[CivicAccess-discuss] RE: CivicAccess-discuss Digest, Vol 14, Issue 5

[Jennifer Bell]

Right now I'm working on a site called 'I Believe in Open', which is going to look like www.change-congress.org.  It will list 4-5 pledges that MP Candidates and, more importantly, voters, can subscribe to.  The site should be up early next week, and MP candidates should be notified of it by the end of next week.

Unlike change congress, the site will collect counts of confirmed email addresses per riding, to show how much voter support the pledges have per province/district.  

The long-list of pledges, which will be narrowed to 4 or 5, is below.  (Note that the pledges for voters start with 'I believe candidates should').  Number 6 was targeted for open data access issues, but the wording might not be compelling enough.  Does any one have suggestions for improving it?

Jennifer

1.      I will support reforms that increase parliamentary transparency and
accountability.

2.      I will make my campaign promises specific and measurable.  I will
report progress on my promises and their metrics at least semi-
annually.

3.      I will publish the content of my daily schedule, including meetings
with lobbyists and special interest groups.

4.      I will make position papers and proposals for legislation changes
available to the public as they are being drafted.

5.      I will keep a blog of my current thoughts and opinions, to better
communicate with the people I represent.

6.      I will support reforms allowing free access to information gathered
by publicly funded surveys and scientific studies. 

7.      I will support reforms to the Access to Information Request process
that make it easier for Canadians to obtain government information
they have a right to know. 


--- On Fri, 9/12/08, Hugh McGuire <hugh at hughmcguire.net> wrote:

> From: Hugh McGuire <hugh at hughmcguire.net>
> Subject: Re: [CivicAccess-discuss] RE: CivicAccess-discuss Digest, Vol 14, Issue 5
> To: "civicaccess discuss" <civicaccess-discuss at civicaccess.ca>
> Received: Friday, September 12, 2008, 10:17 AM
> > You can buy the Postal Code to Federal Electoral
> District file for a  
> > first
> > year fee of $2500, with the annual fee for quarterly
> updates  
> > thereafter
> > costing $500.
> > ...
> > Alternate solutions are to scrape the data from a site
> which does  
> > not have a
> > fair use policy excluding that.
> once upon a time this was going to be the first advocacy
> project of  
> civicaccess.ca ... lobby the government to free
> electoral/postal code  
> data. having it cost so damn much (or anything at all)
> causes problems  
> to the most basic of online civic engagement projects. why
> should we  
> have to pay $2500 to get a dataset that tells you what
> electoral  
> district you are in by postal code? it seems like an
> elemental kind of  
> information about our country, that any citizen should have
> access to  
> for free, and yet...
> 
> This is a perfect case of why the current system is
> undemocratic,  
> stupid, and blocks effective engagement in our democratic
> process.
> 
> 
> 
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> CivicAccess-discuss at civicaccess.ca
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