Garth Turner's MPtv

There is one less Conservative MP in the Canadian House of Commons today. Garth Turner has been kicked out of his party because he expressed a little too well his views on climate change on his blog. So that’s the news reported by the media. Pretty good reason to go see his website in my opinion. So I did, and was really surprised by what I found.

On the front page, standing before his first weblog entry is a video of him explaining the events from his point of view, a video recorded a couple of hours before. Just below I found the weblog entry explaining the same thing in text form. After that there is a section saying he represents the voters of the Halton electoral constituency, west of Toronto, followed by a section devoted to web accessibility. Web accessibility!? Wow! I never thought I’d see that explained on an MP website one day. Impressing.

By searching a little deeper on the site, I found a section called MPtv Webcasts, from which came the video on the front page. By going there — videos are always fun! — I see a list of previous videos, and in the list the video from yesterday: “Interview with Elizabeth May, Leader of Green Party”. That interview was truly interesting.

I’m both surprised and impressed when I see what Garth has accomplished with his website. He is reporting on things that happens in Ottawa to the citizens he represents and to everyone else, not only his views but also those of others MPs, parties, and citizens. And, until today, he did all this under the nose of the most control-freak party in Ottawa.

Bravo Garth! I can only dream of seeing my own MP doing all this. And good luck as an independent.