NewsForge: Canadian Election Candidate Takes Stand for FOSS

"Free and open source software (FOSS) is not a major issue in the Canadian election scheduled for January 23. None of the major political parties--the Liberals, Conservatives, New Democratic Party (NDP), or Bloc Québécois--has taken a position on FOSS. The up and coming Green Party is rumored to be announcing a FOSS platform shortly, but even that may be only be token support, considering that the Green Party Web site includes downloads of current policy in Microsoft Word format. The only candidate for a major party who is openly advocating FOSS is Mathieu Allard, the young NDP candidate for the Francophone riding of Saint Boniface in Manitoba. Recently, I talked to him about his advocacy and the role that FOSS plays in his campaign.

"Allard is an executive assistant in the Ministry of Housing and Social Services in the Manitoba NDP government..."

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• Linux Journal: Lessons on Open Source Politics from the Campaign Forge(Nov 07, 2005)
• ZDNet: Should Election Software be Open Source?(Sep 18, 2005)
• Stuff: Electoral Enrolment Centre Votes for Open Source(Jul 25, 2005)