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Published on Thursday, 20 August 2015 10:45
Written by editor

This election will be the most important Canadian Internet users have ever faced. After 10 years of government failures, far too many Canadians have been left behind. Will you join us and pledge your vote to ensure an affordable, surveillance-free digital future for all Canadians?

Pledge to Vote! ...

Paov,

This election is the most important that Canadians have ever faced — our digital future is on the line.1

It’s a huge opportunity: our best chance to repeal Bill C-51, reject the TPP’s censorship scheme, and finally deliver affordable world-class Internet for all Canadians.

That’s why today we’re launching our new election action platform — will you join us and pledge to cast your vote to put Canada’s Digital Future front and centre?

Before the vote, we must remember the human toll that the government’s flawed policies and practices have taken over the past 10 years:

  • Canadians like children’s advocate Cindy Blackstock became the victims of warrantless surveillance, just for standing up for the rights of First Nations children.2
  • 44% of our lowest income households have no Internet access, and over 30% don’t have a mobile phone.3
  • Canadians like Andrew4 have had their careers shattered because of irresponsible government data leaks.5
  • Thousands of Canadians have been abused and sent threatening letters by foreign media companies, as a result of government inaction and negligence.6

Is this the country you voted for? Is this the country you want? Join us and tell party leaders that people like Andrew, Cindy, you, and I deserve better for our digital future.

But there’s good news: the positive alternative already exists. Hundreds of thousands of Canadians have worked together to develop detailed crowdsourced action plans on privacy,7 access,8,9 and free expression,10 creating a compelling vision for Canada’s digital future.

We know the parties are spending August nailing down their policy platforms — so pledge your vote now to ensure they include our positive pro-Internet policies in their plans.

– Oh! One last thing: Did you know the last election was decided by only 6,200 votes?11 Together, we’ve built a community over 500,000 strong — so yes, we really can sway the outcome of this election. But it’ll only work if enough people pledge to vote. I hope we can count on you.

For our future,

David, on behalf of your OpenMedia team

P.S. Today’s pledge launch is just the beginning. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be ranking Canada’s parties and adding new tools to ensure Canadians have the information they need to cut through the government’s political spin and cast an informed vote. Can you chip in to make sure we can educate and empower our community as never before?

Footnotes

[1] 5 ways this election could shape our digital future for a generation. Source: Huffington Post
[2] The government spied on me without a warrant. Source: Toronto Star
[3] CRTC 2015-134: Submission of Ellis & Winseck. Source: Canadian Media Concentration Project
[4] Andrew requested his full name be withheld to protect from further repercussions.
[5] ‘No judgement, no discretion’: Police records that ruin innocent lives. Source: Toronto Star
[6] Rightscorp and BMG Exploiting Copyright Notice-and-Notice System: Citing False Legal Information in Payment Demands. Source: Prof. Michael Geist
[7] Read Canada’s Privacy Plan at r32 If you no longer wish to receive our r46 to unsubscribe.