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Welcome to the 21st Century

This week on Market Squared, we must sadly remind you that the internet is a thing, and it should be taken into account more often in local politics.
20180510 candidates ts 6
FILE PHOTO — Seven of the eight local candidates for the upcoming provincial election were at an all-candidates meeting Thursday, May 10, 2018, at the Italian Canadian Club. Tony Saxon/GuelphToday

Twitter is a sewer. You know it, I know it, and the Canadian people know it.

On the other hand, you get out of something what you put into it. So, if Twitter is a sewer, then only the users of Twitter are to blame for filling it with sewage.

Having said that, if you’re running for office, you should probably get on Twitter. And Facebook. And maybe even Instagram or You Tube.

To paraphrase Edmund Burke, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil on the internet is for good people to delete the social media apps on their phones.”

It may be small potatoes in the grand scheme of things, but I bring this up to revisit a recurring idea I have that despite our proclamations about the wonderfully innovative and creative little hub we like to say we have in Guelph, when it comes to our politics, we’re not that inventive.

As I like to point out, our outgoing MPP Liz Sandals was the one member of the Ontario Legislature that doesn’t have a Twitter account. That probably doesn’t make the Top 10 of criticism your average person could level at Sandals, but given the quick, brief and immediate nature of Twitter as a way of sharing information, it seems bizarre a politician *doesn’t* want to use it.

Maybe less bizarre when you consider the bad eggs online, but again, see above.

Most of the current provincial candidates have a Twitter presence, which suggests that the candidates at least realize they’re in the 21st century even if most of the rest of the local political apparatus does not.

Last Thursday’s All Candidates Debate hosted by the Guelph Wellington Coalition for Social Justice is a good example.

First of all, it was at the Italian Canadian Club, which is literally the first place anybody ever thinks of when holding a large political event. I’m not saying it’s not appropriate, but when you hear about a meeting, rally or debate and bet that it’s happening at the ICC, your chances of winning your money back are excellent.

Second, the debate moderator was Tim Mau. Now I have no beef with Mau. I had him as a teacher at the University of Guelph, and he was good, well-spoken and insightful. Having said that, is there no one else to moderate a debate?

Third, and this was a big one for me, no wi-fi. Allowing people to follow and interact with political events as they happen online is to be expected, so the fact that no wifi was made available is a real oversight. I asked about seven people if the wifi code for ICC could be made available, and nobody knew it, or were unwilling to share it.

Now wifi won’t be a problem when it comes to the next debate, the Chamber of Commerce face-off between the four main party candidates on Tuesday. The setting for that debate is the council chambers at City Hall, where wifi is plentiful, so that won’t be an issue.

More problematic with the Chamber debate though is the fact that it will be broadcast on Rogers Channel 20, which is supposed to be geared toward community programing. Easier said than done in this age of cord cutting.

Still, you may remember the controversy back in 2014 where Rogers refused to post the ward and mayor candidate debates online, and free for everyone to access. There was even a petition to try and get Rogers to loosen the strings a little, but it fell on deaf ears.

Council observers are likely to have noticed that Rogers can be hit and miss with archiving the video of meetings, which means that unless you have Rogers cable and are sitting in front of your TV at the pre-scheduled time, it’s hard to watch their “gavel to gavel coverage” of Guelph’s city council.

Here we are, surrounded by technology, and we’re still depending on cable access?

Going back to the social justice debate, there were lots of cameras, but aside from one person streaming to Facebook Live and CFRU recording the affair for broadcast later, the debate was covered in the literal old fashioned way. Lots of scratching of notepads, if you know what I mean.

Now we do what we’ve got to do, and while we appreciate all the hard work that goes into organizing these events, we need start pushing things a little hard to the modern.

There are times in this city we seem woefully attached to the sentimental; because this is a way something’s always been done, it’s the way it must always be done in the future.

The internet can be scary, no question, but it will always remain scary if we, the good people, don’t embrace the internet for all it can be, and the public service opportunities it can provide.

The medium is the message, and the message is that this is important information that should be easy to find no matter where and when you are. When will we catch up?


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Adam A. Donaldson

About the Author: Adam A. Donaldson

In addition to writing his weekly political column for GuelphToday, Adam A. Donaldson writes and manages Guelph Politico, frequently writes for Nerd Bastards and sometimes has to do less cool things for a paycheque.
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