Fleishman Hillard: The Political View

The north side of Fleishman-Hillard’s Ottawa office offers an unobstructed view of one of the most majestic buildings in the world: Centre Block on Parliament Hill.

As I watched the Peace Tower emerge from the fog, yesterday, I was visited by a ghost. The ghost took me to back in time to the re-construction of the Centre Block in 1916. Nobody involved in the project seemed to realize that the house of our federal government would one day be home to kilometre upon kilometre of telephone wire and network cable, and technology including fax machines and email. Voter turnout over the years had been consistent and even flirted with 80% on a few occasions (note that 1916 was the year women secured the right to vote in Canada). Political interest was strong.

On my walk home from work I was visited by a second ghost. This ghost reminded me of some of the work I do and had me consider some statistics I’ve been using lately. Among them, Forrester Research, Inc.‘s Canadian Social Technographics report which looks at various levels of online engagement. The report ranks Canada as the highest among 12 surveyed nations for participation in social networks (57% say they use social networks at least once a month, 6% more than the United States).

During a conference I attended last week, I heard that 39% of surveyed 18-24 year-olds would leave a company if they were not allowed to access applications like Facebook and YouTube. That means access to social media tools has become a competitive advantage for recruiting and employee retention.

National Public Radio in the U.S. reported last month that the number of licensed teenaged drivers is down by millions according to U.S. federal government and insurance company statistics (see Internet May Distract Teens From Learning to Drive). The piece cited social media as one of several reasons teens have replaced and even enhanced the freedom once accorded by cars. Another reason that was cited is great public transit – reinforcing the report isn’t about Ottawa. The notion of telecommuting to work and education has evolved into a trend towards telecommuting to social events.

One final statistic: voter turnout for Canadian federal elections hit its lowest level in history last year when fewer than 60% of us went to the polls (58.8% to be exact).

Why does all of this matter?

The way we engage with each other is changing. The statistics show that our gathering places are increasingly migrating from physical to digital spaces. For generation Y, the so-called millennials who are now in post-secondary education and entering our workforce, online has always been the place to connect and interact.

Canada’s political process is going to become very dependent on digital engagement and I fear the various levels of government and political parties aren’t moving fast enough to reach the younger generation where it already is. If government doesn’t connect with the younger generation and integrate the democratic and political process into their thinking and especially their digital lifestyle, Canada risks losing gen Y and their successors participating and exercising their democratic rights as citizens of Canada.

This brings me to last night when a third ghost visited me. This ghost had me asking a lot of questions. Will Canadians cast their votes using implanted microchips? Will members of Parliamentary committees meet telepathically while sipping daiquiris on the beaches of Baffin Island? Will minority governments be replaced with the consensus model? I’m really vague on the details of the future but a change is a comin’.