ABOUT FEDERAL POLITICS

The Federal Politics area began as an All Candidates Meeting during the
1993 Federal Election. It offered an opportunity for voters and candidates
to exchange views on issues relevant to the election campaign, with the
results of the exchange visible in semi-permanent form to any other person
who may be interested.  The interactivity, and the ability to easily refer
to prior information, are things that other media such as print and
television cannot offer. These characteristics make this new form of
debate particularly attractive. And they continue to make this area
attractive as a place to discuss federal politics between elections.

Before you head for the debate, some explanation of the material offered
in this menu is in order.  We hope that you will take the time to read the
following paragraphs.

First, in any debate some reasonable rules are required to keep the
discussion on track and make it a productive exchange of information and
opinions.  We would ask you to read the material from the second menu
item, "Guidelines for the debate" before entering into the debate.  The
guidelines are not particularly restrictive, and are not intended to
prevent the expression of any reasonable question of opinion.  If everyone
observes the guidelines, the result will be a much better debate, and
everyone will benefit.

There are menu selections for two primary discussion groups; one intended
to address national issues, and one intended to deal with issues more
pertinent to the local Ottawa area.  Please put your questions or comments
into the discussion group most appropriate to the nature of the item.  All
candidates, or their official representatives, are invited to respond to
the postings of voters or other candidates. Please notice that there are
separate menus for municipal and provincial politics - this area should be
used for federal issues only.

The discussion groups are "unmoderated" which means that your contribution
will be posted automatically to the discussion group shortly after you
exit from the discussion.  There is no censorship or filtering of your
direct submissions to the discussion.  Everything will be seen by other
voters, as well as by the candidates, and quite possibly by news
reporters.  So please watch the language you use and keep the "flaming" to
a minimum. 

In addition to the discussion groups, this menu also gives you access to
static information on the each of the Parties at the national level, and
information on each local riding and the candidates running in it.  At
present, there are many gaps in this information.  We invite any party or
candidate to submit any material to Richard Taylor (aa333) which they would
like to have added.  This should, if possible, be submitted via Email or on a
computer diskette in a standard format.  We will also be quite pleased to
give "information provider" status to anyone qualified who wants to
undertake the task of uploading and managing information on behalf of a
particular party or candidate. 

--------------------------
Richard P. Taylor
aa333@freenet.carleton.ca