Red Deer Public Library created electionforum.ca in 2004 to provide an online space for candidates running in Red Deer's Municipal Election to present their campaign platforms. In its initial form, there was little interaction between candidates and the community at large -- rather, aside from a few questions posed by community members, the site was simply a place to profile each candidate.

In 2007, it was redone on a much grander scale. Instead of simply having space for the candidates to write about and promote their campaigns, we offered the community a chance to write back. The voters of Red Deer were invited to post comments and questions on candidates' blog pages, and the candidates were encouraged to respond. In addition to this, representatives from community organizations presented their unique perspectives on election issues and posed questions for the candidates to respond to, which created many lively discussions between candidates, community representatives, and voters. The results were impressive -- not only did candidates embrace this new opportunity, but the community involvement was remarkable!

This year we want to take it even further. In 2007, blogs and online forums were still a somewhat "new-wave" technology, and electionforum.ca proved to be a learning experience for everyone involved. In 2010, much has changed: blogging and social networking have become the norm, and the online world doesn't seem quite so intimidating. This time, we are focusing on creating even more dialogue between candidates and voters by calling upon the citizens of Red Deer to provide even more input than before. Representitives from various community organizations and other interested persons from around the community will have a chance to submit questions for discussion forums so that we can find out as much as we can about the issues that exist in our city and how those running in this year's election view these issues. We encourage everyone to participate in these forums -- candidates, voters, and community groups.

The ultimate goal of electionforum.ca is to help the voters of Red Deer to make an informed choice as to who they should elect as their representitives for the upcoming election term. This will be your one-stop place for everything related to Red Deer's 2010 Municipal Election.

We have the technology right at our fingertips -- why not make use of it?

More information about electionforum.ca:

Archived Election Forum - take a look at what the site looked like in 2004 and 2007

How to Use this Website - step-by-step information on how to use electionforum.ca

General Guidelines - the general guidelines for posting comments

Terms of Use - the Acceptable Use Policy for appropriate use of electionforum.ca