The Facebook Factor in Canadian Politics

Canada has a powerful social media community. According to Michael Geist, we have the second highest per capita usage of Facebook in the world. Our cities are filled with technologists, innovators, and respected media commentators, and many of these organizations and personalities can reach thousands of other “influencers” all across the nation in a very short period of time.

In this landscape, social media is positively affecting Canadian politics, and not just during elections. On Monday Dec 8th 2008 Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced his government would withdraw plans to introduce legislation that would limit young drivers in Ontario to having only one other teenage passenger in the car.

The plan to restrict drivers aged 16 to 19 with a G2 graduated license came under heavy attack from Canada’s youngest demographic (most of them too young to vote) when 150,000 people joined an online protest on Facebook in less than two weeks. This electronic collective must have scared the provincial Liberals silly because unlike other more traditional petitions, online action groups have an active connection to other resources that can help snowball small protests into a much wider revolt.

Jordan Sterling’s “Young Drivers Against New Ontario Laws” Facebook group was the catalyst that helped effectively organize change. When members of the Ontario legislature were inundated with complaints they in turn reported their angst to Premier Dalton McGuinty, and Transportation Minister Jim Bradley who said in a statement reported in the Canadian Press that the 150,000 people who had joined the Facebook protest against the teen driving restrictions clearly had an impact on the government’s thinking. “I got hit with this everywhere,” McGuinty said. “I’m talking about the grocery store, going for walks. You know, every once in a while you step in it.”

Although Jordan Sterling of Cardinal Newman Catholic Secondary School is the creator of the page, he appears reluctant to step forward and become the face of the digital revolution. On Thursday Dec 4th he denied an on camera interview with CSR expert storyteller Billie Mintz in connection with his Message In A Bottle video series and has since allowed a youth marketing company DAMN! to use his digital resources and actualize petitions and protests on their related pages.