If you’ve never read “Both My Houses” by Father Sean O’Sullivan (with Rod McQueen), I recommend you get out to the local library and give it a read. It is a wonderful read, with many a hilarious political war tale. Father Sean told some great stories about how John Diefenbaker dealt with the raft of written correspondence he received each day on Parliament Hill. Dief took true pride in this part of his role, particularly following his time as Leader of the P.C. Party. He would spend part of most days reading aloud many of the supportive letters, and ensuring that most got a meaningful response whether they were from fans or foes. And a photo, although who actually signed the black & whites depended upon the day.

In 2013, things are different. The public has many new ways to communicate on matters of public policy. Snail mail still works, but the ease of email and social media have created an entirely new way of interacting with politicians. What would Dief have done — as a man who loved well chosen words — with just 140 characters?

Like many of you (although I’ve got no opinion on the matter), I’ve been watching the dialogue around the April announcement from Porter Airlines. Although this issue is between Bob Deluce’s team and Toronto City Council, about five fierce opponents of the plan have sought me out on Twitter. Most go by fake names associated with animals or marine life: Goats, Sharks and Fish to name three. I asked one why he didn’t use his real name while he was browbeating me, and he said it had something to do with his work; and that I’d understand (as in he works for Adam Vaughan?). He feels very strongly about Porter’s Plans and the Toronto Port Authority’s unrelated May 2012 plans to improve the Toronto Harbour’s Marine Exclusion Zone, and wants his views acted upon despite the anonymous veil.

It made me wonder how John Diefenbaker dealt with a letter from a constituent who wanted his views heard on an important issue but signed the letter “anonymous” and didn’t include a return address. If Father Sean was still alive, he’d know the answer.

The first tweet I came across this morning about Porter’s Plans was written by “Amelia Solesbee”, using the catchy Twitter handle of @Gabrielaqflr, even though @ameliasolesbee hasn’t yet been taken by anyone. Here’s what Amelia had to say:

No Jets #TO hoping council will ground the staff study of Porter airlines expansion next week #TOpoli

Amelia is supporting something called NoJetsTO, which appears to be the new “campaign name” of CommunityAir (or at least they overlap in their particular venn diagram), the group that’s been trying to close the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport over the past few years (see prior representative post “The “horror” of urban noise” Nov. 10-09). No JetsTo has 98 followers, which in the world of Twitter is a start. They include City Hall journalists, local anti-airport politicians (such as Councillor Gord Perks), the Parkdale High Park NDP (see previous), Derek Vanstone (Air Canada exec), and a municipal lawyer who writes and edits the blog over at Community Air (see prior post “Anti-airport lobbyist: ‘I was spectacular’” Dec. 3-10). Interestingly, 3 of the group’s first 6 Twitters followers are part of the core group of five who’ve been sharing their strongly-held anti-Porter Plan views with me directly as Chairman of the Toronto Port Authority, the owner/operator of the profitable and popular Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport.

A proposal to study Porter’s Plans will be discussed by Toronto City Council this week, which is likely why “Amelia Solesbee” started off her day on the “No Jets” topic. Her first Tweet ever! I’m sure Twitter founders Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone and Evan Williams would be delighted that an issue of public policy got Amelia to finally sign up to the Twitterverse, which many of us have been toiling away within since early 2009. Driving the private valuation over $10 billion all the while.

Unfortunately, “Amelia” may not actually exist. As in, it’s not clear that she’s a real Toronto voter herself, despite being able to type the “#TOPoli” handle in her tweet to ensure that reporters, such as Natalie Alcoba, Don Peat and Vanessa Lu see the anti-Porter groundswell, not to mention the City Councillors who track such things. Despite her timely choice for a first topic, she’s only got 5 followers so far, who go by the Twitter handles of: @Teressagous, @Kaleygbdh, @Lorrettarra, @Mikaelaffnst, and @Patricasts. This crowd as a group have generated an aggregate total of 8 Tweets in their collective lifetimes, and appear to be the creation of a website that generates Twitter followers (@Patricasts provides a helpful web link), called Followers Delivery. Followers Delivery has an Upstate New York call centre, and for prices as low as US$20, you too can get some Twitter help in behind your political lobbying campaign.

Now, Amelia needs to improve her algorithm, since “No Jets #TO” won’t work in the Twittersphere. It has to be #NoJetsTo” with the hashtag at the front and no spaces between the characters for it to get picked-up in online Twitter searches. In an effort to be polite, I retweeted her post this morning. Now that I’ve welcomed Amelia to Twitter, let’s see if I can help her get a Twitter follower who isn’t a TwitterBot.

The issues under discussion are important and deserve thoughtful reflection, and there are certainly more myths (often fed to and by elected officials) out there than facts. It’s up to Porter Airlines to make the case, or not. But I’m sure of one thing. For all the buzz and attention that Twitter generates, politicians are far smarter and more saavy than falling for computer-generated Twitter handles spitting out Tweets on any given subject.

MRM
(disclosure: this post, like all blogs, is an Opinion Piece, and as a personal view should not be taken to represent the views of the TPA board, management or the Federal government)