TVC22 organized and broadcasted live and uploaded on their media a political debate between the provincial candidates for the provincial elections on February 27. Since there wasn't any other debate for the candidates of the Glengarry-Prescott-Russell area in front of a public, we had the exclusivity on the matter and the public was very thankful of our initiative to hold a debate. We even held and uploaded the debate before the anticipation round of votes was open, so everyone could have been well informed well in advance. It also started a conversation about the presence of the different candidates at the debate since the returning deputy and conservative representative; Stéphane Sarrazin, did not attend the debate even tough he had done many interviews with us in the past. This was a clear disparity between the openness of the different parties to participate in diplomatic conversations before an election. This important detail was highlighted by a comment on our live broadcast, which said : "A free and democratic government has a responsibility to ensure the well-being of its citizens by guaranteeing quality public services. [...] Rather than meet these challenges with courage and transparency, this government prefers to avoid debate and accountability. [...] Faced with these major challenges, does the absence of concrete solutions and the avoidance of discussion reflect an inability to govern effectively?" Our program Political Progress will give us an opportunity to ask the returning deputy why conservative representatives were not present during debates across Ontario at an important time and place for democracy.
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About LJI
LJI Impact is the section of commediaportal.ca where the journalists and their organizations participating in CACTUS' Local Journalism Initiative can share their greatest successes.
Through the written stories, photos and videos you see in the LJI Impact section, you'll be able to read first hand accounts about how the presence of a community journalist is making a difference in communities across Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative and the Community Media Portal.
The Community Media Portal is a gateway to the audio-visual media created by community media centres across Canada. These include traditional community TV and radio stations, as well as online and new media production centres.
Community media are not-for-profit production hubs owned and operated by the communities they serve, established both to provide local content and reflection for their communities, as well as media training and access for ordinary citizens to the latest tools of media production, whether traditional TV and radio, social and online media, virtual reality, augmented reality or video games.
The Community Media Portal has been funded by the Local Journalism Initiative (the LJI) of the Department of Canadian Heritage, and administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) in association with the Fédération des télévisions communautaires autonomes du Québec (the Fédération). Under the LJI, over 100 journalists have been placed in underserved communities and asked to produce civic content that underpins Canadian democratic life.
