Stephen Harper hopes to go viral this morning. His response to last week’s Throne Speech was streamed on YouTube.
Next week he will sit down and answer questions related to the speech – questions that popped up from viewers watching his reply on YouTube. That exchange will be broadcast next Tuesday evening.
You can submit questions at www.youtube.com/talkcanada.
This was the first time that a Canadian prime minister’s speech appeared via the online video service and only the second time a head of government anywhere has tried to reach out to the public this way. (U.S. President Barack Obama did something similar after his State of the Union Address in January.)
Dimitri Soudas, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman, says “YouTube offers that opportunity for even more Canadians, young or older, from their home, office or wherever they may be, to watch the Prime Minister's speech.”
“… So many Canadians get their news on the World Wide Web. Whether going on globeandmail.ca or other so many other web sites,” he says.
The other advantage for the PMO – which is always struggling to control its message – is that this speech will be broadcast unfiltered. Watching on their computers at offices or schools or in their homes, Canadians won’t be seeing it along with commentary from political pundits.
But this wasn’t the PMO’s idea. Wendy Rozeluk of Google Canada says they reached out to the Prime Minister's Office.
“And they were receptive to the opportunity to reach out to Canadians online, realizing that many people get their news online, and also saw this as an opportunity to reach out to young Canadians,” she said.
No specific target number is in mind. But as soon as news went out about his speech, she says, Canadians began to post questions.
“Video consumption in Canada continues to grow, in fact, according to third party studies, when looking at YouTube reach Canada ranks No. 1 in the world as far as a percentage of the population,” she said.
In his speech today, the Prime Minister touched on the points his government made in last week’s 6,000-word Throne Speech. The result of six-week prorogation of Parliament to “recalibrate” his agenda, it emphasized job creation, tightening up government spending and the second year of the economic stimulus program.
(File photo: Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press)
