Provencher 2011

Candidate's Application
NAME/NOM: Ric Lim

PROVINCE: Manitoba

RIDING/CIRCONSCRIPTION: Provencher

PARTY INVOLVEMENT / PARTICIPATION DE PARTI:

I've been a member of the Pirate Party since November of 2010 and have been actively involved in discussions and some promotions.

POLITICAL EXPERIENCE / L'EXPÉRIENCE POLITIQUE:

No formal political affiliation prior to joining the Pirate Party of Canada. But I've been actively blogging about politics and is affiliated with Canada's Progressive Bloggers site. My first political experience was volunteering for Jeff Coleman campaign during the Winnipeg North By-Election.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST / CONFLITS D'INTÉRÊTS:

Other than work related association, not currently involve with any organzation that would conflict with my ability to represent my constituents and the Pirate Party.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT / PARTICIPATION DE LA COMMUNAUTÉ:

I have been involved in some community events such as trail work in preparation for Canada and Western Canada ski events in our local community. Also been regularly involved in annual Triathlon event hosted by our community, and attended by some of Manitoba's top athlete.

PLATFORM / MANIFESTE:

I support Pirate Party's core platform and additional platform such as support for innovation and crime fighting.

Open Government

Transparent Riding's Business Dealings - I would propose an enhanced check and balance against conflict of interest and corruption. This would include keeping records of any business dealings and discussion with outside groups and lobbyist. A more stringent and mandatory requirement than currently existing rules. Those records will be publicly available. If elected, I would start implementing this practice on my office. Some exception might apply (e.g. National Security or ongoing contract negotiation – only if absolutely necessary and for limited duration only).

Open Records of Justification for Decisions – I intend to put the reasons and justification for any decision made and bills voted on on record. This record will be readily available for people to access.

Constituents Involvement - I would also use online forum to encourage discussions and suggestions from my constituents. Also use friendly interface similar to upvote and downvote for people to quickly express their views. The forum will be open to my constituents only through an easy registration and verification.

Education and Innovation

While education might be under provincial jurisdiction, the Federal government can provide funding for research and innovations for Hospitals and Universities. A government that is able to spend $20-30 billion on fighter jets should be able to provide more funding for educations and innovations. While the benefit might not be achieved within an MP's one term in office, it will help keep Canada competitive and maintain its status as a progressive nation.

Crime

While jail might need to be built to accomodate more criminals, fighting crime should not focus solely on building jails and anticipating influx of criminals. Crime fighting should also include going after the root cause and source. This would include focusing on personal crisis support & counselling group and community centers (to provide a positive social interaction environment for youth). Also support investigation / effort for going after higher level crime offender.

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Director's Evaluation
(where applicable, include Director's interview/evaluation)

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Official Agent Information
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Official Auditor Information
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Event Dates & Information
(info on any events, volunteer meetings, battle planning)

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Collateral and Advertising Materials
(image links to all posters, brochures, etc)

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Volunteer List
(list of volunteers, if available)

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Voting Results
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Post-Election Reports
The writ of election was issued on Saturday March 26. I started gathering signatures before then, usually at night after work. First week I was still working and gathering nomination signatures at night. Week of April 3rd (2nd full week since writ was issued) I was trying to get more signatures and file my nomination papers with [Elections Canada]. I was confirmed by mid week (April 6). Then began the process of setting up donation online. Got a donation by end of the week and printed flyers on Saturday with my website address on it. So it took me a while to get the campaign started.

As the campaign starts, I find that having to answer to e-mails, do research and prepare for interviews or debates is taking away from time I could use going door to door. And on the campaign trail, it took me a while to find the right approach to go door to door faster. I also get invited in for chat often. Even people who are not going to vote for me chat with me for a while. Now I can appreciate the news article I read about a candidate having their foot ready to leave as soon as a door opens. It just feels wrong for me to just rush out. But I guess there needs to be a balance between not being too rushed and not staying too long chatting on one house.

In the end, in an effort to reach as many household as possible, I rode my bike to go house to house, then later on started just dropping flyers without ringing the doorbell. So I am able to reach more houses since ringing a bell and having to wait at least double the time if not more. The downside is I don’t get to talk face to face with the people. But I did modify the flyer to put website on top and mention the 2nd debate video is posted there. The idea is since I am not able to chat face to face, if they check out the website with the 2nd debate video, they can have a sense of where I stand. Judging by the youtube number of views, not a lot bother to check. So face to face is still the most effective especially for a new party and a candidate they are not familiar with.

My first debate at Steinbach are more widely covered. Although got a lot of kudos at the end, I felt I was more conversational and did not have prepared notes to read. So have more pauses to think and when you only have 1 to 2 minutes to talk, it does lose valuable time. I corrected that in my 2nd and last debate. However, the 2nd debate was not as widely attended and no live streaming and media. So I felt there might be lost opportunity on the first debate to attract some votes.

Another challenge was my district have lots of Seniors. I wish I have focus on patent law reform for drugs and how it will save cost on health care early in the campaign when talking to Seniors. This only became more of a focus when I printed the 2nd batch of flyer and at later part of the campaign. That would have got more interest from the Seniors. One concern I have are the “too old to care” comments from Seniors (even though there is only about 2 or 3 person that I can remember making that comment). I then came across John Harvie’s tweet, the Green Party candidate for Winnnipeg North. He tweet the Greek quote “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” Wish I have that on hand as a retort for the old man who says he is too old to care about what happen.

Our biggest city Steinbach is also a religious city which was dry (no alcohol) until recently. I did not find that an issue when asked if I am a Christian since I grew up a Catholic. I was also able to find middle ground that seems to satisfies my constituents when confronted about abortion issues.

I have a good chat with people from different party affiliation. This message I got the evening of election day probably applies to more than one person and could have cost me several votes. The message reads:

Hello Ric,

Congrats on the hard work you did in this campaign. With the election seeming to be a close call I forced myself to vote for one of the 2 leading parties but if I could have voted for local representation seperate from Prime Minister, I would have voted for you.

Hope you will continue to work for what you believe in. All the best.

Conservatives are pretty certain to win so not sure if he was afraid of NDP surge or he thinks NDP surge makes it a possible close call giving them a chance. But I digress. But I do get a sense from some people congratulating me that they still intend to vote for other party. There are also comments like you must be kidding to think you have a chance. Which I have to explain what we can accomplish.

What would I change? Maybe have nomination signatures almost done by the time election is called. Should be easier with a fixed date election. Also decide early on if running and start awareness campaign prior to election being called. Then hit as much door as possible riding on my bike to quickly go from house to house from the start. Also have a volunteer knock on doors and introduce me then call me if they want to chat with me or have any question for me. That way, time is not wasted waiting to see if someone would answer the door. Also familiarize all my areas beforehand. My areas covered such big land mass and I could have done better job of planning of which area to spend more time on and to make sure I hit all areas. I did miss some areas that I should probably have at least visited once.

What would I have liked to have? Have a bigger support. Maybe we can establish a local branch. Maybe one for Manitoba, or several for Eastern Manitoba, etc if we have larger member base. Also, even though there are only 4 Pirate members in my riding (5 including me). It would have been nice to have the list of members early on. Because I noticed one guy after I called him on election day, he got on tweeter promoting me as candidate. So we might have gotten a volunteer or two from the registered members list.

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