COMMENTS ON THE FEDERAL ELECTION PROJECT, AND OTHER POLITICAL
ISSUES... On the topic of the NCF Federal Election Project,
one participant felt that one could expand the project by
getting the local newspaper to print the postings from the
FreeNet - by doing so the politicians would be able to expand
their audience. He saw the FreeNet as another opportunity for
political parties to convey their messages. It was felt that
electronic access to candidates was inevitable and those
politicians that took advantage of this communications means
would have an advantage in the long-run. Julie Chahal, who
has been working on this project,discussed some of the
candidates reactions to this project - they wanted to avoid
written records of their statements and did not want to lose
the power of "misquotes"; fringe parties have been very keen,
while the mainstream parties have resisted the most because
they had the most to lose. Another participant brought up the
issue that over an electronic medium you lose the charisma/
the image of the candidate. Candidates often rely on the
entire package, not just their words. As she mentioned, the
first person hired for damage control is an image consultant.
Some people in the group thought this forum might be more
useful as a debate between national parties - a way of
distributing national level discussions/party positions.
Others were concerned that the candidates may get lost in the
discussions, it may end up being debates between candidates'
supporters. A suggestion was made that it might be more
useful to make all-candidates meetings available
electronically in real-time.