Members of Canada's Federal Parliament I have met

I have met a number of Federal Canadian MPs over the years, and thought it would be useful to list them and the circumstances.

Jan 01, 2019

Hon. Mauril Bélanger (Ottawa Vanier)

I first met Mauril in the context of the SOS Montfort (Group set up to Montfort Hospital) and the Defence Fund for the Montreal Rally. When I moved into the riding in 1997 I wrote him a letter. I have met with him many times over the years to talk about Copyright and Free/Libre and Open Source Software related policy issues.

Hon. Bill Blaikie (Elmwood - Transcona)

Short meeting 7 Oct 2002 to discuss Free Software in government.

Hon. Reg Alcock (Winnipeg South)

I first met Mr. Alcock to discuss Open Source in October 2002, having been told that he was the most Open Source aware member of parliament.

In May 2003 Mr Alcock helped GOSLING (Getting Open Source Logic INto Governments) celebrate our 1-year anniversary. Brian Behledorf, Co-Founder of Apache.org, was in town and Joseph Potvin (co-coordinator of GOSLING), Brian, Mr Alcock and I had a lunch meeting together in the parliamentary restaurant.

We met many times over the years, up to when he became President of the Treasury Board in December 2003 when his availability was too low. He unfortunately lost his seat in the January 2006 election, but will hopefully return to parliament in the future.

Hon. Sheila Copps (Previous riding of Hamilton East)

Met in person at the Minister's Forum on Copyright, April 4th, 2003. She got quite offended by my interventions at that meeting, both before the cameras were on and after. See other notes about Sheila Copps on the Digital Copyright Canada forum.

I met her (debated her in public) again in October 2006 when she spoke at the Alternative Telecommunications Policy Forum. While out of politics for a few years after being pushed out by the Liberals, she seemed to learn nothing about the current debates in telecommunications and cultural policy.

David McGuinty (Ottawa South)

I moved to Ottawa South in September 2003, and wrote a letter to then MP John Manley. I quickly started to hear rumours that he was stepping down, and that David McGuinty might be seeking the nomination and wrote him at his National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy contact email address. We met for the first time in May of 2004, prior to the June election. We have met a number of times since (including in the Government Lobby). He has been very helpful in taking messages I write him and forward them on to Ministers, given MPs are more likely to get responses from Ministers than average citizens.

Brian Masse (Windsor West)

Met in person on May 4, 2004 when I was a witness in front of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology. While there were other members present, only two members took the time to introduce themselves to me individually after the meeting: Mr. Masse and Mr Rajotte

James Rajotte (Edmonton--Leduc)

Mr. Rajotte has been willing to table signatures to our petition, and appears open minded on Internet and technology law issues. There was a meeting on October 18, 2007 in his parliamentary office.

Charlie Angus (Timmins--James Bay)

Met in person for the first time in January 2005, and many times since. He is an independent musician who sees the benefits to creators in new media, rather than only seeing the threats. He is by far the most vocal supporter of independent creators in parliament, including speaking out against Bill C-60. He has tabled many batches of petitions for our community.

Hon. Bev Oda (Durham)

I met with Bev Oda on Friday March 12, 2005.

Judy Wasylycia-Leis (Winnipeg North)

Met in person in Winnipeg on August 17, 2005, at the launch evening of OpenCity 2005. I gave a presentation on Policy Laundering + Petition for Users' Rights!.

Joy Smith (Kildonan--St. Paul)

Met on Parliament Hill in November 2005 with a group of teachers opposed to provisions they thought were in the Liberal Bill C-60 (Educational use of the Internet). We all had dinner after in the Parliamentary restaurant (paid for by Ms. Smith). While I didn't have a long conversation with Ms. Smith I did have a conversation with her parliamentary assistant.

Sarmite Bulte (Parkdale - High Park)

It doesn't count as "meeting", but I tried many times to set up a meeting with her, including asking in person at various events she spoke at. While she appeared to have lobbiests like Graham Henderson on her speed-dial, she had no time for actual creators or creator groups that didn't agree with her narrow views.

Peggy Nash (Parkdale - High Park)

Met, but only spoke with her a few minutes at an All Candidates Debate during the 2006 election.

Hon. Hedy Fry (Vancouver Center)

Met on March 20, 2007 in her parliamentary office. After the meeting I wrote the article "I'm a Green, Hedy Fry is Blue, Nickie is a Space Cadet, lets hang out in the Tiki Bar" which is my general feelings from meeting a number of MPs about copyright.

Peter Stoffer (Sackville - Eastern Shore)

Haven't yet met in person, but spoke on the phone on October 25, 2007 about ISP licensing.

Dr. Colin Carrie (Oshawa)

I met with Dr. Carrie on November 19, 2007. At this time he is the parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry.

Pierre Poilievre (Nepean - Carleton)

I was invited by a constituent of Nepean-Carleton to participate in a meeting with Mr. Poilievre on July 3, 2008.

Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Quebec)

I met with Justin Trudeau at his constituency office on July 19'th, 2010, after a few comments between each other on Twitter.

Pablo Rodriguez (Honoré-Mercier, Quebec)

I met with Pablo Rodriguez at his parliamentary office on September 30, 2010.

Members of the Legislaive Committee on Bill C-32

Hon. Maxime Bernier (Beauce, Québec), Pablo Rodriguez (Honoré-Mercier, Quebec) Marc Garneau (Westmount--Ville-Marie, Québec), Hon. Dan McTeague (Pickering - Scarborough East, Ontario), Carole Lavallée (Saint-Bruno - Saint-Hubert, Québec), Serge Cardin (Sherbrooke, Québec), Charlie Angus (Timmins--James Bay), Ed Fast (Abbotsford, British Columbia), Peter Braid (Kitchener--Waterloo, Ontario), Dean Del Mastro (Peterborough, Ontario), Mike Lake (Edmonton--Mill Woods--Beaumont, Alberta)

On Tuesday, March 8, 2011 I was invited to speak in front of the Legislative Committee on Bill C-32. I had been attending most of the meetings in person. I have had conversations in the breaks with Mr. Lake, Mr. McTeague and Mr. Angus. There has been an attempt to set up a one-on-one meeting with Mr. McTeague.

Kennedy Stewart (Burnaby - Douglas, British Columbia)

I met with Mr Stewart at his parliamentary office on March 6, 2012. We discussed petitions (he has an interest in online petitions), digital copyright and technological measures (including impacts to things such as accountability of online voting).

David Graham (Laurentides -- Labelle) , David Lametti (LaSalle--Émard-Verdun)

Attended meetings with both Mr. Graham and Mr. Lametti in April 2016, having met each before they became MPs. Mr. Graham has been part of the FLOSS movement in Canada for many years.