A House Under Siege

Sweden's Pirate Party, out for freedom from copyright law across the globe, is on the verge of changing Canada's political landscape.

When Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer narrowly lost his seat to the NDP's Linda Duncan in 2008, no less than four groups claimed, or were assigned, credit for his defeat: radical Islamists, the vote-swapping Anyone-but-Harper gang, George Soros, and – in a reflection of our changing political landscape – Michael Geist's gang of copyright warriors.

Now, the Pirate Party – a Swedish political party dedicated to loosening copyright laws and tightening laws related to internet and real-world privacy – is contemplating a move into Canada:

“They're a handful of loosely-organized individuals spread across the country. But they want to become an official federal political party within the next few years and get enough support to persuade Parliament to relax proposed copyright laws they say are heavy-handed and a violation of personal privacy.”

It would be a mistake to dismiss the impact such a party might have on the Canadian electoral landscape. On September 10, 2001, probably the biggest news story on the planet was the fate of Napster. Unfortunately, events served to wipe their legal problems off the front pages, but as Mr. Geist's rise to prominence in the last couple of years has shown, there exists a block of potential voters for whom copyright issues are near and dear, even if it is likely less than 1 per cent of the populace. Still, the Pirate Party was only three years old when it won a seat in the European Parliament last month, along with 7 per cent of the vote.

Who stands to lose if the Pirate Party decides to invade our shores? You would think they would skim votes off the hapless NDP, but at the same time, Michael Geist himself has speculated that copyright reform brought out many traditional non-voters during the 2008 election, and there is even a libertarian slice of the Conservative Party that might be swayed by their message.

While it's highly unlikely the Pirates would be able to win a seat in the House of Commons anytime soon, they might well – like the Green Party – be able to effect some degree of policy change from outside of that venue.