Election Questions For Local Halton MP Candidates

To the future MPs for the Halton region I posed the following questions via an email, below is their answers (Updated as I get them).

Reply Legend(in alphabetical order):

*Red - Gary Carr (Liberal Party of Canada)
Green - Frank Marchetti (Green Party of Canada)
Blue - Dean Martin (Conservative Party of Canada)
Orange - Anwar Naqvi (NDP of Canada)

* Did not respond.
Note: Consider everything in the above colors as a quote, I have changed nothing from the emails that were sent beyond formatting to give better context within this blog post.

1) There has been a lot of talk of a Canadian version of the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) Would you support this? and why?

1b) Do you support changes at all to our existing copyright laws?

While I will make no claims about expertise on the matter, I do think that there are a lot of complex issues involved.  Of course, we do want artists and others to be paid for the results of their labour, but we also do not want to "kill the goose that laid the golden egg."  That is to say, the extension of copyright into all elements of human civilization is destroying the free flow of information that has fueled the scientific revolution since the renaissance.  If you go into universities, for example, you will see laboratory after laboratory that is locked and signs that say admittance is not permitted.  This is because of copyright and patenting issues.  As one biology professor (recipient of many awards for teaching and research excellence) told me "university used to be a meeting of the minds, but now it has become an exercise in autism."

What I believe needs to happen is the creation of a new "industry model", one that understands that all music, programs, books, etc, will be distributed over the internet.  What this means is that a huge infrastructure of advertisors, retailers, wholesalers, etc, are going to wither away and have to find new ways of making a living.  Instead, modern technology will allow consumers and artists to interact directly.  Until industry realizes that this is the new "rules of the game", they will be in the situation of King Canut trying to order the tide to not come in.  Part of this realization will be the understanding that consumers simply will not pay the same price for a book, music, etc, that they download and print themselves off the internet that they would have to pay if they went to a physical store and made a purchase.  And why should they?  They have removed almost all the "middle-men" who previously had to do work to get it into their hands.

These issues are not addressed in our platform, and I'm not well aware of all of the issues. (I did follow the courts decision on the downloading of music.) Several friends of mine are patent lawyers and I'm looking forward to discussing with them.

i have not studied dmca in depth .at present i cannot comment. 

2) Mr. Matrin says he supports the change to allow gay marriage, while Mr. Harper says he would put it to a free vote - How would you vote?

When a Canadian marries an American, that does not affect me in any negative way, so why should I or anyone else stop them?  When a Christian marries a Buddhist, that does not affect me in any negative way, so why should I or anyone else stop them?  When a white person marries a black person, that does not affect me in any negative way, so why should I or anyone else stop them?  We do not see how that is different when the two people are the same sex.  Marriage was not created by religion, rather it was created by the state.  Our laws say that the state can not be controlled by religious beliefs.  Otherwise we could end up like Afghanistan.  I don't think that is what we want.  I support all measures that promote fairness and equality, including same sex marriage.

I will vote in favour of the traditional definition of marriage when the vote takes place in the House of Commons.

supreme court of canada has allowed same sex marriages between two consenting adults .now it is legally binding on us .i do not see any need to oppose or favour this issue as it has already been decided for us by supreme court.

3) Do you support the Kyoto accord? why?

There is good news and bad news about the Kyoto accord.  The good news is that it is not that hard to achieve.  We only need to reduce emissions 1990 levels by 6%.  There are so many ways we can achieve this - check out our platform to read about them.  The bad news is that this is only a start, we need to do a lot more than that.  We can do a lot more than that.  We just need a government with some determination to get it done.  Failure to do so would lead to our demise.  We can not be healthy and prosperous on a sick planet.  Any one who says that we can do this with a flimsy "Clean Air Act" is just kidding themselves.  Let's start by meeting our Kyoto commitment, then go from there.

I support the intention of the Kyoto accord, but because OPEC countries, the US and Russia have not signed Kyoto, countries are in fact left to decide how to pursue their own environmental policy. I believe we should therefore pursue a made-in-Canada environmental policy, including a tough Clean Air Act.

kyoto p rotocol is a start to save our planet from certain death due to foolish actions of mankind.i certainly support this .

4) This is the most important question, how will you make sure that your voice is the voice of Halton while you are MP?

What I will bring to Ottawa, what I will represent the constituents of Halton, is an open-minded and sincere voice that will work tirelessly in YOUR best interest, now and well in to the future.  The Green Party beleives that donations from corporations and unions to political parties affect the way they govern (to THEIR interests), so therefore they should be banned.  Corporations and unions do not vote, YOU vote.  There are already two provinces in Canada where this exists.  This should be implemented federally and in the rest of the provinces.  Also, as an expert and leader in Biological Pest Management and Integrated Pest Management (IPM), I beleive that I could bring that expertise to Ottawa and begin programs to ween our dependancy off unabated pesticide use.  There is a role for pesticides in an IPM system, but we are over-reliant on them and it is leading to environmental degredation and health concerns.  I will not carry party baggage to Ottawa and not be an obediant backbencher.  I would do what I could to make the government more accountable by holding them to their word.

I plan to walk, talk and meet with Halton residents. Previous Halton MPs have been almost invisible, and that is not how I have ever operated. I have always believed in accountability, to my suppliers, to my customers, to my wife, to my kids, and now I will be accountable to the constituents in Halton.

I also asked Dean Martin if he was part of the PC party prior to the merger or the Alliance?

I have worked for both parties in the past 15 years, and been a member of both. When the merger agreement was signed, I was a huge flag-waver. There is so much more that unites us than divides us.