The unprecedented crisis in Ottawa appears to be making more than just political history. It's also thrusting Canadians into the brave new world of virtual campaigning.
The blogosphere has been in overdrive in the past few days, as bloggers vent their frustrations, misgivings, or thoughts about the fight in Ottawa between the Liberal-NDP opposition coalition and the Conservative government.
Because of the virtual anonymity that the online community provides, some of the blogs give an unadulterated look at how some Canadians feel about the political crisis.
"The current so-called 'Coalition' is nothing short of an attempted peaceful Parliamentary 'Coup d'Etat,'" wrote "Sandie," the blogger behind "crux-of-the-matter.com"
But not all of Sandie's readers agree with her, and they're not afraid to tell her so.
"There is nothing 'unconstitutional' about this either. If you are going to post something, please do your homework first," scolds one of her readers.
Non-bloggers aren't staying out of the virtual fight, either. They've inundated news sites such as CTV.ca with record numbers of comments. The volume of responses highlights what may be the Canadian online political community's coming of age.
The sheer numbers offer a dramatic look at just how pivotal the online community may be in the current political debate.
CTV.ca broke 1000 comments Wednesday for the first time ever on Wednesday, as Conservative Leader Stephen Harper and Liberal Leaders Stephane Dion addressed the nation over the airways.
By contrast, just under 200 comments were posted on September 7, 2008, when the Tories dropped the federal election writ.
But the online community isn't just sitting back and letting their keyboards do all the talking.
Supporters of all the parties are organizing nation-wide events from computer terminals across the country. Conservative online supporters appear to have been the first off the mark, organizing what has been one of the most publicized rallies against the coalition scheduled for this weekend.
"Rallyforcanada.ca" wants "democracy-loving Canadians from coast-to-coast (to) gather to support democracy, not political games in this time of crisis."
A warning on the website, however, highlights the speed with which some in the online community appear to have galvanized -- and just how quickly they can alter strategies and plans.
"Cities and times (of rallies) are tentative. Please check back regularly," it says.
Not to be outdone, supporters of the potential coalition government have also rallied online. Just like "rallyforcanada.ca," an opposing website, "makeparliamentwork.ca," doesn't say who is behind the site. But it does give the locations of a number of rallies its members can attend in cities across the country.
It claims Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government is "committed to trampling workers' rights and women's rights to pay equity." It then urges site visitors to "support a coalition government that will get us through this economic crisis."
And, just in case visitors want to convince skeptical friends to join their cause, the site offers "talking points on the coalition government."
Web surfers also have their choice of online petitions they can sign, both for and against the coalition. The pro-coalition site, Progressivecoalition.ca, had collected more than 22,200 signatures by Wednesday.
At the same time, the "Our Right to Vote on the Coalition Government " petition, which opposes the coalition, claimed to have more than 169,000 signatures. Neither site's signatures, nor numeric claims have been independently verified.
There are also dozens of other pro- or anti-coalition sites on the Web, and Facebook groups are popping up by the hour. Just a cursory survey of the social networking site shows the intense interest in what is happening in Ottawa.
For example, on early Wednesday evening, a Facebook search of:
- "NDP and coalition" turned up 92 groups
- "Conservatives and coalition" found 57 groups
- "Liberals and coalition" discovered 35 groups
