Ottawa 2011-11-01 minutes

The Ottawa PPCA meeting held on Tuesday, November 1st, 2011 was an interesting meeting. We had three members in attendance, plus a student journalist from Carleton University. Topics briefly discussed over the course of the evening included:


 * Advertising Campaign Ideas
 * Where’s the Pirate?
 * This idea is similar to the old “Where’s Waldo?” series. The idea may be to actually have a pirate hidden in the picture, or as a twist, use the new world pirate instead.
 * Official Colour
 * Changing the colour scheme of the party to follow Sweden’s purple is a “good idea” as the current red is far too close to that of the Liberal Party.
 * Converting to B&W logos & images is also well received; but there is an understanding about the cheapness of the look, despite having the same fiscal costs.
 * PPCA Constitution Developments
 * General liking for the new “approval” voting method for Political Council members
 * Eager to get the constitution approved to finally move forward
 * Also interested in the idea that the party is more open to expanding the platform into more traditional areas to truly be a Federal Party
 * Question about how we prevent “fair-weather members”
 * We have a provision restricting candidates, but not “rush” members to elect candidates in contested ridings
 * Platform Possibilities
 * CPAC should be available OTA
 * Hydro – Should have free residential service to a base minimum to live
 * Hydro companies should not have the power to shut off the power of a residence in the middle of winter. In our climate, heat is a necessity to live, which is a basic human right. This should somehow be folded in with the platform.
 * Official languages should consider adding Sign Language (both English & French)
 * Need to examine Women’s Issues as an element of the platform and how it can apply
 * Handicap issues are also something to examine
 * Consider the relation with various assistive technologies and patents, accessibility considerations, and treating differently abled individuals equally
 * This was also an issue raised during and after the debate in the Ottawa-South campaign for the 41st General Election
 * National Energy Policy
 * Hydro, Nuclear & Coal considerations
 * MP Issues
 * No pension until 65
 * Cuts start at home: Parliament MP salaries first
 * Any expansion to the number of MPs in HoC should be revenue neutral
 * Wages
 * Should be a max wage, say 2 million / annum?
 * No bonuses should be > 50% of salary
 * Transportation & Infrastructure
 * Work should be done to better integrate across municipalities, provinces, and federally
 * Great amounts of streamlining possible to save on usage of resources and protect both corporate and government coffers while reducing costs for the taxpayer and providing improved service through integration
 * Lawful Access Legislation
 * Briefly touched upon
 * Piloted the pamphlet
 * Less words, pictures do well to demonstrate the point
 * Need to get to work organizing a protest against the demonstration
 * Stop the Meter Campaign
 * Basic updates about the stop the meter campaign
 * Pirate Party of Ontario
 * Those present could see a need for a provincial party
 * Stress that the PPO must be separate in funds, structure, membership and leadership from the PPCA
 * Alright to be endorsed by the Feds, but not controlled by them

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