiphany and realized that other special interests do the same thing and have been doing it long before most here were born.
Big movies = Millions of dollars in profit
Loss of revenue from dead consumers due to illegal guns = easily less than one million dollars
Illegal guns are the kind of problem that democracy can't easily fix. The solution requires funding and effort for little immediate result, thus failing to impress the public.
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
This is so awesome. I went to the Calgary premiere of Grindhouse a couple months ago and they were super-strict about recording stuff. Anyone with a camera on their mobile phone had to sign a waiver (!!) and check it in for the duration of the movie. Naturally, I set my ringer to "PIERCINGLY LOUD" and planned on making some calls from non-camera phones later on, just to get a giggle. Anyways, the mall cops at the entrance were so frazzled by having to confiscate all these phones that they didn't notice (or ignored) several bags of candy, a 26 of rye, a glass pipe, and two joints. SCORE!
One last thing: Geist seems to be blowing this ever-so-slightly out of proportion. Like I said, it's MALL cops we're talking about here, which are hired by the theatres. Although I find the sentiment of C-59 quite laughable, I strongly doubt there will be any significant change in the allocation of govt. resources from public health & safety to piracy prevention. Just more mall cops.
...Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.
Churchill
I hope you know something I don't. With regards to the anti-camcording bill, the head of the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association[2] said it "is really the first step - not only for the movie industry - where the government has shown it will seriously address the whole area of intellectual property theft." Reports are that the government intends to go ahead with a DMCA-style "reform". Bev Oda, one of the two ministers responsible for copyright, has previously said Canada will ratify international treaties, implying that includes the WIPO treaty on which the DMCA is based[1]. The 2007-2008 Report on Plans and Priorities lists "copyright reform" as a priority to which the government has "previously committed". Given the
On the up side, now is not the time to give up: the significant opposition to stronger copyright provisions seems be having an effect. While the RPP's statement on the issue points towards anti-circumvention legislation and a flawed conception of copyright as a simple conflict between creators and consumers (when in fact there are creators on both sides, and citizens and the public interest are directly affected), it avoids committing to any paricular course of action:
I wrote to her in January and received a similarly ambiguous reply: "the Government is continuing to consider the concerns of all Canadians . . . The Government wants to ensure that the rights of Canadian creators are adequately protected by law, and that these rights are balanced with the ability of the public to access works."
[1] I should point out that Canada is under no obligation to ratify the WIPO treaty. Even if we do, the treaty's anti-circumvention provisions don't require all of the excesses of the DMCA:
[2] For the most part we don't make Canadian films, we distribute American ones. For the distributors, maximalist intellectual monopoly laws are in their interests even if they inhibit the production of Canadian films.
gsslay, I think you miss the point. The basis of your calling this out as a fallacy is the (false) conclusion that the "Anonymous Reader" and Zonk are contending that "nothing should be done about camcorder piracy". Quite the contrary, nobody is arguing that it should be condoned. The law itself (Apart from changing the criminal sentences) does little to affect the legality of movie camcording, so we should not be terribly concerned by it (though it is incredibly vague).
The real point is that the time and energy that will go/has gone into enforcing, drafting, and passing this law could be better spent elsewhere (e.g., health and safety issues) as it was already illegal to tape movies in Canadian theatres under the Copyright Act. We should be concerned that the lobbyists were able to get a law through to second reading (and likely passed) that was unnecessary using false information and distortions about Canadian law and about international movie piracy.
... they gave you the 63 cent dollar. Vote them back in, maybe they'll do even better for you... like give you the 2 cent dollar. So go ahead, Vote Liberal!
Who the fuck tagged this slownewsday! Somebody who doesn't care because Americans are already accustom to all legislation being made this way?
...that Hollywood movies these days suck? Has there been anything worth the bother?
/\/\icro/\/\uncher
In all fairness, let's blame the idiots we elected, not the lobbyists! :)
"The second is that private meetings, foreign pressures and lobbyist drafted bills is how law gets made in Canada"
Hey, that's how it gets made EVERYWHERE - especially in the United States.
When a US Senator gets a half million dollar bribe from the Turkish lobby to kill the Turkey-Armenia bill, well, that's just chicken feed compared to what else goes on in the "land of the free".
"Corrupt politicians" is a redundant phrase.
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
"Remember, Ralphie, if no one notices your slashdot post, you're being too subtle... or not subtle enough!"
Maybe I should have just stuck with my first thought: "Yeah, long lines and being treated like they were criminals really made people refuse to go to airports anymore, didn't it?"
They're treating movie goers like potential airplane hijackers!
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
The Canadian government has agreed that the expense of policing the theaters would be too expensive and too annoying for its citizens who go to the movies, as such they have instead banned all films from corporations who are concerned with this issue, not allowing the movie theaters or the movie companies to sell their merchandise within Canada. A statesman was commenting on saying: "If they cannot trust themselves to show their movies in our theaters, then I feel to ban them spreading their merchandise altogether is the best discourse"
- Man I'd love to see that side of the debate thrown out there.. how panicked would the mafiaa become then. It's much easier if you think about it to just eliminate the source of the merchandise rather than try to control everyone consuming the merchandise, plus they would seriously dent the profits of the big companies (I'm guessing that Canada is probably nicely profitable regarding movies, DVDs, and so on for the mafiaa, plus it'll let people know who are the bastards trying to call every canadian citizen a pirate and a thief, and who isn't as film corporations who aren't completely nuts regarding this issue would still eb allowed their movies in theaters.
This is the same precise thing as happened in Sweden just recently. I think everyone should be reeeeally suspicious of the agreements USA is setting up with certain countries regarding "research and information exchange". It's supposed to be research about "terror" but I find it so very suspicious that these two events - signing those information exchange agreements, and implementing these new laws, went hand in hand in both Canada and Sweden.
I have not done any real research, but unless more countries have let themselves be bought (because signing the deal means getting access to apply for funding from the USA terror-research wallet, which also probably makes for a perfect tunnel for bribes), the countries on that list are: Sweden, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Great Britain and Singapore.
Would be interesting to see if these laws have all been implemented in these countries (well we know they have in Sweden and Canada).
Flip it on during the show, and enjoy performing a crime with a maximum penalty of 5 years imprisonment.
This is just idiotic.
I lost my sig.
Every Western (and quite a few Eastern) Liberal Democracies has just two parties: Both so similar that it's hard to tell the difference. Come election power the opposition often tries to get elected by trying to look like the government: "Look! If you vote for us, and you'll hardly notice the difference!"
e fends-rent-payment-to-wife/2007/02/25/117233845296 4.html )
Come election time, there may be 30 or so issues, yet we have to narrow down our vote to two parties. My local member doesn't represent me. They made have made sense a few hundred years ago, but these days (good or bad I don't know) people are (albeit through the sometimes questionable media and bloggers) well informed. We don't need to go through an ex-union offical or greased up merchant banker to put our views to the vote. The perks these guys lay on themselves is outright obscene and shows a real contempt for the people they serve. Just one example: A merchant banker cum politician worth $100M who found a way to rort an extra $175 a night by sleeping in his wife's apartment and paying her 'rent' http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/turnbull-d
Some posters have pointed out minority parties. Problem is Joe Average is loathe to vote for them; "that'd be throwing away my vote." Even in Australia where preferential voting allows you to cast a protest vote without losing it, most people still dismiss the minor parties. Minor parties, knowing they're mostly unelectable and at best only bit players, have a problem attracting talent. Accordingly they attract some lacklustre candidates who figure they can be a big fish in a small pond. Our so-called 'talented candidates' (those ex-union officials and greased up merchant bankers) join the majors, because they know that's the gravy train (but will have to make so many promises on the way they'll be useless if they finally get to the top).
If people voted for minor parties, then they could attract better candidates who, without having to sell their soul, might be able to remain true to what they promise. If people keep voting for the major parties, and keep getting crap, and keep voting for them, then the people have the government they deserve.
Winston's Churchill's quote "Democracy is the worst system of government, apart from all the other ones" is a huge cop out. Call it by it's real name at least: "A Corpocracy"
>The second is that private meetings, foreign pressures and lobbyist drafted bills is how law gets made in Canada.
History Channel's "Secret Superpower Aircraft" made a pretty good case that Canada's early-1970's mach-2 fighter was scrapped because of pressure from U.S. industry (which had no comparable fighter, as all resources were being diverted to bomber programs).
It's fun being our neighbors, eh?
i'm moving to Montreal :P
Thank you, Scudsucker, for justifying the reputation of the average Slashdot poster as a peurile, reactionary, naive blow-hard.
It warms the cockles (and no, I'm not homophobic either) of my heart to see life imitate lampoon so perfectly. You truly rock, as a living charicature of adolescent reasoning and broken rhetoric, and are an inspiration to us all.
Sign my tits!
These stories are free but worth money.