Hugh McGuire

I co-edited this book!

Book: A Futurist’s Manifesto

This is Beatrice’s first time on a horse, on cousin Al’s Percheron Hannah (Johanna I think), who once was part of a driving pair, “but” her partner died a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, Hannah’s back leg isn’t right, so the old girl isn’t long for this world. I’m glad Beatrice got to meet her.

Kiki on Hannah

Table 1: Research questions and variables

Hugh's Lunches

I have an article in the really great blog, In the Library with a Lead Pipe, which goes something like this:

Ebooks will become the dominant form of casual reading for adults at some point in the future1. When this happens, community and public libraries will face a major existential crisis, because a fundamental (perhaps the fundamental) function of community libraries—lending print books—will no longer be a fundamental demand from the community. Libraries that do not adjust will find their services increasingly irrelevant to the populations they serve.

If ebooks will become dominant, and if community libraries have, to date, structured their existence around a dying function (lending print books), then how will libraries remain relevant in the future?

To find an answer to this conundrum, it’s important to try to understand the reason for a library’s existence, rather than focus on the things a library does.

[more...]

David Wilk invited me to his Publishing Talks Podcast, to about LibriVox, iambik, libraries, PressBooks, and general future of publishing stuff.

Here is the link.

And here is the audio [mp3].

David Wilk invited me to his Publishing Talks Podcast, to about LibriVox, iambik, libraries, PressBooks, and general future of publishing stuff.

Here is the link.

And here is the audio [mp3].

The other day, I listed & evaluated the clarity of federal party platforms, as they appear on their platform pages on their websites. I promised my own platform/priorities. Before I do that though, I think it’ worth making a comment:

Every party now is more or less committed to fiscal conservatism ¹ — ie balanced budgets — whether left or right. While 20 years ago their may well have been a significant difference between how parties managed their books, these days everyone is committed to matching expenses to revenues. The Conservatives are more likely to cut taxes and spending; the Liberals and NDP are more likely to leave things as they are, but on balance, from a fiscal view, no one is going to do anything radical.

So the question really comes down to party priorities: how will a party allocate budget and focus? Which party’s priorities is likely to build Canada into a country you’d like to live in?

With that short introduction, here are my priorities:

General Statement of Governing Philosophy

Having a healthy, innovative economy gives us the ability to invest in the luxuries we expect as a wealthy country: education, health, infrastructure, arts and other things. At the same time, having a well-educated population, which doesn’t need to worry unduly about healthcare, enables us to build an innovative, and healthy economy.

So a government’s role – my government’s top priorities ² – is three things:
1. to make sure there is a good environment for a healthy economy
2. to determine how much wealth from that economy should be spread to other uses (and keep books balanced in the mean time)
3. to define the priorities for the distribution of excess wealth (mine are: health & education)

My Priorities – Short Version

Economy & Innovation: Invest heavily in high-tech R&D, and simplify corporate taxes.
Healthcare: Increase funding for family doctors, nurses, and implement a national drug purchasing plan.
Education: Invest in high-tech R&D.
Environment: Implement a “starter” carbon tax, and a cap & trade system for big emitters.
Democracy: Prioritize open/accessible government data, and a yearly receipt explaining where taxes go.

My Priorities – Long Version Version

1. Economy & Innovation
Canada’s wealth is based almost entirely on the resource sector, with only a handful of major Canadian companies [RIM(!), Thompson Reuters, Bombardier] having a significant impact on rest of the world. That’s dangerous, and unhealthy, especially given the challenging economic times we live in. We need to have a broader and more innovative economy than we currently have, and putting in place the foundations for such an economy will be the top priority for my government. We will:
- invest heavily in high-tech research & development.
- target Canada to have top 3 broadband penetration in the OECD, and bring Canadian broadband, wireless & data rates in line with the most innovative economies in the world.
- simplify the corporate tax structure.

NOTE: there has to be more here, and the best and the brightest of my government will be set loose on finding good ways to encourage more innovation in the Canadian economy.

2. Health
Our health care system is a shambles, and we can’t even talk about it in any honest way. Private is verboten, which would be fine if our existing system was working, but it isn’t. We need to fix that, and we need to do it in a cost-effective way.

In the short term:
- Increase funding & national priorities for adding more doctors and nurses for primary care (family doctors).
- Implement a national drug purchasing scheme – to establish the best and most cost-effective drugs, and get bulk purchasing benefits.

Long term:
- Define specific healthcare outcomes that we want to prioritize.
- Undertake an analysis of the health care systems of France, UK, Australia, and the US, measured against our priorities.
- Craft future Canadian health system based on above (NOTE: There will be private provision of health care; there already is private provision of healthcare, it’s just that no one is allowed to talk about it honestly).

3. Education:
I’m so far out of the education system, that I have trouble figuring out what priorities ought to be here, but education sure as hell is essential for building an innovative economy. Here are a few radical statements that will contribute to our approach to the education system: educating our kids is really, really important; a great liberal arts education, coupled with many people working on the outside edge of exciting R&D, is likely to make for the most innovative outcomes; access to post-secondary education is essential, but innovation doesn’t come only from schools.

So:
- We’ll invest heavily in high-tech R&D.
- Any suggestions?

4. Environment
Hey, remember climate change? Yeah, me too. Well, living next to the USA means we do have to be cautious about how radical we are about implementing actual reductions, but we need to get a real national policy in place, with teeth, to start cranking down emissions. We will:

- Establish some achievable emission reduction targets, to start working towards our (right now, totally out of reach) Kyoto commitments.
- Implement a carbon tax.
- Implement a cap and trade system for big emitters.
- Improve efficiency standards of cars on the Canadian road & continue a big push for energy efficiencies in Canadian homes & buildings.

5. Democracy
Given the shabby way the Harper Government has treated the Canadian institutions of democracy, it’s worth making this a priority. I will govern with a respect for the democratic traditions of Canada, and beyond that I will:
- Make open/accessible government data a priority.
- Provide every Canadian with a yearly tax receipt that explains where tax money goes.
- Propose a more open system for nominations of Supreme Court judges.
- Take a look at this Senate thing. I don’t understand what it’s for, and why the Senate can block legislation.

Some things I won’t do

* I won’t invest billions in building new prisons, unless there is clear evidence that new prisons are the most cost-effective way to meet stated crime objectives.
* I won’t prorogue parliament mid-session.
* I won’t cut federal funding for political parties.
* I’m not likely to invest $30+ billion in fighter jets.
* I won’t use the Senate to kill legislation I don’t like.

The federal election is about a week away, and I have no idea what any of the federal parties stand for. The media has done a terrible job; the politicians have done a terrible job.

For you: A brief outline of all the parties’ platforms

So, Web guy that I am I went to the websites of all the parties to find out what they had to say for themselves, and below you will find an extraction of the main policies of each party, along with my evaluation of the clarity of presentation on their policies on their websites, based solely on what is on their platform page. I have not followed links, or delved further into their sites, PDFs (ug), or other such nonsense.

NOTE 1: If it is not on your platform page, you are asking too much of your readers. In fact: why aren’t your platforms on your front page?
NOTE 2: I am not making political assessments of the platforms (I’ll leave that to you), but rather making a neutralish comment on the clarity and ease of access of political messages on party websites.

Conservative Party of Canada

“The platform provides Canadians with a prudent low-tax plan to protect and create jobs by completing our recovery from the global economic recession.”

Conservative Priorities [link]

(Note: priorities were listed as is)

1. Creating jobs through training, trade and low taxes.
2. Supporting families through our Family Tax Cut and more support for seniors and caregivers.
3. Eliminating the deficit by 2014-2015 by controlling spending and cutting waste.
4. Making our streets safe – through new laws to protect children and the elderly.
5. Standing on guard for Canada – by investing in the development of Canada’s North, cracking down on human smuggling and strengthening the Canadian Armed Forces.

Conservative score:

* Clarity of priorities: +1
* Design of website: 0 for ugly design (but not -1, because info is accessible, site is clear)
* Open data format of priorities: +1 (yay! plain text!)
* Inspiration of message: 0 (Conservatives: actually, not terrible, but I want a vision of the future please)

Conservatives Total: +2 (max = +4, min = -4)
Qualitative assessment: Technocratic tax cutters & spending cutters.

Liberal Party of Canada

“Our platform objective: to make equal opportunity a reality for every Canadian.”

Liberal Priorities [link]

(Note: I had to extract this information from a long letter from Ignatieff.)

1. We will invest in quality, affordable child care for every young family that needs it.
2. We will help every family with the costs of college or university
3. We will help families take time off from work to look after sick loved ones at home.
4. We’ll strengthen universally accessible health care for all
5. We’ll build on the Canada Pension Plan so everyone can retire in security and dignity.
6. We’ll have a new tax credit to help with the up-front costs of renovations to make your home more energy-efficient.
7. We will promote Canadian success overseas and stand up for the proud ideal that a citizen of Canada is truly a citizen of the world.

Liberal score:
* Clarity of priorities: -1 [a) you don’t even list them, I had to do it for you, b) what do any of these objectives/priorities mean?]
* Design of website: -1 for design (it’s pretty, but you have no idea what message you want to convey)
* Open data format of priorities: 0 (buried in text )
* Inspiration of message: -1 (Liberals: Do you even know what you stand for? Or what you are offering Canada?)

Liberals Total: -3 (max = +4, min = -4)
Qualitative assessment: Mushy policy by committee.

NDP

“Today I’m releasing my affordable plan to get Ottawa working for your family – one practical step at a time.”

NDP Priorities [link]

(Note: I had to extract these priorities from a .gif image (!))

1. Hire More Doctors and Nurses: We’ll start training more doctors and nurses
2. Strengthen Your Pension: double your public pension
3. Kick Start Job Creation: 2% corporate tax cut, plus tax credits for hiring in Canada
4. Help Out Your Family Budget: Cap credit card fees at prime +5, remove federal sales tax on home heating, and help consumers control home heating.

NDP’s Score:
* Clarity of priorities: +1
* Design of website: +1 for nice design (though you are never going to elect a government with orange & green)
* Open data format of priorities: -1 (WTF, a priorities gif?)
* Inspiration of message: 0 (NDP: what is your vision of the future of Canada?)

NDP Total: +1 (max = +4, min = -4)
Qualitative assessment: Spend more money on health & pensions.

Green Party of Canada

“If you are looking for a serious, realistic and sensible option to the old line parties and old school politics, read this platform.”

Green Priorities [link]

(Note: these priorities were extracted from a vague introduction letter from Elizabeth May)

1. A vision for a modern, smart economy
2. Deficit reduction
3. Creation of new jobs that won’t be gone tomorrow
4. Reduction in pollution in energy generation
4. Healthy communities, eating safe and healthy food, and enjoying a life-giving, healthy natural world.

Green score:
* Clarity of priorities: -1 (generalities, though if you dig into the site things get more specific)
* Design of website: +1 for nice, relatively clear design
* Open data format of priorities: -1 (PDF? and link through to each individual policy plank? Can I get a clear statement on one page please)
* Inspiration of message: +1 (Greens: You’ve got the most ambitious vision for the country, which is good, but you need to communicate it more clearly).

Green total: 0 (Max = +4, Min = -4).
Qualitative assessment: Utopian vision.

Bloc Quebecois

N/A … Platform is contained in a PDF and a link to a flash PDF reader. Hence the Bloc has not put their platform on the Internet.

Bloc total: -4 (Max = +4, Min = -4).
Qualitative assessment: Please use the Internet.

Summary

The scores of the parties, in order of clarity of message on their websites is as follows:
* Conservative Party of Canada: +2
* NDP: +1
* Greens: 0
* Liberal Party of Canada: -3
* Bloc: -4

I will follow-up with my own policy platform shortly.