Online Party of Canada
Encyclopedia
The Online Party of Canada , is a Canadian website founded in October 2010 and is in the process of formally registering as a political party with Elections Canada
. The party was founded by Michael Nicula of Toronto.
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 would then vote against the will of the majority could be asked to step down and resign.
To ensure that each voting citizen only cast 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. Through this process, every OPC member and their respective electoral district
as voting citizens is verifiable through the National Register of Electors (the Register), similar to the voter idenfication process followed by Elections Canada during Federal Elections.
Elections Canada
Elections Canada is an independent, non-partisan agency reporting directly to the Parliament of Canada. Its ongoing responsibility is to ensure that Canadians can exercise their choices in federal elections and referenda through an open and impartial process...
. The party was founded by Michael Nicula of Toronto.
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 would then vote against the will of the majority could be asked to step down and resign.
Political platform
The Online Party of Canada does not have a set agenda. The political platform is a compilation of issues and 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.Membership
Unlike most recognized political parties, all eligible voters in Canada, even cardholding 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 cast 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
Elections Canada
Elections Canada is an independent, non-partisan agency reporting directly to the Parliament of Canada. Its ongoing responsibility is to ensure that Canadians can exercise their choices in federal elections and referenda through an open and impartial process...
, is submitted to the OPC. Through this process, every OPC member and their respective electoral district
Electoral district
An electoral district is a distinct territorial subdivision for holding a separate election for one or more seats in a legislative body...
as voting citizens is verifiable through the National Register of Electors (the Register), similar to the voter idenfication process followed by Elections Canada during Federal Elections.