Party for Accountability, Competency and Transparency
Party for Accountability, Competency and Transparency | |
|---|---|
| Founder | Michael Nicula |
| Founded | October 1, 2010 |
| Headquarters | 388 King St. W - P.O. Box 30002 Toronto ON, M5V 1K0 [1] |
| Membership | 1,000+ (May 20, 2011) |
| Ideology | Direct Democracy (List of direct democracy parties) |
| International affiliation | E2D International |
| Colours | none/all |
| Website | |
| www.onlineparty.ca | |
The Online Party of Canada (French: Parti canadien en ligne, abbreviated as OPC), is a Canadian website and a federally registered political party founded in October 2010. The party was founded by Michael Nicula of Toronto.[2][3]
Founding and governing principles
The Online Party of Canada is a non-partisan political party founded on the principles of electronic direct democracy where members vote directly on specific issues via the party website and, in return, party officials (candidates) must support the majority position on every issue, regardless of their personal position.
To ensure accountability, all OPC representatives must write up their own Promissory Letter of Resignation before being eligible to run for office. Any OPC representative who votes against the will of the majority could be asked to resign.[4][5][6][7][8]
Political platform
The Online Party of Canada does not have a set agenda. The political platform is a compilation of issue positions from the OPC website, voted from members and grouped by issue category, e.g., economic, healthcare, environment, etc. The key aspect of the platform is the importance given to certain categories, however, particular issues and respective positions are determined solely based on members’ votes.[9][10]
Membership
Unlike most recognized political parties, all eligible voters in Canada, including members of other federal political parties, are allowed and strongly encouraged to become members of OPC in order to cast votes and comment on issues. In this sense, the Online Party of Canada is more like to a virtual House of Commons of Canada, representing all political stripes, rather than a traditional political party.
To ensure that each voting citizen only casts a single vote on each issue, only members' votes count toward the official party position and members are only authenticated once a signed paper form, recognized by Elections Canada, is submitted to the OPC.[11] Through this process, every OPC member and their respective electoral district as voting citizens is verifiable through the National Register of Electors,[12] similar to the voter identification process followed by Elections Canada during Federal Elections.
See also
References
- ^ "Online Party of Canada - Contact Us".
- ^ Abma, Derek. "Political party based on the web: Plans online polls to make decisions", Postmedia News. Reprinted in Windsor Star, October 23, 2010. Retrieved June 14, 2011.
- ^ "Un Torontois souhaite créer un nouveau parti fédéral", Le Journal de Québec. October 3, 2010. Retrieved June 14, 2011.
- ^ "OPC Governing Principles". Online Party of Canada. Retrieved 2011-05-20.
- ^ "Marni Soupcoff: What we can learn from the Online Party of Canada". National Post. Oct 25, 2010. Retrieved 2011-05-20.
- ^ "The Libertas Post Interview – Michael Nicula, founder of the Online Party of Canada". Libertas Post. Dec 14, 2010. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
- ^ "Inside Canada's political parties: The Online Party of Canada". Digital Journal. Nov 1, 2010. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
- ^ "The Online Party of Canada — further analysis". The Blog of Walker. October 28, 2010. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
- ^ "OPC Political Platform". Online Party of Canada. Retrieved 2011-05-20.
- ^ "Commies, pirates, and potheads: The small political parties convene to explain the big picture behind this election". NOW Magazine. Apr 25, 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-20.
- ^ "OPC Membership Form" (PDF). Online Party of Canada. Retrieved 2011-06-09.
- ^ "Description of the National Register of Electors". Elections Canada. Retrieved 2011-06-09.