Edmonton Centre 2011

Candidate's Application
NAME/NOM: Mikkel Paulson

PROVINCE: Alberta

RIDING/CIRCONSCRIPTION: Edmonton Centre

PARTY INVOLVEMENT / PARTICIPATION DE PARTI:

I'm currently an acting Director and intend to run in the upcoming Directors election. I am a PR Representative and a member of a number of committees, as well as chairman of the CaPT Administration committee. Independently, I've designed the Party's membership cards and am writing the bot that the Party uses during meetings. (Should my application go to a vote, I would transfer control of the bot to a third party to ensure the impartiality of the voting process.)

I am heavily involved in both the forum community and the IRC channel. If you'd like further background on my political position and discussions, you are welcome to view my post history.

POLITICAL EXPERIENCE / L'EXPÉRIENCE POLITIQUE:

I've worked for 2 years as a Page at the Alberta Legislature, and another 2 summers as a Research Assistant with the Legislature's House Services branch, so I'm very familiar with Canadian Parliamentary procedure. I have also worked for a former MLA and leadership candidate for the Alberta Liberal Party. I've studied political science and sociology at university, so I have an academic understanding of how politics and society works.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST / CONFLITS D'INTÉRÊTS:

I operated a BitTorrent tracker for two years, and have acted as a moderator for several others. This was some years ago, and I am no longer involved in the scene.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT / PARTICIPATION DE LA COMMUNAUTÉ:

I've done some volunteering with non-profit organizations in the inner city, as well as the Food Bank and Meals on Wheels. I've lived in Edmonton for most of my life.

PLATFORM / MANIFESTE:

PPCA core platform:
 * 15-year copyright covering only commercial, for-profit use, as well as use where association or endorsement is implied.
 * 10-year patent with a limited number of patents per person or organization, and no patents on genes, life-forms, software algorithms, or pharmaceuticals.
 * Require all non-governmental and governmental organizations to directly justify every piece of information collected, to clearly state how it is to be used, to make available to a person exactly what information has been gathered about them, to require explicit consent before sharing it with others, and to provide the option to permanently erase any and all collected information on request.
 * Require proactive disclosure of information by the government and all organizations associated with the government, except where in conflict with privacy laws and in matters of genuine national security. In particular, MPs should be compelled to make all of their finances open for audit and review by the public.

General platform:


 * Increase funding for post-secondary education, ensuring that it is and remains accessible to all Canadians.
 * Tighten standards against provincial privatization of health care.
 * Encourage a significant percentage of federal stimulus money to be allocated to green, high-tech, and secondary industries rather than rebuilding same economic mess all over again.
 * Maintain and strengthen federal tax credits and subsidies for energy-efficient home improvements, public transit, alternative energy, and hybrid and electric vehicles.
 * Encourage immigration, and streamline opportunities for professionally-trained immigrants to become certified to practice in Canada, or to upgrade their skills so as to become eligible.
 * Introduce legislation preventing the Prime Minister from acting independently in matters that affect Parliament, including prorogation.
 * Mandate the return to a surplus budget as soon as is economically feasible, and begin repaying our federal debt.
 * Advocate proportional representation, and strengthen the powers of the opposition in majority governments.

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

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Official Agent Information
(include basic info here)

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Official Auditor Information
(include basic info here)

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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

 * Conservative
 * Laurie Hawn
 * 23,625
 * 48.03%
 * -1.00%
 * NDP
 * Lewis Cardinal
 * 12,480
 * 25.37%
 * +10.70%
 * Liberal
 * Mary Macdonald
 * 11,037
 * 22.44%
 * -4.99%
 * Green
 * David Parker
 * 1,676
 * 3.41%
 * -4.70%
 * Pirate Party
 * Mikkel Paulson
 * 289
 * 0.59%
 * Marxist-Leninist
 * Peggy Morton
 * 81
 * 0.16%
 * -0.27%
 * Mikkel Paulson
 * 289
 * 0.59%
 * Marxist-Leninist
 * Peggy Morton
 * 81
 * 0.16%
 * -0.27%
 * 81
 * 0.16%
 * -0.27%

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Introduction
As our first general election, I knew that all of us were inevitably going to be grossly unprepared for the process. While the campaign was far from flawless, in the final analysis, it was an effective first step, and we were for the most part able to gracefully adapt to lessons learned early on in order to build a more effective campaign as we went along. To that end, this report will conduct a point-by-point analysis of our successes and failures with the intention of better informing future candidates, as well as to make me better prepared should I choose to run again in a future election.

Building on our experience from the Winnipeg North by-election in November 2010, I had the opportunity to analyze the techniques that worked and didn’t work and adjust my own campaign accordingly. Many of the successful initiatives of my campaign are thanks to that experience.

While I publicly maintained that I was running with every intention to win as many votes as possible and ultimately to win the riding, I was not surprised by my fifth-place finish out of six candidates, beating the other minor party candidate, Peggy Morton of the Marxist-Leninist Party, but coming well short of the Green Party candidate, David Parker. I was somewhat disappointed by the 0.59% (289-vote) result as it represents no improvement over our Winnipeg North performance at 0.63% (94 votes), but ultimately it was a strong showing for a first election, and we will no doubt go up from here.

Canvassing
My attitude when canvassing was one of quality over quantity. I anticipated that the Pirate Party would be a hard sell to many people, and decided to devote as much time as needed to each conversation. Response to this extra attention was overwhelmingly positive. By the end of the campaign, I found that my reputation was in some cases preceding me, with one woman mentioning hearing from her friend about a “well-dressed, articulate young man” who had spoken to her from the Pirate Party.

I expected the party’s message of copyright and privacy reform to resound best with upper middle-class people due to a higher level of exposure to technology, but in practice I found working-class households to be more receptive. While people may be less well-informed on subjects relevant to our platform, they are also more open to the argument that the government serves only the interests of big business at their expense, and welcome the prospect of a candidate committed to representing them over the party. Furthermore, voter apathy is higher among lower-income demographics, and they seemed more willing to entertain a credible alternative.

We also ventured briefly into a low-income area, where several people mentioned that this was the first time they had seen a candidate at their door. These are cases where my simple presence may have won some votes, as people always appreciate when a candidate takes the time to meet with them. However, we left after canvassing only one apartment building amid safety concerns despite doing so in pairs. Canvassing apartments is ideal from an efficiency standpoint, as canvassers can move quickly from door to door and are protected from the elements. However, while apartment owners/managers are legally obligated to grant candidates entry, finding a manager in a typical 4-story walk-up building can be difficult and time-consuming. High-rise apartments are easier to access as they usually have an office and/or live-in manager. A printed copy of Elections Canada’s letter regarding candidates’ access to public places proved to be an excellent asset when speaking to managers and residents who were unaware of the policy. I provided one to each group of canvassers, along with a signed statement that they represented me.

In future elections, I intend to place a heavier emphasis on canvassing. As well as spending more time door-knocking, I will invest in more extensive and high-quality flyers than the double-sided 1/4-page summaries used during this campaign.

Communication with other candidates
I found most of the other candidates, particularly Peggy Morton of the Marxist-Leninist Party and David Parker of the Green Party, to be friendly and in many cases useful resources for a first-time candidate. Both Morton and Parker are veterans of many elections, the former having contested almost every election since the 1970s and the latter having run in 8 and having served as leader of the Alberta Green Party. Morton gave me some useful tips and warnings regarding her experience with past campaigns, including a list of venues that had previously hosted all-candidates’ forums. Parker’s support was helpful as the Green Party is major enough to be included in forums and other events, but small enough that he was sympathetic to his fellow underdog.

Speaking with candidates from other ridings can also be useful. Trey Capnerhurst, Green Party candidate in Edmonton East, invited me to several events thanks to our online communication over the course of the election. Working with other candidates on issues of mutual interest turned out to be a great asset, and is something I’d emphasize even more strongly in the next election.

All-candidates’ forums
I found forums to be the perfect opportunity to speak to my electorate at length. Canvassing, while personal and often appreciated by constituents, is generally limited to a brief discussion followed by a handshake, even with my quality-over-quantity attitude. Furthermore, Q&A sessions allowed me to emphasize my comprehensive platform rather than focusing exclusively on copyright reform and so forth, though I obviously highlighted these issues during opening statements.

While it is of course vital to be well-informed and articulate, my primary issue was simply ensuring that I was included in all forums. Many organizers made an effort to reach out to all candidates, but others deliberately or inadvertently excluded representatives of small parties. Peggy Morton’s list proved to be invaluable, as I contacted all of the venues to ensure that no major forums were being organized without my knowledge. Furthermore, I monitored the Twitter feeds of my fellow candidates for announcements of events that they planned to attend, and managed to talk my way onto the guest list of a meet-and-greet held by the Edmonton Pride Centre which I only heard about through a fellow candidate’s Facebook page. To my knowledge, I only missed one forum, held for the students of a local high school. Morton attended uninvited and was allowed to participate, so in future I go to all forums whether or not I am invited.

Media exposure
During the election, I was covered 40 times by local, national, and international newspapers, TV and radio stations, and online news sites, including three stories in the Edmonton Journal. An average day for me began with one or two telephone interviews, as well as several personal field interviews per week.

By the end of the campaign, about 1 in 4 people I spoke to mentioned reading about me in the newspaper, hearing me on the radio, and so forth.

Two press releases were responsible for most of the attention. The first, an announcement my candidacy, was sent to every local news organization I could find. I spent about an hour trawling websites for contact information on the first day of the campaign, which turned out to be time well spent. I also made a point of getting contact information for the reporters I spoke to, and included them in subsequent press releases. The second press release was issued by the party regarding our VPN initiative, which I will discuss in greater depth in the leader’s report. It went to all of my personal media contacts as well as those of the party as a whole, and sparked even more attention, particularly from the journalists and organizations that had covered me before.

Social networking and communication
When the writ dropped, the media was calling this election the “Twitter election”. If true, I won by no small measure. I quickly developed a reputation as one of the most responsive candidates and by far the most responsive leader. My follower count almost doubled over the course of the election, and nearly every one of my tweets was retweeted and received at least a handful of responses.

I made a point of keeping up a steady stream of relevant tweets via SMS from the campaign trail, mainly while waiting on doorsteps. However, while doubtless out of our budget this election, a smartphone would have been a useful tool for monitoring Twitter and responding to the dozens of email messages I received each day, reducing my down time.

That said, my Facebook account went underused and the YouTube account I created for the election not at all. Jeff Coleman made great use of YouTube in posting video interviews with constituents, and I would have liked to follow in his footsteps in that regard.

Volunteers
While unsurprising, our small volunteer force proved to be a major limiting factor with regard to the amount of ground we were able to cover and our networking abilities. As the Pirate Party has found time and again, online activity translates poorly to feet on the ground or even in-person meeting attendance. However, we were fortunate to have a number of committed and effective volunteers who went canvassing in teams, leapfrogging from house to house or going in pairs when training and in more dangerous areas.

Another major issue proved to be my selection of Agent for my campaign. The need to find and appoint a new Agent mid-election was a significant interruption to what should have been a smooth process, and placed an unfortunately heavy burden and steep learning curve on my replacement Agent.

The biggest problem, however, was management. Micromanagement is difficult and ineffective. We experimented with operating in cels, with pairs of volunteers assigned to a particular area to cover whenever they wanted over the coming week. I don’t have any hard-and-fast answers to this issue, but a detailed analysis of the operation of successful focused campaigns and charity drives may yield some useful solutions.

Campaign office
The campaign office was established in ENTS, a shared office/workshop space near the middle of Edmonton Centre. Our intention was to provide a space where the party could meet, that volunteers could use as a launchpad for canvassing efforts, and that constituents could visit should they have questions or concerns regarding the campaign.

While the principle of establishing a physical presence remains a sound one, the space was overstaffed and underutilized. Office hours were Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays from 10 am to 8 pm and Saturdays from 12 pm to 5 pm. Normally, the office was staffed by two volunteers at a time. Unfortunately, the payoff from 70 man-hours per week was minimal. While it did provide a meeting place and encourage volunteers to work collaboratively, only one person stopped by unannounced during the 5-week period during which the office was open. While maintaining a central presence in the riding remains a good idea, particularly given my residence well outside of the riding, in future elections I recommend reduced office hours and more hours spent canvassing the over 60 000 residences in the riding.

Schools
I sent out a mass email to the principals of all city high schools offering to speak to classes. While this is unlikely to win a large number of votes in this election as most high school students are under voting age, it also provides the party with exposure to a particularly-receptive demographic and may help to win voters in future elections. Beyond that, I am idealistic enough to see it as an end in itself to encourage students to vote, whether or not they ultimately choose to support me.

Unfortunately, only one teacher responded to my email. I did end up speaking to three classes over the course of the morning to great response. One boy’s face absolutely lit up when I introduced myself as Leader of the Pirate Party. I was, however, quite disappointed by the limited response. In the future, I intend to pursue these outreach initiatives more vigorously. Several friends who teach high school social studies informed me that they never received my emails forwarded from their principals as I had requested.

Finances
Unexpectedly, I received several very generous donations over the course of the campaign. However, as I hadn’t anticipated a significant amount of funding, I had no plan for spending these funds. As a result, the majority of the funds were subsequently transferred to the party following the end of the election. In future elections, I suggest preparing a budget allocating at least $5000, with a concrete breakdown of how the first $200 would be spent, then the next $300, and so forth. I would have liked to use the money to print a more attractive, more comprehensive flyer to hand out while canvassing.

Campaign signs
Also to my surprise, several people asked for campaign signs, which I hadn’t anticipated and didn’t have prepared. As a consequence of the contributions, I had enough money to purchase a small order of signs, but no time to have them printed and delivered.

As a stopgap effort, I purchased materials to assemble ten sandwich boards, which we painted red. Volunteers spraypainted white lettering onto the signs using stencils while I was at the all-party leaders’ forum in Toronto. When I returned, I found that the stencils had bled badly and they had mistakenly spelled my name “Mikkkel Paulson”. The one sign also apparently took two people most of a day to produce on the second-last weekend before election day.

The total cost of the sign-making material was slightly over $100, but the end result was disappointing and didn’t end up being used. In future elections, I’ll have signs ready to go in advance, aided by our new electoral district associations, also discussed in the leader’s report.

Party resources
Like many of my fellow candidates, I found myself creating most of my own campaign material from scratch. While this was not a significant hardship given my skill set, it led to a significant duplication of effort. Better resources from the party, as well as educational material to supplement that provided by Elections Canada, would have eased the workload of a first-time candidate and allowed me to spend more time out campaigning and less writing content.

Leadership
It was difficult to balance candidacy and leadership. While I received significantly more news exposure than many of my fellow PPCA candidates due to my status as leader, time management and multitasking proved to be an issue. As mentioned previously, a smartphone would have been beneficial in this regard. Being able to respond to the dozens of emails and tweets I received per day would have allowed me to spend more time campaigning while at the same time being more available to deal with party issues.

The majority of urgent, brief communication within the Federal Council was and still is conducted via SMS. I sent and received over 1000 text messages over the course of the campaign, more than twice what I do in a typical month. In this way, I was still easily available to other members of the Council, but not with regard to other electronic communication.

Summary
While I maintained during the election that I was running to win, my fifth-place finish out of six candidates was not unexpected. The result of the election was 0.59% (289 votes), leading Marxist-Leninist Peggy Morton but trailing Green David Parker badly despite his relatively poor performance. My share of the vote was disappointingly close to Jeff Coleman’s result in Winnipeg North, where I had been hoping to see a significant improvement following my analysis of his strategy.

It is difficult to say what effect, if any, my presence had on local discussion of Pirate-related issues. It certainly increased the local profile of the Pirate Party, which itself saw moderate success in spotlighting important points that had been going overlooked during the election.

In all, I believe that the campaign was a worthwhile use of our time and money, and lessons learned in the 41st election will serve us well in the 42nd general election and beyond.

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