Category: Doug Elniski

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Doug Elniski Social Media

books, magazines, and twitter.

I’ve spent the past couple of days having a enjoyable time teaching the basics of social media to members of the book and magazine publishing communities in Edmonton and Calgary. I was impressed at how eager the members of this creative sector are to learn more about social media and online engagement. Most of the participants were already familiar with blogs and social networks like Facebook and YouTube, but many were less familiar with Twitter (even though most had heard about it).

While the publishers and writers naturally maintained a healthy dose of skepticism at the 140-character hyper-blogging network, the participants in the workshops were open minded and curious about Twitter, especially in light of the Iranian election, Doug Elniski, and Bill 44.

My time spent with these community members also allowed me to learn some of the more fascinating details about the saga of the Google Book Settlement.


When I returned to Edmonton yesterday, I was surprised to read blog posts by both Walter Schwabe (@fusedlogic) and Mack Male (@mastermaq) in response to 630CHED host Lesley Primeau’s negative comments about Twitter. I was a little confused by Primeau’s reaction, as I would have thought that her role as a radio host for a station that largely depends on listener interaction (aka callers) would be naturally interested in learning more about social media.

On the political front, DJ Kelly has written a solid blog post about the potential Elniski Effect on elected officials who use Twitter and social media. DJ raises some good questions, including whether the incident will cause political parties to discourage or increase their controls on how elected members interact with citizens online. As Alberta’s governing partisans haven’t reacted well to online social media in the past, I hope that Elniski’s tasteless comment leads to an increased mature and commonsensical approach to social media, rather than a retreat from the medium (until the party spin masters need to launch their new websites in preparation for the next election in three years).

Related link: Alberta Politics Online.

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Doug Elniski

i’m pretty sure that even don draper would find this offensive.

I really didn’t want to write on this topic. It pains me that in the year 2009, I am actually writing about this.

Edmonton-Calder MLA Doug Elniski (@elniskimla) gained some unflattering notoriety today after Edmonton-Strathcona MLA Rachel Notley made public a speech that the PC backbencher posted on his now defunct blog. In the speech, which was apparently delivered to a Junior High graduating class, Elniski sounded like an MLA from a previous era as gave some pretty tasteless advice to the young women in the audience:

‘Ladies, always smile when you walk into a room, there is nothing a man wants less than a woman scowling because he thinks he is going to get shit for something and has no idea what. Men are attracted to smiles, so smile don’t give me that “treated equal” stuff, if you want equal it comes in little packages at Starbucks.’

I am not going to write any more on this, as I think Elniski’s comment speaks for itself.

As I wrote in a previous post on the topic of social media and politicians in Alberta, it becomes mistakes like these that make it increasing difficult when trying to convince traditional old-school political thinkers of the important role that these online tools and social networks play in the 21st century. Our elected officials need to exercise some common sense and maturity if they are serious about employing online social networks in an atmosphere of positive engagement with citizens.

*The title credit goes to the Chief of Staff to the President of Daveberta, a frequenter of this blog’s comment section.

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Ben Henderson Don Iveson Doug Elniski Fred Horne Heather Klimchuk Kevin Taft Laurie Blakeman Linda Duncan Rachel Notley

photo post: edmonton pride parade 2009.


City Councillors Don Iveson and Ben Henderson show off their tricycle-made-for-two.

Edmonton-Centre MLA Laurie Blakeman and Edmonton-Riverview MLA Kevin Taft.

Edmonton-Strathcona MP Linda Duncan and MLA Rachel Notley.

Edmonton-Calder MLA Doug Elniski, Edmonton-Rutherford MLA Fred Horne, and Edmonton-Glenora MLA Heather Klimchuk were the first PC MLAs to ever participate in Edmonton’s Pride Parade. Klimchuk was given a unique initiation at the Pride festivities:

Edmonton Pride Parade revellers waved rainbow flags Saturday afternoon as they booed and yelled “shame” at Edmonton-Glenora MLA Heather Klimchuk, the first government minister to participate in the annual celebration.

As the Service Alberta minister spoke to a crowd of thousands at Sir Winston Churchill Square, the shouts were louder than she was.

The boos were in response to the provincial government’s passage of Bill 44 nearly two weeks ago. The bill made controversial changes to Alberta’s Human Rights Act by giving parents the right to take their children out of classes dealing with sexual orientation, human sexuality and religion.

Critics argued the new law put teachers in danger of facing human rights complaints and created a second tier of rights.

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Bridget Pastoor Carl Benito Doug Elniski Evan Berger Genia Leskiw Jonathan Denis Leccinum boreale Neil Brown Rachel Notley

this mushroom better be on our new licence plates.


Ladies and Gentlemen, MLA Carl Benito, representing the simple people of Edmonton-Mill Woods, introduced Motion 502 on the floor of the Legislative Assembly yesterday:

Be it resolved that the Legislative Assembly urge the government to introduce amendments to the Emblems of Alberta Act to designate Leccinum boreale, also known as northern roughstem or red cap, as the official mushroom of Alberta.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It is my pleasure to rise and introduce Motion 502. I acknowledge that there are pressing economic issues that currently exist; however, this motion is important to my constituents and 2,500 Albertans who have chosen this mushroom to be designated as Alberta’s provincial mushroom emblem.

MLAs rising to speak to the motion included Neil Brown, Rachel Notley, Jonathan Denis, Genia Leskiw, Doug Elniski, Evan Berger, and Bridget Pastoor.

It passed.

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Dave Hancock Dave Taylor Doug Elniski Doug Griffiths Jonathan Denis Kent Hehr Kyle Fawcett

political conversations thriving on twitter and blogs.

This week’s FFWD Weekly has two interesting articles covering online social media in Alberta.

Alberta political conversation thrives on Twitter by Jeremy Klaszus covers some of the interesting political debates happening on Twitter. In a recent trend that has taken the Wild Rose province by storm, Twitter users from across Alberta have been “live-tweeting” commentary of the Alberta Legislature’s daily Question Period. You can follow the live commentary by searching for the hash-tag #ABLeg using Twitter Search.

Alberta MLAs on Twitter include Doug Griffiths, Jonathan Denis, Doug Elniski, Kyle Fawcett, Dave Hancock, Kent Hehr, and Dave Taylor.

The Rise of Political Blogs by Trevor Scott Howell gives some good insight into the state of political blogs in Alberta, and includes interviews with bloggers Ken Chapman, David Climenhaga, Enlightened Savage, a member of the AGRDT crew, and yours truly.

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