Mediaboss Marketing

Finally, 2020 and a few days respite from the seemingly endless onslaught of year-end emails from political parties and Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart.

Even though I have never made a political contribution, my inbox was stuffed over the holidays with urgent pleas to donate and qualify for a 2019 tax deduction.

It wasnt quite 11th hour when the last one arrived. Almost certainly delivered via party bot, it arrived at 8:02 p.m. on Dec. 31 from Team Stewart. Twelve hours earlier, Id been told that with only 16 hours left to reach a goal of $6,500, the campaign has raised $3,900 from close to 120 small donors. Each of them gave between $5 and $100, can you?

On Christmas Eve, I got two requests from Team Stewart. The final one was sent at 11:52 p.m. when most normal people were asleep or spending time with loved ones.

Nothing arrived on Christmas Day. For this year at least, political operatives and their bots took the day off.

Its no surprise that federal parties were trying to winkle out every last donation before the clock started ticking on a new year filled with the promise of more donations and tax credits.

With a minority government in Ottawa and no guarantee of how long this Parliament will last, theyre all scrambling to pay off election debts and restock their war chests.

More curious is Stewarts aggressive fundraising that began almost the moment he announced in November that he would be seeking re-election. But that election isnt until Oct. 15, 2022.

The rules set by the B.C. government for municipal elections limit donations to $1,200 per year for independent candidates like Stewart or $1,200 to either a single candidate running with a political party or the party itself.

But there are no limits on how much money municipal candidates can raise, only on how much can be spent in election year and during the 28-day campaign period.

Spending limits are unique to each municipality based on population and the positions for which the candidates are running. In 2018, the limit for Vancouver mayoralty candidates was $210,175 and $107,793 for council candidates.

But Stewart raised $320,228, according to his amended disclosure statement.

Kennedy also had the benefit of four campaign volunteers employees of unions seconded to the campaign who continued to receive their salaries. That prompted the citys Independent Election Task Force to recommend in its June 2019 report that those salaries be reported as candidates spending.

Because the B.C. legislation doesnt have contribution limits, the task forces recommendations focus on spending.

Among its four priority recommendations is extending the 28-day campaign period and having it start immediately after Labour Day in order to reduce the influence of unlimited spending in the pre-campaign period.

Its not just the holiday bots and begging that I have a problem with. I resent that the tax credits for federal and provincial political donations are more attractive than for other charitable donations. Donations to municipal candidates or parties are not eligible for tax credits, despite the Union of B.C. Municipalities efforts to them included.

Donate $1,275 to federal or provincial political parties and the tax credit is $650. Donate to a charity and the maximum tax credit amounts to less than a third of the value. So, if some Scrooges only make donations to write down their income, the choice is unequivocal. Political donations are the big winners.

Most charitable organizations also dont have anywhere near the money to do the sophisticated outreach that larger political organizations do. Even if they did, many donors carefully scrutinize what percentage charities spend on administration and fundraising. Most want their money spent on the cause theyre passionate about, not spent on raising more money.

I understand that democracy comes at a price and that running election campaigns cost money. But how much is too much to spend on getting elected or on getting your favourites elected? And does it affect voter turnout?

Municipal spending limits that came into effect in 2018 drastically reduced the amount parties spent in Vancouver. But voter turnout remained above its historic average.

In the 2019 general election, the Liberals, Conservatives, New Democrats and Greens could have spent just over $29.06 million, while the Peoples Party of Canada could have spent $27.6 million. Of course, to spend it, they had to raise it.

Those amounts are a drop in the bucket compared to the United States where Bernie Saunders recently bragged that if he becomes Democrats presidential candidate he could raise $1 billion, while Michael Bloombergs self-financed campaign spent more than $155 million on advertising in 2019 and Bloomberg didnt even enter the Democratic race until mid-November.

Still, as the Vancouver task force pointed out, Canadas campaign financing rules arent perfect. Despite recent changes to municipal, provincial and federal laws, more could be done to ensure that money isnt a barrier to candidacy and wealthy contributors dont exert disproportionate influence.

Of course, I would also like someone to sneak in an amendment banning party bots during the holiday celebrations.

Not that it will happen because I suspect it must be at least as lucrative as it is annoying.

dbramham@postmedia.com

Twitter: @bramham_daphne

View original post here:
Daphne Bramham: Party bots and holiday begging are an annoying cost of democracy - Vancouver Sun

As we enter a new year, the running battle between the worlds governments and the world-changing technology known as cryptocurrency continues. As 2019 drew to an end, Swiss president Ueli Maurer asserted that Facebooks digital currency (not a real cryptocurrency), Libra, has failed because central banks will not accept the basket of currencies underpinning it.

Politicians want to regulate or, if possible, kill cryptocurrency.

Large firms like Facebook want to capture cryptocurrencys potential without rocking those governments boats.

Cryptocurrency advocates want democracy. Yes, democracy.

Of all the important words in the English language, democracy (from the Greek demokratia, rule by the people) may be the most fuzzily defined. Some people define it in terms of raw majoritarianism, others as one of various forms of representative government.

I define democracy in words used by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. Democracy, to my mind, is government that enjoys the consent of the governed.

Not just the consent of 50% plus one of the governed, and certainly not just the consent of a few big players who can afford lobbyists and bribes to get their way, but the consent of ALL the governed.

One major hinge on which the door of democracy as I define it swings is control of money who may create it, how it may be used, and what portion of it must be handed over to government for public uses those paying the bills may or may not approve of.

Involuntary taxation is the opposite of the consent of the governed. Its the opposite of democracy. We can have financial regulators and central banks, or we can have democracy. We cant have both.

Cryptocurrency threatens the reign of government over money. It bodes a future in which, as an old antiwar slogan puts it, the Air Force will have to hold a bake sale if it wants to buy a new bomber.

Thats the future I want. Its also the future that politicians, regulators and central bankers fear.

They dont want to have to ASK you to fund their schemes. Theyre not interested in requesting your consent. They prefer to simply demand your compliance.

The ability to anonymously handle our finances without reporting them to government or involuntarily giving it a cut is a revolutionary development. And its here, now. More and more of us are using cryptocurrency, and the politicians are panicking.

While cryptocurrency wont entirely kill involuntary taxation land cant be easily hidden, so we can expect property taxes to persist it will make the global economy harder for governments to manipulate and milk.

The inevitable future of cryptocurrency, absent a new Dark Age in which we all go back to plowing with mules and reading rotting old books by candlelight, is a future without income and sales taxes (to name two of the biggest and most pernicious).

The ruling class will do everything it can to prevent the coming separation of money and state.

Theyll fail. And democracy will flourish. See you at the bake sale.

Continue reading here:
Real Democracy Requires a Separation of Money and State - CounterPunch

The Trudeau government claims to have a human rights-driven foreign policy. But everything the prime minister says he most values and wishes to promote is a product of democracy. As political scientist Sheri Berman has written, while democracies can be illiberal and oppressively populist, non-democratic governments restrict the benefits of liberalism to elites and oligarchs on whose support the government depends. Undemocratic liberalism is a myth.

A Canadian foreign policy that champions the values of inclusive and accountable governance, including by promoting human rights, womens empowerment and gender equality, and respect for diversity and inclusion, as Trudeaus mandate letter to Champagne dictates, or that promotes a feminist approach to development, as does the mandate letter to Minister of International Development Karina Gould, must therefore build on a strategy of expanding and strengthening democracy abroad.

A directive to increase support for democracy abroad is in Champagnes mandate letter, and Trudeau has promised to establish the Canadian Centre for Peace, Order, and Good Government to lend expertise and help to people seeking to build peace, advance justice, promote human rights and democracy, and deliver good governance. This sounds promising, although what the centre, if and when it is established, will actually do is unclear. And Trudeaus record on democratization over his first four years in office is mixed.

Canada was at the forefront of unsuccessful efforts to force the autocratic Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro from office, declaring his re-election last year to be fraudulent. This was important, but the costs to Canada were low.

By way of contrast, when Saudi diplomats in Istanbul murdered and carved up with a bone saw Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident journalist they didnt like, Canada announced a review of existing arms export permits to the kingdom and a freeze on new ones while continuing to ship to Saudi Arabia $14 billion worth of light armoured vehicles.

Canada did impose sanctions on 17 Saudis linked to Khashoggis murder. The named individuals, who of course did not include Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, were already in Saudi jails when Canada sanctioned them, rendering the act symbolic at best. To claim that Canada will increase its support for freedom of the press in the face of such timidity, as Trudeau does in his letter to Champagne, takes some cheek.

It is regarding China, however, where the stakes on the health of global democracy are perhaps highest. China seeks superpower status, and as its reach expands so does its ability to persuade, cajole and coerce. Canada has so far held firm against Chinese pressure to free Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, who is out on bail in Vancouver while awaiting possible extradition to the United States. It is widely believed that Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor are being detained in China as a retaliatory measure.

But Canada treats China solely as a desired trading party and not as an ideological adversary. This is a mistake. Canadas values are not the values of the ruling Communist Party of China. And while Canada lacks the economic levers of, for example, the United States, it is not without means to pressure the Chinese government and its affiliates. Meng is not the only member of Chinas aristocracy with multi-million-dollar mansions in Canadian cities or children in Canadian universities. Such individuals are vulnerable to sanctions, asset-freezes and visa restrictions.

Canada should consider such measures against officials involved in human rights abuses against Uighurs in Chinas Xinjiang province and against pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. Of course, there will be repercussions from China. But if Canada is serious about supporting democracy and human rights abroad, it must be willing to pay a price for doing so.

If the Canadian government decides that price is too high, or that such tactics are ineffective, let it articulate an alternative strategy. The future strength of our liberal democracy depends on the strength of liberal democracy elsewhere. We need a foreign policy built on that reality.

Originally posted here:
2020: The year Canada must focus on strengthening global democracy - OpenCanada

By TNH Staff January 6, 2020

(Photo by Eurokinissi/ Tatiana Bollari)

ATHENS After more than a decade of Greeks and businesses ignoring a series of No Smoking laws, big fines and enforcement under New Democracy have seen nearly 75 percent of companies inspected finally complying.

It seemed unlikely as successive governments promised to make sure the law was implemented before backing off, Greeks then smoking almost anywhere they wanted, but New Democracy has extended the ban even to parks where children play.

Smoking is not allowed in indoor public spaces but that has routinely not been followed as people could light up just about anywhere they wanted, including sitting at restaurant tables with No Smoking signs and smoking anyway.The National Transparency Authority found no violations were reported at three out of four of 570 bars, cafes, restaurants, indoor playgrounds and other such businesses that were inspected from Nov. 20, 2018, when new measures began, through the end of the year.

But 25 percent are still ignoring the law and tougher penalties, with inspections finding that 85 percent of those didnt have No Smoking signs up as required, and had put ashtrays on tables, which isnt allowed either.

But people were found smoking in 15 percent of establishments and it wasnt reported whether there were fines or other punitive measures taken. A special hotline set up for people to call to report violations got 7,000 calls, said Kathimerini in a report on the inspections carried out.

See the rest here:
New Democracy No Smoking Ban Crackdown Working - The National Herald

DECEMBER

December 2 Kosovos Special Prosecution charges six people with involvement in the murder of former Kosovo Serb political party leader Oliver Ivanovic, who was shot dead in January 2018.

December 5 Bosnias parliament confirms Bosnian Serb politician Zoran Tegeltija as the new President of the Council of Ministers the state-level government ending a political impasse that has dragged on for more than a year since the last elections.

December 10 BIRN learns that the indictment for the murder of politician Oliver Ivanovic says two prominent Kosovo Serbs, Milan Radoicic and Zvonko Veselinovic, were leaders of a criminal group responsible for the killing, and accuses several policemen of aiding the crime.

December 13 Human Rights Watch savages Bosnian officials for their failure to reform a constitution that a key European Court of Human Rights ruling condemned as discriminatory exactly a decade ago.

December 13 Big parties in and outside the government join forces to block planned reforms of the countrys election law, adding weight to reports of rifts inside the governing coalition.

December 16 The liberal mayors of Bratislava, Budapest, Prague and Warsaw meet in the Hungarian capital to sign a symbolic Pact of Free Cities, vowing to create a pro-European, positive alliance and collectively seek EU funds directly from Brussels.

December 18 Albanian lawmakers adopt controversial media laws that many say will undermine press freedom in the country, defying calls from the European Commission and other bodies to step back.

December 22 Romanians pay homage to the more than 1,100 people killed during the 1989 revolution that freed the country from more than 40 years of totalitarian rule.

December 22 In Croatia, a tight presidential election race ends with two contenders, former Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic and incumbent President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, going into a run-off in January. Experts say conservative Grabar-Kitarovic is best placed to win.

December 24 Dragan Lukac, interior minister of Bosnias Republika Srpska, slaps an opposition MP who confronts him during a debate on a sealed document concerning Bosnias relations with NATO, triggering outrage from opposition lawmakers.

December 24 In North Macedonia, a courts failure to meet a deadline to issue a verdict could mean that the two-year trial of fugitive ex-prime minister Nikola Gruevski for abuse of office may need to restart from the beginning.

December 25 In Kosovo, talks between the two biggest parties hit a brick wall, raising the prospect of political paralysis and possible new elections.

December 26 Across the Balkans, liberal-sounding access to information laws vital for a free media have yet to bring real transparency to traditionally secretive countries, a BIRN report shows.

December 26 In a new twist to Kosovos complicated post-election coalition talks, the second-placed Democratic League of Kosovo says it will support a Vetevendosje-led minority government without joining it.

December 27 Lawmakers in Montenegro pass a controversial law on freedom of religion amid chaotic scenes in parliament, despite fierce objections from the Serbian Orthodox Church and pro-Serbian opposition parties. The law is supported by the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, the ethnic minority Albanian, Bosniak and Croats parties and one opposition party, the Social Democratic Party. Thousands rally in the capital and other towns.

December 28 Leaders of North Macedonias two main parties are reportedly close to finalising an agreement on forming a technical caretaker government, 100 days ahead of early elections in April 2020.

December 30 In North Macedonia, the formation of a caretaker government ahead of April snap elections runs into problems because the opposition VMRO DPMNE party proposes an army officer as interior minister, which is not allowed under the constitution.

More here:
Timeline: A Year of Democracy in Central and Southeast Europe | Reporting Democracy - Balkan Insight