Video: Citizen blogger Gary Pieters

On Saturday, April 16, 2011, I participated in a live segment of Canada Votes on CBC Weekend hosted by Kim Brunhuber. The live on-camera appearance was an awesome opportunity to feature my role as a volunteer citizen blogger on the CBC website 'Your Take' during the campaign.

I was impressed to be asked to appear live in-studio because it is a recognition that the voices of the electorate matter in this election campaign. I discussed my role as a volunteer citizen blogger and its importance to being an engaged electorate. I also discussed the debates and my lament that it focused more on style rather than the substance of the federal parties ideas, policies and programs that matter to accelerating Canada's prosperity and improving the quality of life for all Canadians.

I felt it was important to speak to the issues that matter most during the campaign and to give voice to the issue that has not received much attention during this election - that is, the importance of cities to Canada's prosperity. I shared with the program host that I will be writing about this issue in my next blog entry.

It was an empowering experience in active citizen participation as a subject expert in this election and I appreciated it very much.