Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Free Party Canada (2nd nomination)
- The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.
The result was keep. (non-admin closure) Enos733 (talk) 22:39, 30 September 2021 (UTC)
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- Free Party Canada (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log)
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New article created after previous article deleted just a few days ago; WP:G4 rejected. Article still suffers from the same WP:NORG problems, namely that there is little to demonstrate that this one-issue anti-vaccine fringe party is encyclopedically notable. Sources used are still the party's own website, evidently press releases by the party or the candidates, or passing mentions in coverage of anti-vaccination movements more generally. Ivanvector's squirrel (trees/nuts) 17:17, 22 September 2021 (UTC)
- Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Organizations-related deletion discussions. Ivanvector's squirrel (trees/nuts) 17:17, 22 September 2021 (UTC)
- Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Politics-related deletion discussions. Ivanvector's squirrel (trees/nuts) 17:17, 22 September 2021 (UTC)
- Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Canada-related deletion discussions. Ivanvector's squirrel (trees/nuts) 17:17, 22 September 2021 (UTC)
- Delete. As per the prior AFD, political parties are not automatically entitled to have Wikipedia articles just because it's possible to use primary sourcing to verify that they exist — the notability test is the reception of reliable source coverage about the party in media to get it over WP:GNG and WP:ORGDEPTH. The Le Journal de Québec citation is the only one here that's starting to put a foot on the right path — but it doesn't get this to the finish line all by itself if it's the only solid major media source in play and you're otherwise relying on a mixture of primary sources and smalltown community hyperlocals. Bearcat (talk) 20:30, 22 September 2021 (UTC)
- WP:AUD allows local sources to be utilized to demonstrate notability if at least one national or regional source is included. The sheer amount of local coverage puts this subject across the finish line. Mottezen (talk) 05:21, 23 September 2021 (UTC)
- AUD most certainly does not say (or mean) that the moment you can find one decent quality source from major media you're allowed to rely entirely on smalltown community hyperlocals otherwise. Local coverage isn't entirely verboten in Wikipedia, and I never said it was, but local coverage isn't necessarily enough all by itself if it's virtually all that a topic actually has — we do require broad coverage from a variety of major media, not just smalltown pennysavers, and that coverage does have to be analytical in nature rather than just local reportage of election campaign events and results. One national source is merely the starting line, the bare minimum that has to be present just to make the article not speediable — it is not in and of itself the finish line, and does not represent enough coverage to automatically require keeping the article in a full AFD discussion. Bearcat (talk) 14:29, 23 September 2021 (UTC)
- WP:AUD allows local sources to be utilized to demonstrate notability if at least one national or regional source is included. The sheer amount of local coverage puts this subject across the finish line. Mottezen (talk) 05:21, 23 September 2021 (UTC)
- Keep. Article creator here. Didn't realise there was a previous AfD. In my opinion, it's just unencyclopedic to have a party that got 46000 votes (and counting, 1%-2% everywhere it ran) and federally seventh party in terms of support not to have a page. The Le Journal de Québec piece gives plenty of information; I'll look for more and better sources, but there's plenty of regional coverage of particular candidates (and I don't see anything in notability that would disqualify local coverage). In my opinion, someone looking at the 2021 election in 2050 will want to know that this was a "Free from Covid-restrictions" rather than a free trade or a free zoo animals or a correctional reform party. I assume everyone realises, but just for reference, coverage is pretty much all in French so English non-finds not so relevant. Sheijiashaojun (talk) 20:56, 22 September 2021 (UTC)
- keep, precedent from similar election results in past elections. Kingofthedead (talk) 21:27, 22 September 2021 (UTC)
- What precedent do you think you're talking about? We very definitely don't have any precedent that running candidates in an election is any sort of automatic free notability pass for a fringe political party, so what precedent do you think you're talking about? Bearcat (talk) 14:31, 23 September 2021 (UTC)
- I went back and looked at all Cdn federal elections since 2000 inclusive, and there is no party with over 10,000 votes without a WP page, and most under 1,000 do. The closest is the 2019 Veterans Coalition at 6,300. FPC has more than 7 times that support. Sheijiashaojun (talk) 01:37, 24 September 2021 (UTC)
- What precedent do you think you're talking about? We very definitely don't have any precedent that running candidates in an election is any sort of automatic free notability pass for a fringe political party, so what precedent do you think you're talking about? Bearcat (talk) 14:31, 23 September 2021 (UTC)
- keep: It’s very easy to find adequate french-language sources on this party on Google. Mottezen (talk) 05:10, 23 September 2021 (UTC)
- Nearly all of the sources you can find, including many currently used in the article, report the same info you'd find in a campaign flyer, and in the same promotional tone: here's some basic biographical info on the candidate and their vague, idealistic vision of what they'll do if they're elected, with no editorial or critical review whatsoever. Here are some examples:
- [1]: "le Parti libre souhaite bâtir une économie locale plus solide, soutenir les aînés pour qu’ils n’aient pas à payer des loyers exorbitants et améliorer l’accès aux services." (Roughly: "The Free Party wants to build a stronger local economy, support seniors so they don't pay exorbitant rents and improve access to services.")
- [2]: "Son implication en politique se résume à la maxime suivante : « Je ne changerais pas mes enfants pour rien au monde, mais je changerais le monde pour mes enfants ». ("Her political involvement is summarized by the maxim, 'I would never change my children for anything in the world, but I would change the world for my children.'")
- [3]: "La jeune mère de famille veut une démocratie qui laisse plus de place aux jeunes. Elle se définit comme une citoyenne tannée qui veut que ça change." ("The young mother wants a democracy that makes room for youth. She defines herself as a [bold? literally "tanned"] citizen who wants things to change."
- [4]: "Le Parti libre prône une démocratie directe et donne la priorités aux enfants, parce qu’au final, on fait ça pour eux. Je pense beaucoup à la prochaine génération." ("The Free Party preaches direct democracy and giving priority to children, because in the end, we do it for them. I think a lot about the next generation.")
- [5]: This strange "interview", in which the party's leader rants and raves about the "acidification" of Saint-Sauveur, and actions he would take to "alkalize" the community, which for one is clearly not an interview (the supposed interviewer doesn't ask any questions) and is also not about the Free Party, it's about Leclerc's run for mayor of Saint-Sauveur in 2016.
- These are all clearly press releases written by the Party, given to local papers for free publicity, which the local papers print with minimal review (see the second bullet under WP:NEWSORG, or churnalism more generally). Also notice how the candidate photos used in the article are the same ones that appear on the Party's website. They cannot be used to establish notability: they are not independent, and rather than evidence that the organization attracts any level of local or regional attention, they are evidence that the Party has a marketer on staff.
- That all being said, the remaining few sources suggest an organization that may be worthy of inclusion in a List of minor political parties in Canada if such a list existed (there is such a list for Israel and I'm sure others must exist). But there is just not enough reliably-sourceable information on this party to warrant an entire article. Ivanvector's squirrel (trees/nuts) 13:16, 23 September 2021 (UTC)
- Nearly all of the sources you can find, including many currently used in the article, report the same info you'd find in a campaign flyer, and in the same promotional tone: here's some basic biographical info on the candidate and their vague, idealistic vision of what they'll do if they're elected, with no editorial or critical review whatsoever. Here are some examples:
- You highlighted the worst of these articles in the list above, but here are better local sources currently in the article. While they mostly rely on information given by the Free party or the candidates themselves, the majority of local sources in the article are not republished press releases, but firmly secondary sources. One of them was even republished by the Canadian Press. Mottezen (talk) 20:06, 25 September 2021 (UTC)
- Comment What User:PEIsquirrel says is true of a lot of the reporting, some of it outright, some of it thinly veiled, but not of Journal de Quebec or of the various non-churnalism pieces like this https://montemiscouata.com/le-parti-libre-du-canada/ or this https://ici.radio-canada.ca/ohdio/premiere/emissions/bonjour-la-cote/segments/entrevue/370521/bianca-girard-candidate-parti-libre-canada-manicouagan-cote-nord or this 17-minute interview https://www.cfjufm.com/entrevue/elections-federales-2021-louis-berube or the Journal Acces pieces in Saint-Sauveur. Yes, the latter are about Leclerc's run for mayor for Parti libre Saint-Sauveur (also here https://www.journalacces.ca/michel-leclerc-presente-equipe/) Leclerc: "Mon ambition est de lancer le parti ici dans le village, puis de conquérir la province et enfin le fédéral, pour améliorer notre liberté." So it's the same party according to him. I wouldn't make the article because the party has such great coverage--it's pretty terrible--but I would have it because I don't think at that level of support it should be a red link, so we use what there is. There are ten parties with pages that got fewer votes in the 2021 election. Sheijiashaojun (talk) 19:05, 23 September 2021 (UTC)
- User:PEIsquirrel tanné(e) means "fed up" in Qc French.
- Interviews, in which somebody directly associated with the party is answering questions in the first person, are not support for notability — a source has to be third party analysis, written in the third person, to be legitimate support for notability. This is because notability is not a measure of the things the article says, it's a measure of the extent to which sources without a vested interest in promoting their own activities have analyzed and assessed the significance of the things it says. So notability is not "the party did stuff", it's "the party garnered a certain specific type, depth, volume and range of media coverage about the stuff it did". Bearcat (talk) 21:35, 23 September 2021 (UTC)
- Bearcat It seems to me that Notability doesn't say it needs to be analytical. In reality the range of coverage that needs to be met is a judgment call around what constitutes 'significance.' The party gets voted for enough and covered in minor ways in third-party reliable sources (Radio-Canada, TVA, Journal du Quebec, small broadcasters and papers) enough for me to deem that it is significant, but not for you. Fair enough. But there isn't actually a specific type or depth or volume. Sheijiashaojun (talk) 23:20, 23 September 2021 (UTC)
- Exactly, when a political party runs in 60 ridings and gets tens of thousands of votes, I don’t care about whether it meets a SNG designed to exclude ad-like articles or not. Mottezen (talk) 06:21, 24 September 2021 (UTC)
- The thing you have to keep in mind is that sometimes sources that look like news coverage are actually still just thinly-veiled rewrites of the party's own self-published press releases about itself rather than coverage that actually establishes notability. Sources don't just have to verify facts, they have to establish the significance of said facts — for example, the mayor of a town or city is not automatically notable just because you can find one news article verifying her winning vote totals in the mayoral election, and instead establishing the notability of a mayor requires substantive coverage of specific things she did in the role. So notability is not "the facts can be verified", it is "a reason can be shown why the preservation of said facts in an encyclopedia for posterity is important". Bearcat (talk) 16:25, 25 September 2021 (UTC)
- The result this party got in the election is reason enough to keep this encyclopedic article. Users have to keep in mind that this party did not even have a website one month ago. WP:NORG's otherwise justified emphasis on the quality of sources used in articles is too burdensome in this case, and can be ignored. Mottezen (talk) 19:47, 25 September 2021 (UTC)
- Bearcat It seems to me that Notability doesn't say it needs to be analytical. In reality the range of coverage that needs to be met is a judgment call around what constitutes 'significance.' The party gets voted for enough and covered in minor ways in third-party reliable sources (Radio-Canada, TVA, Journal du Quebec, small broadcasters and papers) enough for me to deem that it is significant, but not for you. Fair enough. But there isn't actually a specific type or depth or volume. Sheijiashaojun (talk) 23:20, 23 September 2021 (UTC)
- Keep. I was indifferent on the first AfD, but there seems to be enough sources now. Plus, I think they did surprisingly well in the election for a fringe party (they won more votes than the Greens in a number of ridings), so I believe there is an encyclopedic need for this article, as I think people will be curious about what they're all about and why the did so well.-- Earl Andrew - talk 14:25, 24 September 2021 (UTC)
- Keep. From what I can determine, the party won a significant percentage of the vote in several ridings, and especially in Quebec. Even if the party does not see success in the next election, it will remain historically relevant for the results of this election. The National Citizens Alliance has an extensive article of 25000 bytes which is 50 bytes for every vote it received.
Gardez. D'après ce que je peux déterminer, le parti a remporté un pourcentage important du vote dans plusieurs circonscriptions, et surtout au Québec. Même si le parti ne connaît pas de succès lors de la prochaine élection, il restera historiquement pertinent pour les résultats de cette élection. Alliance nationale des citoyens a un article étendu de 25000 octets, soit 50 octets pour chaque vote qu'elle a reçu. CactusRoy (talk) 04:22, 25 September 2021 (UTC)
- Comment I have undone the inappropriate early closure by a new editor. Please let the AfD run its normal 7-day course. Also, this is the English WP and comments should be in English, not in another language. Thanks. --Randykitty (talk) 08:21, 25 September 2021 (UTC)
Tangential discussion about the use of English in AfD debates.
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- Keep – There are enough reliable sources cited to establish notability. Sources do not have to be exclusively in English. CentreLeftRight ✉ 07:32, 27 September 2021 (UTC)
Another language tangent
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- Keep. Appears to be enough independent significant RS to pass GNG.4meter4 (talk) 20:13, 29 September 2021 (UTC)
- Keep I did look at this initially and think of closing, but given strong opposition expressed by a few, I felt better to !vote. The publicly expressed political interests of sizable segments of a population are inherently notable. To be crude this is quantitative: if we have political parties receiving more votes than the populations of some nation states (eg Monaco, Faroe, Marshall Islands) whose politicians are accorded presumed notability under NPOL we should resolve this inconsistency in favour of inclusion and not deletion of the similarly small. Located in context (COVID-19/surge in populist right politics/fringe anti-science/well-being politics) this is a political phenomenon attracting electoral support worthy of note. Regards, --Goldsztajn (talk) 12:01, 30 September 2021 (UTC)
- Keep seems to have enough coverage + participation in election grants it some amount of historical significance. Elli (talk | contribs) 18:38, 30 September 2021 (UTC)
- The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.