Getting to know the Liberal nomination candidates for Ottawa Centre

Of the new pieces I have online today, the big one is the two interviews that I did with the Liberal candidates for the Ottawa Centre nomination race. I enjoyed speaking to both candidates, and this continues what I think more local political coverage should focus on - the grassroots involvement, right down to who the nominees are and what they stand for. The questions for these interviews were chosen in large part by my editors, and they will again be used when we interview the Conservative nomination candidates in the next few weeks.

That said, one of the candidates, Scott Bradley, said something fairly profound, I thought.

"When people put $10 on the line, they themselves are passionate," Bradley says. "They have an investment in you, the candidate, and you can't let them down, you have to keep working hard. They're looking for that personal connection to politics as well, and when you can provide it to them, they're going to respond favourably and positively, and come out and support you."

This is precisely the kind of thing that I've been talking about - creating a personal connection to politics for people. That's the way that we should be engaging them, and it's something that I plan to continue carrying out.

My only regret with this piece was the way that slow editorial decisions meant that it wasn't up online in time for people to buy memberships before the cut-off date, as that was part of the process I've been trying to advocate for - getting involved in parties at the riding level. Nevertheless, the ball is rolling for future articles of this type.