CCA Election Monitor – The first week in review

Following a historic non-confidence motion that brought down Canada’s 40th Parliament, the 2011 federal election will take place on May 2. As part of our election coverage, the Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) will be providing a weekly media monitoring report that provides news stories, resources and event listings that are relevant to the arts and culture sector during this campaign period.

Please note that during the 2011 federal election, the CCA will operate under the Federal Election Rules of Engagement approved by the CCA Board of Governors. These rules reinforce the non-partisan character of the information and other services that the CCA will provide during the campaign.

In this first week, the major political parties disclosed little to no information pertaining to their arts and culture platform. The exception may be the Bloc Québécois, who ran a full page ad in Le Devoir with the slogan Let’s talk culture, a theme which they apparently want to weave in their campaign. The Liberal Party will also be launching its platform online this Sunday, April 3 at 11 am EDT during a town hall. Party leader Michael Ignatieff will take questions live. This presents an opportunity to see what the Liberals have to say with regards to arts, culture and heritage.

This week, our digest provides you with a few articles of interest, in addition to resources that will help you stay active during the election period.

Media Monitoring

Free trade
 
Harper promises push to complete free-trade deals with EU, India  

Globe and Mail, March 31, 2011
Steven Chase

Libre-échange: les négociations avec l'UE retardées (available in French only)
La Presse, March 31, 2011
Hugo de Grandpré

C-32-Copyright

Some panic, few weep over the death of Bill C-32
Toronto Star, March 28, 2011
Greg Quill

Demi-vérités (available in French only)
La Presse, March 31 2011
Marc Cassivi

Toolkits

As we have done during past elections, next Tuesday, the CCA will publish its Doorstep Kit of questions to ask local candidates.

The Canadian Arts Coalition is also working on an Arts Vote Toolkit for the cultural sector.

Arts Vote Toolkit

Imagine Canada recently released a useful toolkit to help individuals and organizations involved in the not-for-profit sector engage in the election process.

Imagine Canada’s Election Kit 2011

Social Media

Social media will help you stay on top of the latest news from the election frontlines and communicate with individuals of shared interests. Here are some tips on how to effectively use social media during the election period:

• Follow each political party or their leaders on Twitter:

Bloc Québécois: @BlocQuebecois and @GillesDuceppe

Conservative Party: @PMHarper

Green Party: @CanadianGreens and @ElizabethMay

Liberal Party: @liberal_party and @M_Ignatieff

NDP: @jacklayton

• When you’re tweeting and looking for election related tweets, use the following hashtags: #elxn41, #cdnpoli, #fed2011 and #artsvotecan. If you’re tweeting about a specific political party, you can also use the following hashtags:

Conservative Party: #cpc

Green Party: #gpc

Liberal Party: #lpc

NDP: #ndp

• Follow each party or their leaders on Facebook:

Bloc Québécois

Conservative Party

Green Party

Liberal Party

NDP

How to vote

If you have any questions or concerns about the voting process itself, we encourage you to visit Elections Canada’s website. It includes information on:

• How to vote;

• Finding your electoral district and member of Parliament;

• Backgrounders on the electoral process;

• And more