Party for Accountability, Competency and Transparency

The Party for Accountability, Competency and Transparency (French: Parti pour la Responsabilisation, la Compétence et la Transparence, abbreviated as PACT), formerly the Online Party of Canada (French: Parti Canadien en ligne, abbreviated as OPC), was a Canadian website and federally registered political party founded in October 2010. The party was founded by Michael Nicula of Toronto.[3][4] The party was deregistered by Elections Canada on July 31, 2016.[5]

Party for Accountability, Competency and Transparency
Parti pour la Responsabilisation, la Compétence et la Transparence
Party LeaderMichael Nicula[1]
FounderMichael Nicula
FoundedOctober 1, 2010 (2010-10-01)
November 5, 2012 (2012-11-05) (registered)[2]
DissolvedJuly 31, 2016 (2016-07-31)
HeadquartersToronto[1]
Membership1,000+[citation needed] (May 20, 2011)
IdeologyParticipatory democracy
Democratic socialism
Left-wing nationalism
Canadian republicanism
Political positionCentre-left to left-wing
International affiliationE2D International
Coloursred
Website
votepact.ca

Founding and governing principles

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The Party for Accountability, Competency and Transparency was a non-partisan political party founded on the principles of participatory e-democracy where members voted 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 PACT representatives wrote up their own Promissory Letter of Resignation before being eligible to run for office. Any PACT representative who votes against the will of the majority could be asked to resign.[6][7][8][9][10]

Political platform

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The Party for Accountability, Competency and Transparency did not have a set agenda. The political platform was 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.[11][12]

Membership

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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 PACT in order to cast votes and comment on issues. In this sense, PACT 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 PACT.[13] Through this process, every PACT member and their respective electoral district as voting citizens is verifiable through the National Register of Electors,[14] similar to the voter identification process followed by Elections Canada during Federal Elections.

Election results

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Results by election
Election Candidates # of votes % vote % vote in contested ridings
2015 general election 1 [15] 90 0.00% 0.00% [16]
Results by riding
Election Riding
Candidate's Name Votes % Rank
2012 by-election Durham Michael Nicula 132 0.39 6/6
2013 by-election Toronto Centre Michael Nicula 43 0.12 10/11
2015 general election Spadina—Fort York Michael Nicula 90 0.17% 5/6 [17]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Registered Political Parties and Parties Eligible for Registration#Party for Accountability, Competency and Transparency". Elections Canada. October 20, 2015. Retrieved August 5, 2015.
  2. ^ http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=pol&dir=par&document=index&lang=e Elections Canada List of Registered Political Parties. Accessed October 30, 2015
  3. ^ Abma, Derek. "Political party based on the web: Plans online polls to make decisions Archived 2012-09-05 at the Wayback Machine", Postmedia News. Reprinted in Windsor Star, October 23, 2010. Retrieved June 14, 2011.
  4. ^ "Un Torontois souhaite créer un nouveau parti fédéral[usurped]", Le Journal de Québec. October 3, 2010. Retrieved June 14, 2011.
  5. ^ "Registered Political Parties and Parties Eligible for Registration". 20 August 2021.
  6. ^ "OPC Governing Principles". Online Party of Canada. Retrieved 2011-05-20.
  7. ^ "Marni Soupcoff: What we can learn from the Online Party of Canada". National Post. Oct 25, 2010. Retrieved 2011-05-20.
  8. ^ "The Libertas Post Interview – Michael Nicula, founder of the Online Party of Canada". Libertas Post. Dec 14, 2010. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
  9. ^ "Inside Canada's political parties: The Online Party of Canada". Digital Journal. Nov 1, 2010. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
  10. ^ "The Online Party of Canada — further analysis". The Blog of Walker. October 28, 2010. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
  11. ^ "OPC Political Platform". Online Party of Canada. Retrieved 2011-05-20.
  12. ^ "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.
  13. ^ "OPC Membership Form" (PDF). Online Party of Canada. Retrieved 2011-06-09.
  14. ^ "Description of the National Register of Electors". Elections Canada. Retrieved 2011-06-09.
  15. ^ http://www.elections.ca/content2.aspx?section=can&dir=cand/lst&document=index&lang=e Elections Canada, List of Confirmed Candidates. Accessed October 20, 2015
  16. ^ http://enr.elections.ca/ElectoralDistricts.aspx?lang=e Elections Canada Electoral District, 2015. Accessed October 20, 2015.
  17. ^ http://enr.elections.ca/ElectoralDistricts.aspx?lang=e Elections Canada, Spadina-Fort York 2015 results. Accessed October 20, 2015.
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