 OTTAWA
(PoliticsWatch posted January 24, 2003 @ 3:30 p.m.)
Armed
with flashy splash-pages, massive Web forums, and
online-donation options, more and more leadership hopefuls are
using the power of the Internet to connect with potential
supporters.
With
his newly-launched Web site, Nova
Scotia MP Peter MacKay is no exception. As
the front-running
candidate to replace Tory Leader Joe Clark,
MacKay's Web team gives users the option
to donate, become a Tory member or tell a friend about the
MP's pledge to oust
the Liberal party from power. Soon, users will also be able to
participate in an online chat with MacKay.
 ”You
can make a difference!” proclaims the home page of www.mackay2003.com.
A copy of the home page was apparently sent to tens of thousands
of Canadians in the form of an e-mail message, with a subject
heading that reads: “Asking for your support.”
Put simply, “the Chrétien-Martin Liberals are governing on an agenda of
egos, not on what's best for the future of Canada,” MacKay
writes in his opening address amid fancy fonts, photos and other graphics. “It's
time for them to go!”
”We’re
going to be very aggressive in using the Internet to reach out
to conservatives from coast-to-coast,” says Doug Earle, the campaign’s director of membership
and delegate outreach. Earle says the campaign team has already
been bombarded with a daily onslaught of 1,500 to 2,000 e-mails
from inquiring Canadians. “And this is only the first week,”
he says.
The messages — mostly policy-related questions, suggestions or
comments — serve to illustrate how Internet culture has
infiltrated political campaigns over the years, says Earle. The
head of a Mississauga-based communications firm was also a key
player in developing the online component of Ontario Premier
Ernie Eves’s
successful campaign last year. In 2000, Earle handled e-mail
communication and sold memberships to supporters of Tom Long,
who was then a candidate to lead the federal Alliance party.
In his experience, Earle has seen a giant increase in the number
of Web surfers, which sends a clear message to leadership
candidates: The Internet is worth its weight in gold, both as a
communications and self-promotional tool.
 Similar
to MacKay’s newly-minted site is that of his Liberal rival,
Paul Martin. The former finance minister, who has been out on the
hustings since the summer, has carefully crafted www.paulmartintimes.com, a slick "news"
site that provides options to donate to his campaign, register
to become a party member, and even help with grassroots
organization in cyberspace.
In its year-end
review, PoliticsWatch called the Paul
Martin site the best
political use of the
Web by a Canadian politician in 2002. The
only suggestion we had was to add a privacy
policy that
guarantees
users
that any information theysubmit
to the site is kept
confidential.
By
comparison, MacKay's
team has
one.
While Earle says that those high-school and university students
who were brought up with the Internet are part of the campaign's
intended online
audience, he is confident that all age groups will be visiting
MacKay’s site.
”We’re not focussing on an age group,” he says. “We’re
focussing on attracting conservatives.”
Check out these related stories from PoliticsWatch
:
 'I'm
not a merger candidate,' MacKay says
MacKay
to announce leadership intentions
The
PoliticsWatch 2002 Year in Review
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