Who Is Shaping the Election?

♫ If you’ve got a plan
If you’ve got a master plan
Got to vote for you
Hey hey, got to vote for you
‘Cause you’re the man… ♫

Words and music by: Marvin Gaye and Kenneth Stover.

The fall election – in both Canada and the USA – is taking place at a particularly interesting time. Courtesy of blogs, the public are making their voices heard to a degree that has not been possible in the past. Access to the media was not particularly easy in the past, but by virtue of the Internet, that no longer matters to the same degree as it has in past elections. The voice of the people can be heard far and wide across the nation, at little cost and a modest time expenditure on the part of those seeking a voice.

Furthermore, in Canada, there is another factor at work: namely the transformation of the silent majority to the vocal minority (or even majority). CBCNews.ca on Sept. 8, 2008 in an article entitled: They’re not going to take it outlines how consumers are launching class action suits against telecommunication companies, websites and Facebook groups are protesting cell phone rates and people are protesting the throttling of internet connections.

Then there is the consumer backlash to the proposed Copyright reform bill. The power of the consumer has recently been demonstrated by the rollback of the iPhone rates by Rogers, courtesy of such web sites as: Ruinediphone.com.

Regarding the throttling of internet speeds, CBC reports that:

“The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic filed two separate complaints with the Privacy Commissioner. The Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP), a group of Bell’s wholesale customers, filed a complaint with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission that attracted support from internet giants Google Inc. and Skype.”

All of which is good news for the electorate, as I believe that this indicates that the people are taking the issues on which they want action to the politicians, rather than having the politicians attempt to shape the election around the issues that they prefer. No longer are the people looking for a master plan put forward by the politicians; rather they know what they want and they are looking to the politicians to demonstrate how they will implement the laws that will produce the changes that they desire. Power to the People!

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