ECA Review 2019-05-02

6 M ay 2'19 Ha NNa /CORONa TION/STETTLER, a B. ECa REVIEW
EDITORIAL
Misplaced faith
in Facebook
Brenda Schimke
ECA Review
It’s hard to understand how society
in general trusts Mark Zuckerman,
Facebook’s CEO, more than their democratic
government.
It wasn’t that many years ago when
then-Prime Minister Harper started
dismantling the credibility of data collected
by Statistics Canada by
weakening sample sizes. He argued
long forms shouldn’t be mandatory
because governments can’t be trusted
with our personal data.
“
It just seems
counter intuitive to
trust private for-profit
over government for
public good.
Statistics Canada at that time had a
worldwide reputation for quality data.
It had a proven track record for producing
objective data through
excellent sampling techniques and
analyses.
Objective statistical information is
vital to an open and democratic
society.
Statistics Canada provides the most
accurate data available to aid elected
officials in estimating expected expenditures
and revenues and developing
sound budgets for its citizens.
Then there’s Zuckerman who uses
our personal data for personal profit.
Facebook’s whole profit model is to
modify our behaviours so that we give
away our most personal of information.
His algorithms, designed by man,
knowingly share personal data with
third party profiteers and influence
peddlers.
Should we not feel violated when
Cambridge Analytica and Aggregate
IQ, a Canadian company, were able to
mine the personal data of
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OPINION
approximately 600,000 Canadians
through a third party app?
Just because someone on Facebook
took the bait and downloaded the app,
“This is Your Digital Life”, it allowed
these third party operatives to access
the downloader’s personal information
and that of all his Facebook
friends without any of their knowledge
or consent.
For all those who were outraged
that the government collects significant
information via a mandatory
census every 10 years, few even bothered
to ask their Facebook friends
whether they had downloaded this
third party app.
It just seems counter intuitive to
trust private for-profit over government
for public good.
A recent report by the federal and
BC privacy commissioners found that
through AggregateIQ and Cambridge
Analytica, Facebook had engaged in
serious privacy violations including
not receiving consent from Canadians
to use their personal data.
In Canada we have the Personal
Information Protection and
Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).
The law states that any commercial
operation (e.g. Facebook) must obtain
consent for the collection, use and disclosure
of personal information.
Facebook’s response to these findings
was essentially, “we don’t agree”
or “stop us if you can”.
They know it will take a protracted
court case to find them guilty and
since they have more money and influence
than our government, they can
litigate forever.
Like drug and tobacco companies,
they, too, have a multi-billion dollar
contingency fund set aside to pay
fines—an acceptable cost of doing
business when industry effectively
controls much of the public and the
politicians.
When we, as a collective society, are
no longer able to discern between
those who we vote to help us (e.g. governments)
versus those who are out to
profit from us (e.g. Facebook), it is no
wonder that democracies are in
decline worldwide and democratic
institutions are under attack on every
front.
VIEWPOINTS
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The opinions expressed are not necessarily
the opinions of this newspaper.
End of an era
by Herman Schwenk
On March 30, 2019 the Battle River
Crowfoot Electorial District
Association (EDA) held a regular
board meeting. At that meeting Kevin
Sorenson announced that he would not
be seeking re-election when the next
Federal election is called, which is
expected to take place on Oct. 21, 2019.
Kevin has faithfully served this area
as our Member of Parliament (MP)for
the past 19 years. He first got involved
when he served on the board of the
Reform Party EDA and then became
president of the EDA when
Jack Ramsey was the MP.
He was nominated to be a
candidate for the 2000 election
when Jack Ramsey
stepped down.
On Nov. 27, 2000 he was
first elected as an MP for
what was the Alliance Party
at that time.
PRAIRIEVIEW
During his time as an MP
he was involved in two Schwenk
amalgamations of conservative
parties. The first one was when
the Reform Party amalgamated with
the Alliance Party to become the
Reform Alliance Party and then it was
changed to the Alliance Party of
Canada.
After the formation of this party,
Stephen Harper was elected the leader
of this new party. This still left two
right wing parties. Peter McKay was
the leader of the Progressive
Conservative Party of Canada.
Stephen Harper knew that neither
party could form government without
the other so the cry became “unite the
right”.
After some intense negotiation the
two leaders were able to come to an
agreement to unite the two parties into
the Conservative Party of Canada with
the acronym of CPC.
The agreement became official on
Dec. 7, 2003.
Kevin was elected as an opposition
member in 2000 and 2004. In 2006
Stephen Harper was elected to the first
of his two terms as a minority
government.
In 2011 Kevin was elected as an MP
for the fifth time when the CPC won a
majority Government.
He won again in 2015 but he again
became an opposition member as the
CPC were defeated by Trudeau
Liberals.
During his time as an MP he went
through two electoral boundary
changes and each time the area that he
represented got larger. Rural ridings
due not have the population density
that urban ridings have.
Rural MP’s have more work than an
urban MP due to the large
area that they represent and
MP’s in Western Canada
spend more time traveling
than MP’s in the rest of the
country.
Also, in Kevin’s case he had
one of the largest ridings in
Canada to serve with some
people living all over it.
Kevin was very dedicated to
his responsibility in serving
the people that he
represented.
I doubt if the people of this electoral
district had any idea of the tremendous
amount of time that he spent in representing
their concerns.
He told us at the meeting that he
spent about nine hours a week just
riding in airplanes. It was not just
flying from Edmonton to Ottawa with
the various responsibilities of being an
MP, he was expected to attend functions
all over Canada and often around
other parts of the world.
I am of the opinion that we were fortunate
to have a dedicated person like
Kevin Sorenson for our MP for that
length of time.
I was told that the average length of
time for an MP’s term is six years.
Kevin has, in his last two elections, a
plurality of over 80 per cent of the vote,
the highest of any elected MP in
Canada.
To get that level of support in an
election tells you that he was highly
regarded by his constituents. Enjoy
your retirement Kevin you have
earned it.
REast Central Alberta
EVIEW
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