Politics
in Cyberspace
Sun Review November 11, 2000
The phenomenon of the always-on, always-there, everywhere Internet is forcing the re-design of modern business organizations. Business is using the Internet to cut costs, speed time-to-market, provide better information and promote brand loyalty.
Replace the word business with politics and the needs and competitive pressures are the same. The Internet is already changing government operations, political organizations and public interest advocacy, and that's just a start.
The Web is increasingly becoming the first source of government and political information. Recent research indicates that this is overwhelmingly the case with the media and political staff, who can easily go online to track policy announcements, download policy papers or find official phone numbers.
Traditional media still matters, but because the Web allows any group to publish their views directly and cheaply, it is now possible to broadcast your political message to millions of potential viewers. Some activist websites even include a nifty function where you can submit an e-mail message, which is then converted to a fax directed to individual MPs.
The Net is becoming the workhorse of political organizations. If an organization needs to distribute news, campaign materials or notices about upcoming events to all its members, surely the best, most inexpensive and nearly instantaneous vehicle is e-mail. As Newsweek recently explained "E-campaigning has been upgraded from novelty to necessity in the blink of an eye". Some U.S. Presidential candidates held online chats with their supporters and even raised millions in online donations through their websites.
It would seem reasonable to expect that many of these practices will be copied by Canadian politicians. The number of Canadian voters with access to cyberspace is simply too large a group to ignore. And you never know: it may not be too long before we can cast our votes online.
If you're looking for election coverage and information about political candidates. JournalismNet's Canadian Politics section (www.journalismnet.com/canada/politics.htm) is a great place to start. Here you will find links to federal political parties, including those with no seats in the House of Commons, election news, election finances, online political commentary and analysis from various sources. Some of the more notable links include Straight Goods (www.straightgoods.com), which bills itself as Canada's independent online news source. Canada Votes 2000 (www.canada.com/news/election2000.html) has recent poll information, leader bios, and links to most political parties. For information on where and how to vote, visit Elections Canada (www.elections.ca).
Federal Party Websites :
Liberals www.liberal.ca
Canadian Alliance www.canadianalliance.ca
Bloc Quebecois www.blocquebecois.org
New Democrats www.ndp.ca
Progressive Conservatives www.pcparty.ca
If satire is more your cup of tea, you can get your fill at these protest websites:
Judy Cornwell's www.dumpchretien.com, National Post Online Satire (nationalpost.com.8m.com), Canadian World Domination (www.standonguard.com) and until recently, www.canadianallianceparty.com (whose webmaster was forced to shut down the site after receiving letters from Canadian Alliance party lawyers). Although it is not a Canadian site, the prize for the finest satirical news source still goes to the Onion (www.theonion.com)
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