The Province Ian Bailey, The ProvincePublished: Wednesday, April 04, 2007
KELOWNA - A B.C. Interior MP says he has learned the hard way about YouTube's power.Footage of a sometimes-raucous open house Ron Cannan, Conservative MP for Kelowna-Lake Country, held for constituents has been posted on the website."I learned all too clearly this past week that the advent of YouTube, indeed, makes things very challenging for politicians such as myself, particularly when used by those with an opposing agenda to the candidates," he said.The images, shot by a Liberal party member, suggest the meeting in Kelowna turned sour when non-Tories were told they were not allowed, and questions were discouraged.Cameraman Scott Ross also picked up footage of a Cannan volunteer trying to bully him into turning off his camcorder.Ross has packaged the footage with a soundtrack of Bob Dylan's song "Blowin' in the Wind" and newspaper ads suggesting the meeting was to be fully open to the public."When you ask someone to leave an open meeting, that is crossing a line," says Ross, who has been a member of the Liberals for two years.The 23-year-old student at UBC Okanagan has had policy disputes with Cannan, so bought a $600 camcorder and went to the March 31 meeting intending to get Cannan on the record.Observers are predicting the YouTube website that allows the posting of amateur video will play a big role in Canadian politics, especially with a federal election possibly imminent.Liberals and Conservatives have recently posted videos on YouTube attacking each other.Cannan said he spent three hours talking to constituents and had a chat with Ross.Lindsay Meredith, a marketing professor at Simon Fraser University, suggested Cannan's volunteer made a mistake in confronting someone with a camera."Now Cannan is going to catch the flak because it looks like his guys are not the kind of people you want to invite home to mom," said Meredith.You can see the video here.
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