Mr. Li never served a day in jail for his crime as he was found “not criminally responsible” (NCR). Now, he is a step closer to being permanently released from hospital without a criminal record and without ever having to check in with a parole officer nor medical professionals to ensure he is taking his medication. The Review Board says if he does not take his medication, this would cause “a deterioration” in Mr. Li’s mental state where he could re-offend but they are powerless to ensure he complies with their suggestion.

The Crown Counsel in Manitoba did not oppose the release request and the Review Board approved Mr. Li being able to walk about, shop and interact with the public – all things Tim McLean loved doing, but will never do again because of Mr. Li. As such the Crown and Review Board in Manitoba have failed to provide an adequate deterrent for such crimes nor protect the public from repeated “relapses” or offenses.

Here in British Columbia, Allan Schoenborn killed my three children. Twice before that awful day in April 2008 he was institutionalized and taking medication to curb his violent behaviour, but decided he did not want to “take his meds”. He then murdered my children, ran and hid in the woods for days, was caught, plead “not criminally responsible” and instead of going to jail, he went to a hospital.

Since Allan was found NCR, he can apply each year for release. In April 2011 he wanted out and the BC Review Board almost granted his request without my even being notified. Thankfully public outcry stopped his release.

This past March, Allan asked for an eight month delay in his Review Board hearing. This means in November 2012 the BC Review Board will consider a similar release as Mr. Li’s or possibly a full release as Allan would like. My family, friends and supporters will be fighting to ensure Allan does not get out where he will surely cause more pain and suffering for innocent people.

I have met with Premier Christy Clark; Shirley Bond, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of British Columbia; and Lyle Hillaby with the Crown Counsel. I have their word that they will oppose ANY release of Allan from custody. They will also be working to have the “not criminally responsible” laws modified and rules surrounding annual review hearings for NCR patients changed.

My family and I look forward to meeting with Rob Nicholson, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada this Summer to gain the same assurances I received from his Provincial counterparts: to change the laws so public safety for all Canadians comes before the freedom of violent offenders.

Darcie Clarke
www.4Darcie.ca

- 30 -

For further inquiries please contact:
Dave Teixeira
Dave.ca Communications Inc.
dave@dave.ca

I share my views on the stock and the future of Facebook. I predict an end of first day trading price of $50+ per share.

Also, here are some articles to help you better understand why this is such a big deal.
Facebook IPO: Final numbers – Facebook IPO Madness: Own a Piece of the Giant Social Network – Facebook’s IPO price: $38 per share – Facebook shares to open for trading – Facebook IPO: Why Your Data Is Worth $93 Billion

UPDATE: Facebook closed at $38.01 – or up 1 cent on the day. As a comparison, Google closed down $25.46 on the day and Apple was down 2 cents.

When being kind, I suggest Government attempts at filmography “lack pizazz” and when I’m hitting the honesty button a little harder I write that folks in Government who take stabs at videos are “soulless hacks with no humour, less common sense and have a modicum of talent”.

But this week something changed.

The British Columbia Government’s Emergency Info BC website has a blog which uses the premise of a zombie attack to educate citizens on being prepared for an emergency.

Now, I am not a big fan of the zombie genre, but I am a huge fan of creativity and this campaign has far more than any other Government attempt.

UPDATE: Listen to the first part of this radio interview I did on CFAX in Victoria:

Is it successful? Well, from an awareness point of view LOTS of media are picking up this unique campaign – Globe & Mail, National Post, CTV, News 1130, Huffington Post, Calgary Herald, etc.

By looking at the Youtube videos views for Emergency Info BC, we can see that in the three months the account has been active they have uploaded 39 videos which have received 4,788 views. Six of those videos are part of the “zombie campaign”, uploaded on May 14th and combined have 1,130 views, or 23.6% of the total channel views. Pretty good compared to past channel performance but not exactly in viral video territory.

UPDATE:

May 16th – the six videos now have 9,382 views and all 39 videos on the channel have 11,665, so the zombie videos have 80.4% of the total views

May 17th – the six videos now have 16,192 views and all 39 videos on the channel have 20,202, so the zombie videos have 80.2% of the total views

May 18th – the six videos now have 19,503 views and all 39 videos on the channel have 23,630, so the zombie videos have 82.5% of the total views

I guess over time we will see if folks take up the Government on their tips to be better preparded for an emergency.

I know Government people love taking advice from me on how they can improve and/or make things better for me. With that in mind, I offer these suggestions:

1) Fade out the music on the videos. The music on the five “silent film” videos ends abruptly mid note leaving one wondering what is happening. Sort of like BC Conservative Leader John Cummins looking at a computer.

2) No social media. No mention in the Youtube descriptions, in the blog, at the end of videos, etc. What’s up with dat? Having a Twitter account from a zombie telling the story of how he is finding folks prepared / not prepared would be humourous and engaging. Sort of like the Twitter account by Ted, the teddy bear from the movie, well, Ted or that “Vice President” from Playstation, Kevin Butler’s Twitter account.

3) There was no real call to action other than “come on, be prepared”. Having a contest where folks submit their own photos / videos outwitting zombies or of their own homemade emergency preparedness kits would have brought this campaign home. Plus, target service groups, youth clubs, high schools, and 30-year-old virgins living in their parent’s basements – you know, folks who think zombies are cool.

4) Spend $11 and get an awesome domain name for a year. As it stands, the domain for the blog is http://www.emergencyinfobc.gov.bc.ca/zombie-preparedness-week-are-you-ready.html – not exactly a solid piece of branding. How about ZombiesAttack.ca or AreYouReadyFortheZombies.ca or TheZombiesAreComing.ca or BCZombies.ca (which, BTW would be a good name for either a band or a political party – your pick)? All those domains (and plenty more) are available as of this writing. Register and then point to your long named blog. Easy and for $11-ish, a cost effective way of “URL branding” the campaign. I made this for you – http://dave.ca/zombies/ – you’re welcome!

5) Finally – amplify! Where are the MLAs from all parties talking about this campaign? With the six videos only receiving 1,130 views there is a serious promotion / hype problem. Using the resources internally (your MLAs and their social media networks) to share the videos and amplify the message will help.

So watch the six videos below and let me know what you think.

Zombie Preparedness Week 2012: The Importance of Preparation

Title

Zombie Preparedness Week 2012: The Importance of Preparation

Runtime

0:55

View count

9,578

Title

Zombie Preparedness Tip No. 1

Runtime

0:33

View count

5,664

Title

Zombie Preparedness Tip No. 2

Runtime

0:39

View count

1,852

Title

Zombie Preparedness Tip No. 3

Runtime

0:33

View count

1,397

Title

Zombie Preparedness Tip No. 4

Runtime

0:38

View count

1,967

Title

Zombie Preparedness Tip No. 5

Runtime

0:30

View count

639

The videos below combine the excitement of people sitting around a table with the action of folks who like talking about MMA.

This is surely gonna be a slobberknocker!

Ok, maybe not…but during the course of five hours over the last two days, the Canadian Senate’s Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee considered Bill S-209, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (prize fights).

This Act will clear up “concerns” that the Criminal Code of Canada under Section 83.2 prohibits MMA. This was never the case, in fact Canadian Heritage Minister, James Moore, appeared before the City of Vancouver in December 2009 to confirm this fact. But still, there were some folks (*cough* unelected political hacks posing as helpful bureaucrats at the City of Vancouver *cough*) who thought it was, so the Federal Government has now decided to make it crystal clear.

Coupled with the news from Monday that in British Columiba, Premier Christy Clark and Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development, Ida Chong will be forming an Athletic Commission, this has been an eventful week in Canada for combat sports.

My take is this Act will pass through the majority led Conservative Senate and House without any problems.

I will have more to say later about the videos below (including some excellent and insightful comments from UFC’s Tom Wright), but until then, check out these action packed Senate hearings!

In the first video from May 9, 2012:
The Honourable Bal Gosal, Minister of State (Sport)
Nada Semaan, Associate Deputy Minister (Canadian Heritage)
Dan Smith, Director Policy and Planning, Sports Canada (Canadian Heritage)
Dr. Teresa DeFreitas, Sports medicine consultant (As an individual)
Ken Hayashi (As an individual)
Patrick Reid, Executive Director (Edmonton Combative Sports Commission)

The second video from May 10, 2012 (or as I say, the main event) features:
Tom Wright, Director of Canadian Operations (Ultimate Fighting Championship)
Rory MacDonald, UFC Welterweight Fighter (Ultimate Fighting Championship)
Dr. Samuel Gutman, President and Chief Medical Officer (Rockdoc Consulting Inc.)
Ryan Leef, M.P., Yukon

After years of working with various stakeholders including Athletic Commissions, all levels of Governments, media, fans, combat sports companies, etc this is a welcomed move.

In October 2010 I said in a 24 Hours interview: “I think it’s [the formation of a Provincial Athletic Commission] going to happen within two years. Promoters want to be professional, and to do it they have to pay the taxes, fees and have protection from the government.”

This Legislation replaces local commissions with a single Provincial body; ensures participant safety is paramount; codifies and unifies the rules of the sports; and has consistency with fees, taxes, etc.

A Provincial Athletic Commission under the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development will allow large scale MMA organizations like Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to work with a professionally run Commission who are not held to the moral whims of unelected staffers (*cough* City of Vancouver *cough*).

STORY CONTINUES TO DEVELOP – UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE DAY

Read BILL 50 — 2012 ATHLETIC COMMISSIONER ACT

Dave Teixeira Discusses Bill 50 with The Score’s Mauro Ranallo

UFC’s Marc Ratner Discusses Bill 50 (and more!) with The Score’s Mauro Ranallo

From the Vancouver Sun:

Vancouver Athletic Commission member and lawyer Jonathan Tweedale is happy the province has stepped up.

“It’s been a long time coming,” he told me. “This is a great development for MMA in the province. The ones who will benefit the most will be the fighters themselves, who will be protected by better (and more consistent) regulation.”

Comm. Svcs Min @Ida_Chong says new Prov. Athletic Commish to oversee boxing/MMA will be paid thru fees charged to industry, not gov. #bcpoli

May 7, 2012 4:17 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@CKNW

CKNW

Looking at the figures from the first two events held in Vancouver, UFC 115 had a reported gate of $4.2 million and UFC 131 did $2.8 million. So 5% of would be $210,000 and $140,000 respectively. Plus the various fees for the event, licenses, etc. Now…imagine a HUGE event at BC Place and those figure would be two to three times higher.

Copy of News Release from the Government of BC:

Athletic Commissioner Act introduced in the House

VICTORIA – The Province is taking steps to establish a Provincial Athletic Commissioner, who would regulate and supervise professional contests such as boxing, kick-boxing and mixed martial arts.

Community, Sport and Cultural Development Minister Ida Chong introduced Bill 50 – Athletic Commissioner Act – in the legislature today

The proposed act would establish a consistent framework to oversee the conduct of these professional events throughout the province. This legislation would not apply to amateur contests.

The commissioner’s primary focus would be to ensure the safety of competitors and officials.

If local governments do not want such contests to take place in their communities, they would be able to prohibit these events by passing a bylaw.

Quotes:

Ida Chong, Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development –

“The benefit of having a provincial athletic commissioner would be that every professional contest would be subject to the same rules and regulations, whether it was being held in Vancouver, Nanaimo or Vernon.”

“Since sports such as kick-boxing and mixed martial arts are very popular and are taking place without a consistent regulatory framework, it makes sense to be proactive about creating this position to increase the safety of athletes and officials, as well as to provide certainty for communities and the industry.”

Quick Facts:

• The role of the commissioner would be to oversee the conduct of professional contests such as boxing, kick-boxing and mixed martial arts throughout the province, with a key focus on the safety of competitors and officials.

• The key duties of the commissioner would be to:
  • Ensure a consistent standard of qualifications and safety protocols for all participants and officials through a uniform licensing and permitting framework.
  • Ensure compliance with the proposed act and its regulations, through the use of suspension or cancellation of licences and event permits, as well as administrative penalties.

• The Community Charter and the Vancouver Charter now provide for the establishment of local athletic commissions to authorize public events. Such athletic commissions may regulate professional boxing and similar activities, contests and exhibitions.

• At least nine B.C. municipalities currently have athletic commissions. If the Province establishes an athletic commissioner, both the Community Charter and Vancouver Charter will be amended to remove the authority to create local commissions.

You see, the winning overtime goal was scored by Washtington Capitals player Joel Ward.

Check out the goal in the video below along with the AWESOME play-by-play call:

Of the near 1,000 players on 30 NHL teams, Ward is one of roughly twenty black players. This annoyed a number of Bruins’ fans who then took to social media (mostly Twitter) to decry “that nigger” scoring the winning goal.

Yep, racist fans put their comments in a public forum, attaching their names, images and contact information to thoughtless, ignorant, racist comments. When will people learn that comments and actions posted online are there FOREVER to be viewed and shared by all? Even if up on the ‘Net for a second, one’s stupidity can be immortalized for all time.

Curious how schools, organizations, employers and/or future employers of these racists will react to seeing such posts online.

As of this writing, the Bruins have not made any comment on this negative turn of events. They should. The Team, or at least members of the Team, have no problem wading into political firestorms. Remember last year when Boston goalie Tim Thomas boycotted visiting the White House with his Team after winning the Stanley Cup because he was protesting “excessive government”? Would be nice to see Thomas speak out against the fans’ excessive stupid and racist comments.

UPDATE: At 1:29pm Boston time, the Bruins issued the following:

The Bruins are very disappointed by the racist comments that were made following the game last night. These classless, ignorant views are in no way a reflection of anyone associated with the Bruins organization.

Below are a collection of the racist Tweets which are certainly not safe for work (NSFW).

As was to be expected, media tripped over themselves to speak with me. My advanced insights into election results, Twitter and Facebook coupled with my modesty, were needed to help pundits make sense of this crazy world we live in.

Yes, everyone loved me. Well, almost everyone.

It seems CKNW’s own Legislative Bureau Chief, Sean “What do you mean (hic) it’s last call?!” Leslie was not impressed. In fact he Tweeted the following:

Broken clocks... “@davedotca: Pollsters got it wrong. Social media and Dave.ca were so totally 100% right. You must be proud to know me.”

April 24, 2012 4:02 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@seanleslie980

Sean Leslie

Yes, Mr. Leslie was suggesting that my awesomeness in predicting the recent Alberta, BC byelections and Mayoral races in Port Moody, Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam using social media stats is akin to luck or happenstance. Hence his suggestion that a broken clock is right twice a day.

So let’s look at that and compare the stats.

I have used social media to predict the order – not just who will win, but the ORDER the candidates will finish. I did this in five elections, held on three days involving nineteen Candidates for 100% accuracy.

Mr. Leslie’s “clock is right twice a day” method of success first off counts on the clock NOT being digital (@#$%’n Luddite) and not being a 24 hour type of clock (showing 11pm as opposed to 23:00hrs). Ok fine.

So, assuming Mr. Leslie’s old broken clock displays the time of 10:11:12 (10:11am and 12 seconds) this means that clock is correct twice a day or .0023% of the time (clock correct for 2 of the 86,000 seconds in a day).

I define success as 100% – Sean, as .0023%. I also define success as writing a blog piece while on a long conference call.

Now I ask you, who would you rather have as your latex salesman?

There is even a theory that the candidate with the most Facebook followers or Likes will win. In November 2011 three mayoral Candidates who I supported and assisted all won and all had the greatest number of Facebook followers versus their opponents.

Last week in British Columbia there were two Provincial byelections  to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs).  My study on Facebook Likes from those BC byelections not only told who would win, but who would place second, third and even fourth!

Curious, ain’t it?

So as we have seen from my extensive examples above, social media can elect a President, a couple of MLAs and a bunch of Mayors…but how about the results from an entire election in Alberta? Can the social media prowess of Party Leaders determine who will run an entire province?

Thankfully last night we had a General Election in Alberta so we can test out some social media theories.

While there were ten different Parties running in the election, I focused on the Leaders of just four main Parties. I did this in order to ensure the data would be carefully collected, analyzed and displayed for the you – my loyal readers – to digest in a timely manner. Totally has nothing to do with my not being interested in spending time researching fringe Parties in a Province where I do not even live. Nope, this was all about helping YOU out. You’re welcome.

With that in mind, the four Leaders and Parties as subjects in this piece are: Brian Mason – NDP; Alison Redford – Progressive Conservatives; Raj Sherman – Liberals; and Danielle Smith – Wildrose.

So here is my methodology (which is Latin for “stuff I did to collect the data you are about to read”): At 4pm Sunday (the day before the election) I wrote down most of the numbers you will see in the charts at the bottom of the post from the candidate’s Facebook, Twitter and Klout sites. I also used Topsy to get some of the cumulative figures over the 30 days leading up to yesterday. The election results were recorded AFTER the election. The goal here is to see if Facebook Likes or the number of Twitter followers by the Leaders of the Parties determine the overall Alberta election results. Hope you were able to follow my awesome research techniques.

FINDINGS

It appears the outcome of this election comfirms that yes indeed, the number of Twitter followers “predicted” not only the winners, but the second, third and fourth place finishers with 100% accuracy. (1st PC; 2nd Wildrose; 3rd Liberals; and 4th NDP)

All the other social media measures had Wildrose dominating – including three times the Facebook Likes than the next closest Party – but that was not the case when the ballots were counted.

CONCLUSIONS

Social media is a valuable tool in recruiting, engaging and activating volunteers, supporters and voters. It seems the more Twitter followers a Party Leader receives in Alberta is indicative of the final voting results for Party. Therefore campaigns must have a thoughtful, Team based social media stratedgy in place which is used well before the election is announced and of course during the election period. Campaigns still fail to engage on social media and while more difficult to quantify, anecdotal evidence indicates that even though engagement was poor, the rankings in that area would be the same for the above candidates as the final voting results.

Since the parties placed in the same order (1st PC; 2nd Wildrose; 3rd Liberals; and 4th NDP) as Twitter followers, this may highlight the differences between the parties on the importance of social media in their election / communications / engagement planning.

Social media so totally and obviously leads the way in electing our Leaders, however those same leaders point to other factors as noted in these two news pieces: Smith blames controversial remarks, strategic voting for Alberta loss and How Alberta PCs pulled off a win. This continued failure to integrate social media into the success of a campaign will limit a Party’s growth. #DaveLogic

So what do you think? Is the “Facebook Likes / Twitter followers equals final results” just a coincidence? Or is it an obvious measure of a candidate’s popularity which translates into votes? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

2012 Alberta Election - the Leaders

NOTE: Clicking on the orange links in the chart above will take you to the Leaders’ Facebook or Twitter pages.

Bitdefender and Kaspersky produce some of the best anti-virus software around. The two manufacturers have produced their own respective product lines of similar software that has its own special charm. Many people go with Bitdefender because they’re products are a lot cheaper than the Kaspersky offerings. The Kaspersky fans don’t care how much the product costs. All they want is anti-virus software that will help their computer recover from any infection that comes its way. Money should be no object when you’re trying to bring your computer back from the edge of destructions. Other manufacturers are coming out with stellar anti-virus offerings, but their efforts will never amount to Bitdefender or Kaspersky. You might end up purchasing the major products or the lesser known brands. It all depends on what your computer needs and the nature of the infection.

Dell has their own line of servers that need their own special kind of protection. You spend a lot of money on these machines, so it’s important for you to keep them secure. Dell servers often feed into the computers throughout your network. If one machine is infection, the server will start feeling the damage right away and every other machine in the network will get infected. You have to watch the machines in your network to make sure none of them get infected. As long as you have a quality firewall to protect your Dell servers, you should be able to get away with not micromanaging the process with each individual computer. Any changes you make to your server should reflect throughout the network.

A quality anti-virus program will protect your system from everything that might come at it, not just viruses themselves. A well-rounded defense is your best bet to counteract the constant onslaught of viruses and spyware coming at us on a daily basis. When your computer starts to show signs that it’s infection, don’t start freaking out and heading to your local consumer electronics store to buy a new one. Anti-virus software has all the tools you need to bring your machine back from the brink of destruction. You should focus more on preventing infections from causing true damage rather than waiting for something terrible to happen. Everyone thinks they’re the one that will avoid getting infected. They need to start thinking differently.

Pretty much all of my bass playing style came directly from The Ramones. Fast 4/4 time rhythms, low tone three to four notes tops. Simplistic, repetitive, strong bass playing at its best. PLUS I could often drink while playing, using the neck of a beer bottle on the frets then open notes to drink.

The album’s lead off song, “Blitzkrieg Bop”, still stands as a classic tune from the band and the opening lyrics serve as the band’s battle cry, “Hey! Ho! Let’s Go!”. I dare you to not rock out too this song.

The songs tell tales of failed relationships, heading out to a punk show, thoughts of revenge, hanging out with friends and other standard adolescent (my definition being ages 13 to 50) themes…but played REALLY fast. Perfect song therapy!

Ramones still stands the test of time but cover versions by Rob Zombie, The Beautiful South, Jason Mraz, Screeching Weasel (my favourite of all the covers), Bruce Springsteen, Green Day, Pennywise, Kiss, U2 and many others offer some interesting takes on these classic tunes.

For your listening pleasure, below are the 14 songs (as found on Youtube)in the order as they appeared on the Ramones’ debut album. Happy Birthday!

Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop

Title

Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop

Runtime

2:14

View count

236,965

Title

Ramones - Beat on the Brat

Runtime

2:33

View count

269,271

Title

Ramones - Judy Is A Punk

Runtime

1:33

View count

232,446

Title

Ramones - I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend

Runtime

2:25

View count

587,806

Title

Ramones - Chain Saw

Runtime

1:57

View count

55,815

Title

Ramones - Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue

Runtime

1:37

View count

214,907

Title

Ramones I Don't Wanna Go Down To The Basement

Runtime

2:41

View count

101,463

Title

Ramones - Loudmouth

Runtime

2:16

View count

64,278

Title

Ramones - Havana Affair

Runtime

1:58

View count

172,898

Title

Ramones - Listen To My Heart

Runtime

1:59

View count

128,846

Title

Ramones - 53rd & 3rd

Runtime

2:22

View count

165,090

Title

Ramones - Let's Dance

Runtime

1:53

View count

106,085

Title

Ramones - I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You

Runtime

1:44

View count

69,688

Title

Ramones - Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World

Runtime

2:18

View count

245,886

There is even a theory that the candidate with the most Facebook followers or Likes will win. In November 2011 three mayoral Candidates who I supported and assisted all won and all had the greatest number of Facebook followers versus their opponents.

Curious, ain’t it?

So as we have seen from my extensive examples above, social media can elect a President and a bunch of Mayors…but how about British Columbia Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) in a byelection? Can future MLAs feel the magic that is social media?

Thankfully last night we had two byelections in BC so we can test out some social media theories.

Our candidates from Port Moody-Coquitlam were Joe Trasolini – NDP; Christine Clarke – BC Conservatives and Dennis Marsden – BC Liberals.

For Chilliwack-Hope we had Gwen O’Mahony – NDP; John Martin – BC Conservatives; Laurie Throness – BC Liberals and Lewis Clarke Dahlby – Libertarian. NOTE: since Dahlby did not have a social media presence, he was left out of this study.

So here is my methodology (which is Latin for “stuff I did to collect the data you are about to read”): At 5pm Wednesday (the day before the election) I wrote down most of the numbers you will see in the charts at the bottom of the post from the candidate’s Facebook, Twitter and Klout sites. I also used Topsy to get some of the cumulative figures over the 30 days leading up to yesterday. The election results were recorded AFTER the election. Hope you were able to follow my awesome research techniques.

FINDINGS

The voting results for both Chilliwack-Hope and Port Moody-Coquitlam show that yes indeed, the number of Facebook followers “predicted” not only the winners, but the second, third and fourth place finishers with 100% accuracy.

In Chilliwack, the candidates’ voting results mirrored all but one of the measured social media areas.

In Port Moody the social media measurements were not across the board reflective of the voting results but the third place finisher in votes always finished third with social media. Also the second place finisher dominated with Twitter followers but that result did not mirror the number of votes he received.

Both elections saw the parties finish in the same order: 1st NDP; 2nd BC Liberals and 3rd BC Conservatives.

CONCLUSIONS

Social media is a valuable tool in recruiting, engaging and activating volunteers, supporters and voters. It seems the more Facebook “Likes” a candidate receives is indicative of the final voting results. Therefore campaigns must have a thoughtful, Team based social media stratedgy in place which is used well before the election is announced and of course during the election period. Campaigns still fail to engage on social media and while more difficult to quantify, anecdotal evidence indicates that even though engagement was poor, the rankings in that area would be the same for the above candidates as the final voting results.

Since the parties placed in the same order in both elections (1st NDP; 2nd BC Liberals and 3rd BC Conservatives) and with Facebook “Likes”, this may highlight the differences between the parties on the importance of social media in their election / communications / engagement planning.

So what do you think? Is the “Facebook Likes equals final results” just a coincidence? Or is it an obvious measure of a candidate’s popularity which translates into votes? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Port Moody Byelection

Chilliwack Byelection

Joe Trasolini (NDP), Christine Clarke (BC Conservatives) and Dennis Marsden (Liberal) took part in the all-candidates meeting for on April 11th just as the Vancouver Canucks took to the ice for game one of their playoff series against the LA Kings.

I will save my written commentary (mostly because I am too busy to write it) and say watch below for 1) the response to my question on having an Athletic Commission in BC to regulate Mixed Marital Arts (MMA) SPOILER: Trasolini believes MMA means the participants must KILL each other to win; 2) my question on the candidate’s favourite social media platform SPOLIER: Trasloini says it is “Tweeter” and 3) the complete near two hour debate is here for your viewing pleasure.

Voting day is April 19th.

Until then be happy and dance to these awesome fan created songs and videos in support of the their team who have won 13 few Stanley Cups than GOD’S TEAM, the Toronto Maple Leafs.

But first, I have to say how talented folks are in creating these videos and having them shown to the masses! A video to the tune of Bruno Mars’ “Lazy Song” has over 5 million view; another to Rebecca Black’s “Friday” has over half a million views; Canuck Libre, a guy running half naked in a wrestling mask is starting to get noticed and so many more videos are waiting to be discovered.

As I have said before, I love how Youtube and the Internet level the playing field in having your creative product get exposed to the masses. The creativity is amazing and I enjoy finding the next new thing.

Are there other Canuck related videos I should add to the list below? Which one is your favourite?

Golf Canucks Golf! Er, I mean, Go Canucks Go!

CANUCKS PLAYOFF SONG (Gotye - Somebody That I Used to Know PARODY)

Title

CANUCKS PLAYOFF SONG (Gotye - Somebody That I Used to Know PARODY)

Runtime

4:31

View count

454,067

Title

CANUCK LIBRE

Runtime

2:40

View count

3,119

Title

New Canucks Song by Parm Dhaliwal

Runtime

3:27

View count

432

Title

Rebecca Black - Friday - RKB Productions Parody - Game Day (NOW ON iTUNES!)

Runtime

3:54

View count

504,072

Title

HEART OF A CANUCK (Shift by Shift)

Runtime

3:16

View count

1,627

Title

Dynamite - Taio Cruz - "Our Time Is Now" - RKB Productions Vancouver Canucks Parody

Runtime

3:57

View count

188,420

Title

Canucks Stanley Cup Finals Song - Lazy Song Parody

Runtime

3:23

View count

5,360,660

Title

Sony Dhugga "Canucks Waleyan Ne" Bhangra Tribute Song (OFFICIAL)

Runtime

3:34

View count

73,408

Title

We Are Canucks 2011 Play Off Song - David Blair

Runtime

2:33

View count

61,327

Title

Canucks Fan Song 2012 - We Love Our Home Team

Runtime

3:25

View count

2,537

Title

Vancouver Canucks Polka SONG.mov

Runtime

2:09

View count

5,281

Title

Flying High - Rock 101 Music Video

Runtime

2:45

View count

15,303

Title

Vancouver Canucks Party Song - 2012 playoffs!

Runtime

2:15

View count

14,793

Title

Vancouver Canucks Song Ice Ice Hockey Music Parody Hockey NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs gifted losers

Runtime

3:44

View count

13,796

Title

Vancouver Canucks WIN Song 2011-12 (Full Song)

Runtime

3:07

View count

2,802

Title

Grand Daddy P feat The Green Men - Towel Power (2011 Canucks Playoff Song)

Runtime

3:23

View count

83,048

Title

Katy Perry - Teenage Dream - RKB Productions Parody - "We're Back"

Runtime

4:11

View count

16,776