Code Politics, Ontario Election 2007: Weekly Research for Week Ending Sept. 7, 2007
Youtube Videos on the Party Leaders in Ontario
John Tory
The five most popular videos this week that focus on John Tory are all decidedly negative.
In four days the Youtube video showing John Tory’s “University of Zero” (Uni. of Ottawa) comment topped 5211 views. The clip has the highest view count ever for any video about John Tory. The next most popular video of all time for Tory was uploaded 8 weeks ago, but has only received 3133 views. The video was uploaded by “PoliticalGuise”.
Last week the 2nd most viewed video on John Tory saw 783 views, another “Politicalguise” video that critiques Tory’s economic and budget policies and proposals.
Dalton McGuinty
Unlike Tory, McGuinty had two positive videos, though 84% of the users who watched McGuinty videos chose to view ones critical of the Premier.
The most viewed video for Premier McGuinty (1213 views, uploaded August 30) continues the PCs use of competent and often humorous pop culture parodies, this time using the TV show The Simpson to critique the Liberal’s record of campaign promises. Unlike the Liberals (who are using the Torytube and Politicalguise accounts), we suspect that the Conservatives or their supporters are switching Youtube accounts from week to week.
Howard Hampton
On September 7 the NDP released their first Youtube campaign video/advertisement. Previous to this release the NDP and Howard Hampton have received significantly fewer viewers than either Tory or McGuinty Videos.
“Ontario Election” Videos
This week we began tracking videos that discuss the “Ontario Election” in general and not a specific candidate. The only significant finding for this research was the provincial Green party’s video calling for their inclusion into the debate. After only two days the video saw a significant audience, drawing 542 views.
YouTube Results
John Tory
| Title | Upload Date | Views Last Week | Affiliation | Tone |
| John Tory shows 'Zero Respect' for the University of Ottawa | September 3, 2007 | 5211 | Liberal | Negative |
| Tory's Voodoo Economics | August 31, 2007 | 750 | Liberal | Negative |
| John Tory Platform Costing | July 13, 2007 | 498 | Unknown | Negative |
| Tory Costing, Putting Things in Perspective | August 30, 2007 | 321 | Liberal | Negative |
| We won't be fooled again | June 11, 2007 | 318 | Unknown | Negative |
Dalton Mcguinty
| Title | Upload Date | Views Last Week | Affiliation | Tone |
| The Simpsons Dalton McGuinty | August 30, 2007 | 1112 | Unknown | Negative |
| Dalton McGuinty Music Mix | August 28, 2007 | 444 | Conservative | Negative |
| Dalton McGuinty: Liberals Working | June 17, 2007 | 174 | Unknown | Positive |
| Dalton McGuinty and his...Hand in my pocket no. 6 | February 1, 2007 | 148 | Lobby Group | Negative |
| Opening Canada's largest Hindu Temple | July 24, 2007 | 142 | Liberal | Positive |
Howard Hampton
| Title | Upload Date | Views Last Week | Affiliation | Tone |
| Pop-Up Video - NDP Style | August 1, 2007 | 51 | Unknown | Negative |
| United Steelworkers Rally to Save Hamilton Specialty Bar | April 6, 2007 | 23 | Unknown | Positive |
| Howard Hampton on water in Guelph (4/4) | June 20, 2007 | 21 | NDP | Positive |
| Howard Hampton speaks about Michael Prue | August 27, 2007 | 8 | NDP | Positive |
| Howard Hampton on water in Guelph (3/4) | June 20, 2007 | 5 | NDP | Positive |
Ontario Election
| Title | Upload Date | Views Last Week | Affiliation | Tone |
| LetFran kIn |
September 4, 2007 | 578 | Green Party | Positive |
| Drew Garvie - Ontario Election 07 - CPC Candidate for Guelph | September 4, 2007 | 32 | Communist Party |
Positive |
| Your Big Decision | September 5, 2007 | 23 | Lobby Group | Positive |
| Stuart Ryan - Ontario Election 2007 - Candidate for Ottawa | September 4, 2007 | 19 | Communist Party | Positive |
| Understand the Question - Mechanic | September 5, 2007 | 18 | Lobby Group | Positive |
Blogosphere
For the second straight week the blogosphere has been dominated by discussions and debates on John Tory’s proposal for funding religious schools in the province. In addition to the broader issue, bloggers are also questioning the role of creationism in the classroom.
| Rank | Issue |
| 1 | religious schools |
| 2 | family day |
| 3 | creationism |
| 4 | tory loses |
| 5 | faith based schools |
| 6 | teach creationism |
| 7 | faith based funding |
| 8 | private religious schools |
| 9 | labour day |
| 10 | childcare |
The Green Party of Ontario saw the largest increase in membership on Facebook groups – 225 last week to 508 this week, an 126% increase. Overall though the MMP referendum continues to dominate Facebook groups, with the issue of Female representation starting to resonate (see the group "I say YES to MMP Because More Women Will Be Elected to Queen's Park"). Opponents are however also starting to organize with a "No MMP" facebook group and website (http://www.nommp.ca).
Click the image to open the chart in a new window
