A weekly feature where Western Producer editorial staff respond to readers’ questions, explain what’s behind our news coverage, and comment on issues in journalism.
A story this week tells how federal agriculture minister Ralph Goodale wants proposals about rail car ownership as soon as possible.
“It’s important that I get as much detail as fast as I can get it,” he told reporters.
Perhaps he should be following the lead of his fellow politicians. According to a story last week in the Globe and Mail, the foreign affairs department faces a looming deadline on what it should do with its peacekeeping force in Haiti.
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It decided to use the internet to gain public input.
“Officials have posted a background paper on the Haitian issue on the internet, and are providing an electronic-mail address for people who want to send comments, observations and suggestions,” said the article.
The newspaper explained Canada needed to make a decision soon, and the Internet allowed broad discussion in a time when the House of Commons was in recess.
The article said officials would route the e-mail submissions directly to the officer at the department’s Haitian desk, then work out a system “for passing along the most interesting material” directly to the minister.
The department assures people that the Internet will be used more for consultation but will not replace “more traditional sorts of consultations, such as public forums, parliamentary hearings and face-to-face meetings.”
After all, the majority of Canadians don’t have access to Internet.
But, as the Globe and Mail article concludes, the Internet “helps cut across great geographic distances in short periods” and is suited for Canada “when a crisis or other circumstance cuts the time available for consultation.”
The notion is intriguing. Could farmers, with just a few computer keyboard taps, research then decide the fate of rail cars, vote on farm programs, or access all available studies done on orderly marketing? Time will tell.
