The Calgary-based Canada West Foundation has launched a three-year project designed to build a cyber citizenship centre.
If all goes according to plan, said Canada West Foundation president Roger Gibbins, the privately funded centre will help ensure that technology keeps people connected to, and more involved with, political decisions.
“The idea is to see if we can set up a centre for cyber citizenship that would be an ongoing vehicle for political education,” said Gibbins, who is also a University of Calgary political science professor.
“We’re probably a year and a half away from knowing whether we’re able to get into something like that or not.”
The Canada West Foundation bills itself as a non-partisan public policy research group. It has often been credited with influencing government decisions. The foundation will research the costs, and feasibility, of a computer network that provides non-biased political information to its cyber citizens.
“I guess I just think a participatory electorate is a good idea,” said Gibbins. “It helps keep governments on their toes.”
As part of the three-year project, Gibbins is examining how municipal governments use technology for service delivery, marketing and “citizen engagement.”
Meanwhile, Peter McCormick, a University of Lethbridge political science professor, is studying the effects of technology on the recent American presidential and Canadian federal elections.
Most, if not all, Canadian parties used Web sites, e-mail systems and computer databases as campaign and communication tools.
Harold Davenport, campaign manager for Canadian Alliance MP Preston Manning, said Alliance Web sites will feature streaming video and other new technology in the next election.
Pundits, public advocacy organizations and special-interest groups also used the Internet to attack the candidates’ policies. American parties also deployed Web sites prolifically in the closest election in U.S. history.
But Gibbins questions whether technology is creating a new audience or merely feeding political “junkies” who have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge on the candidates.
“The question you posed is really the most critical,” said Gibbins. “Do the technologies open up a new audience or do they serve an audience that’s already saturated?
“What it may be doing is providing enriched information to people who already have a great deal of political interest.”
The U.S. election shows no proof that connectivity increases political participation. Voter turnout in the U.S. is at an all-time low.
“There’s more information out there; it’s richer information,” said Gibbins. “But it’s not leading people to vote in presidential elections.”
Canada has also suffered from increasing voter apathy, demonstrating that Canadians feel like they have been disconnected from Ottawa’s decision-making process.
But Gibbins isn’t convinced that Canadian voter turnout will continue to slide. Voter turnout rates are higher in Canada than the U.S., he said, because the federal government makes it easier for people to vote.
One method? An online voter registry created from income tax returns. “That’s better (than previous registration methods) but it’s far from perfect,” said Gibbins.
The controversial, slowly-tabulated U.S. election has posed serious questions about the advantages of counting votes by hand versus machine. Gibbins said hand counting “becomes a judgment” if the mark on the ballot doesn’t quite look like an “X.”
“The advantage of optical scanning is that it’s not subjective,” said Gibbins. “In some ways, I think it’s a better way of counting the vote, but it’s really going to be put to the test (in the United States).”
Gibbins predicted that Canada, thanks to its smaller population, will stick with hand counting.
“In the Canadian case, the numbers are so small that the vote counting is not a difficult process,” said Gibbins, noting that most constituencies report within 45 minutes after polls close.
The U.S. election has also pointed to the potential benefits of online voting. Gibbins predicted that Canadians will soon cast their ballots online. “We may be a couple of elections away from it, but it seems inevitable to me,” he said. “It’s all tied into this question of security.”
As governments develop their own secure networks, he said, people will become more comfortable with online voting.
“We attach so much importance to that piece of paper with a mark on it,” said Gibbins. “My guess is it may happen a bit sooner in the States.”
