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Virtual Independent Candidates Meetings and Individual Podcasts – June 2, 2022 Ontario Election

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Ontario Election – June 2, 2022

The current Ontario election is about as low key and boring as any I have seen. We are coming off two years of “Covid Adjustments”. People are used to staying in. There appears to be little interest in this election. There is one new political party which seems to be have been organized for the primary purpose of opposing the Ford government’s covid policies. That said, there seem to be few all candidate’s meetings/debates. Independent candidates have always had difficulty participating in debates. I predict that this election will be an all time low.

Candidates meetings play an important role in the democratic process.

Introducing – Virtual Independent Candidates Meetings

I expect that there will be fewer than 50 (and possibly fewer than 40) Independent Candidates. Many ridings will not have a single one. This is a tragedy because, by definition, Independent Candidates are the only candidates that (by definition) represent the interests of the riding.

Therefore, we would like to organize a series of Independent Candidates meetings (and podcasts for those individual candidates who request them) by Zoom. This will be a fantastic opportunity to promote discussions among Independents. Imagine the opportunity to interact with other candidates in an environment where none of the candidates are beholden to party interests!

I am proposing the following group meetings/discussions by Zoom:

– Thursday May 12
– Thursday May 19
– Thursday May 26

Each meeting will feature no more than six candidates.

Introducing Individual Candidate Podcasts

I am willing to do stand alone podcasts with individual candidates. These will take about one hour of which about 30 minutes will be recorded. I expect that these will help you with your individual campaigns.

Here are some podcasts that I did with the Toronto Danforth candidates in the fall Federal Election. These will give you a flavour of what the podcasts would be like.

https://torontodanforthdebates.podbean.com

How To Participate

You can contact me at: independencandidates at gmail dot com and provide your information. Make sure that you include a phone number. I will book a time with you and we will record the podcast. You will be able to use the podcast in your campaigns.

John Richardson

News on the @BobKristNE campaign: Bob Krist running for Nebraska Governor as independent candidate

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Nebraska is a small state. But whether big or small, all states seem to be hostile to independent candidates in general and the idea that politicians should represent the voters in particular. I recently learned of Mr. Krist’s candidacy and am particularly interested. In any case, the following twitter widget will keep you in touch with the campaign.


What happened? About the @DNCFraudLawsuit

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Follow the #DNCFraudLawsuit on Twitter


Conference of @Independents National Conference – March 18, 2017

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Crossroads for an Independent America:

Four in ten voters don’t want to be in a political party. Why? Because parties have become special interests — perhaps the biggest special interests of all. On Saturday, March 18, 2015, Jackie Salit, President of Independent Voting and author of Independents Rising, will host Crossroads for an Independent America, the ninth biennial National Conference of Independents, convening hundreds of independent voter activists and supporters from the organization’s network in 40 states. The conference will be the largest gathering of independent voters in the United States assembled to engage specifically, the empowerment of independent voters and the creation of a new political culture. On display will be the new coalitions coming together in this movement, a discussion of strategies to expand the movements influence and perspectives on the mid-term and 2020 election.

Are you one of those @Independents? Consider running for the @PCParty1867

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On Monday May 30, 2016 the Honourable Sinclair Stevens and John Richardson explained their vision for Canada’s Progressive Canadian Party.

The Progressive Canadian Party could provide benefits to those wishing to run as Independent Candidates in Canada.

Clinton candidacy under underscores Democratic party contempt for democratic process

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Clinton holds a commanding lead of nearly 300 pledged delegates over Sanders and a dominant advantage among party officials and elected leaders known as superdelegates. The outcomes in Kentucky and Oregon were not expected to change that and the former secretary of state remains on track to clinch the nomination in early June.

Tuesday’s elections took place amid new questions about party unity following a divisive weekend state party convention in Nevada. Supporters of Sanders tossed chairs and made death threats against the Nevada party chairwoman at the event in Las Vegas, arguing the party leadership rigged the results of the convention in favour of Clinton.

In a sign of the tensions between the two sides, Sanders issued a defiant statement Tuesday dismissing complaints from Nevada Democrats as “nonsense” and said his supporters were not being treated with “fairness and respect.”

In California, Sanders urged the party to be welcoming to voters who are “prepared to fight for real economic and social change.” Addressing the party’s leadership, Sanders declared, “Open the doors, let the people in.”

The 2016 U.S. Presidential Election is really about the political parties versus the voters. In other words, the political parties are waging war on the voters!

End Party Tyranny: Canada #FATCA IGA demonstrates the need for @Independents to become candidates

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Political power corrupts, and absolute political power corrupts absolutely!

First, if you have never heard of FATCA …

To put it simply: FATCA is a U.S. law that stands for “Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act“. According to this U.S. law, the United States will confiscate 30% of all U.S. dollar payments going to a non-U.S. bank, unless:

1. The bank agrees to hunt for people who the USA defines as a U.S. citizen (the U.S. can change the definition any time it wants);

2. The bank agrees to turn over all the bank account information of anybody who the U.S. decides is a U.S. citizen (note that this includes about one million Canadian citizens who had the bad fortune to have been born in the United States);

3. The purpose is to to force these unfortunate souls into the U.S. tax system; which

4. Will allow the U.S. to extract Canadian capital (under the guise of citizenship-taxation) from Canada to the United States.

In order to protect the Canadian banks from the threats of the 30% penalty, the Harper Government agreed to change Canada’s law to allow Canadian banks to “perform this service” for the United States. The Harper Agreement is also known in the profession as the “Canada U.S. FATCA IGA” and was signed on February 4, 2014.

But, this is just to provide context to this post. Those who want to learn more should visit the site of the “Alliance For The Defence of Canadian Sovereignty” which has brought a lawsuit against the Government of Canada to prevent this outreageous transfer of Canadian sovereignty to the U.S. Treasury.

For those who think I am making this up, here is a copy of the Canada U.S. FATCA IGA:

FATCA-eng

For those who wish to learn more, I suggest that you visit the Isaac Brock Society.

With that as background, I now turn to the question of what this has to do with independent candidates, political parties, and the role of the opposition …

About the role of political parties in a Westminster democracy …

The March 22, 2016 iPolitica.ca article by Elizabeth Thompson includes the response of Mr. Brison, now that he is a Liberal cabinet minister in a majority government and no longer the “critic” of a party that was lost in the political wilderness. It is an interesting example of how individual MPs and parties can be more effective in opposition AND the important role played by opposition parties!

Leaving aside the FATCA issue, Mr. Brison’s response speaks volumes about the reality and role of political parties in a Westminster democracy (particularly when the party has a majority government). The manner that the FATCA IGA issue has been handled, is a case study on the weaknesses of the “first past the post system” of determining election results.

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Debates in the democratic process: No candidate should be excluded and every candidate must attend

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The Democratic Process

“Democracy” has become a “code word” for everything’s okay. We live in a democracy. There are many different kinds of democracies. They function differently. Canada has a “first past the post” system. Other countries may have some form or proportional representation. My point is a simple one. Whatever form of democracy a country has, that form is one of many different flavors of democracy in the democratic process.

Don’t ever confuse “democracy” with “freedom”
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Independents in spirit, should consider the @PCParty1868 – Progressive Canadian Party

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It’s election season. We support independent candidates. That said, the “independent experience” is NOT for everybody.

The Honourable Sinclair Stevens is the leader of the Progressive Canadian Party. This is a party that should be considered by those who:

1. Are “independent minded” people

2. Don’t want to run a campaign as an “independent candidate”

3. Would like to run with a party that will allow them to define their own positions and priorities.

If you are interested in discussing this opportunity, please contact us …