A poll last month found few candiare using on-line tools like Facebook, but voters are using the technology to have their say.
The poll for the Dominion Institute, conducted by Innovative Research Group, showed only nine percent of young respondents had been engaged in the campaign through e-mail, text messaging, Facebook, MySpace or Twitter. 
However, 83 percent of the respondents had a Facebook page and 81 percent had a cell phone. As well, more than a third prefer to receive their election information from the internet.
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The survey was conducted Sept. 10-15 and included 1,000 responses from Canadians aged 18 to 25. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
“Political parties have to do more in this campaign to engage young voters,” said Marc Chalifoux, executive director of the Dominion Institute.
“Yet we found that Canadian political parties have not managed to keep up the pace with wired young Canadians.”
Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are social networking services that allow people to post and share information about themselves and others.
Each of the party leaders has a public page on Facebook, which can be accessed by anyone who has a Facebook account.
NDP leader Jack Layton had the most supporters who signed on to his page, 19,219 as of Sept. 29. They use the page to discuss issues or offer support.
Prime minister Stephen Harper had 15,713 people sign on to his public page, while Liberal leader Stephane Dion had 13,447.
Green party leader Elizabeth May had 3,534 supporters. Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe had 1,528.
Dion, Layton and May use Twitter, sending out short text statements about where they are and what they’re doing.
The Canadian leaders’ use of technology contrasts sharply with the American presidential campaign, particularly Barack Obama’s.
Appropriately titled Obama Everywhere, a list of sites located on his main web page links him to blacks, gays, lesbians and other communities of voters.
While the Canadian leaders aren’t using new media to spread their message, new media users are taking up the challenge.
Facebook users have established several pages for the leaders, the parties and the issues. For example, there is a page devoted to those who support the Liberals’ Green Shift plan. Others are not so complimentary, such as the one referring to Duceppe as an idiot.
Farmers interested in finding a Facebook page for agriculture minister Gerry Ritz won’t find one.
However, pages called Let’s Fire Gerry Ritz, Gerry Ritz Needs to Resign for his Horrible Listeriosis Joke and Fire Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz have been established.
The official agent for Bob Woloshyn, Ritz’s NDP opponent, authorized the Let’s Fire Gerry Ritz site.
A Liberal supporter administers the Gerry Ritz Needs to Resign page.
