Senate’s Twitter ‘a standard for the world’

The Senate of Canada announced a partnership with Twitter Canada at a packed, high-energy event on Wednesday, March 1, 2017.

“The 21^st century Senate remains under construction, but tonight we have laid a strong foundation,” Senate Speaker George J. Furey told hundreds of guests.

The partnership will see select Senate committee meetings streamed live online in broadcast quality using Periscope. Senators will also be identified by their Twitter handles during all televised meetings.

The Senate already live tweets significant events during Senate sittings, noted Senator Leo Housakos, chair of the Subcommittee on Communications.

“We are light-years ahead of the House of Commons,” he said.

Twitter Canada Managing Director Rory Capern hailed the Senate’s French and English Twitter accounts “as an example of what open government really means on Twitter.”

“It’s being held up as a standard for the world.”

Communications subcommittee deputy chair, Senator Jane Cordy, promised more to come.

“We are very much a modern Senate — energized in the present and prepared for the future.”

� Senate Speaker George J. Furey tells the 500-strong audience that the Senate’s expanded digital presence marks a watershed. “As the new generation so eloquently puts it, ‘YOLO,’ which is why we are pursuing this project with so much vigour and energy.”

Students Vanessa Pauzé and Graeme Le check out the Carleton Immersive Media Studio’s newly launched Senate Virtual Tour.

Senator Chantal Petitclerc moderates a lively panel discussion titled <a href='https://sencanada.ca/en/sencaplus/social-media/politics-via-social-media/' target='blank'>Politics via Social Media.</a>

Senator Don Plett (left), Senator David Wells and his son, Luke, enjoy the event.

Geneviève Guindon joins Senators Éric Forest (left) and Victor Oh in a shout out to event co-host Twitter Canada

Aaron Bell of Senate Communications helps Tweet out a group photo. With him are (from left) National Public Relations’ Tammy Alamrieh, House of Commons staffer Savannah DeWolfe, Kristin Wilton, Emily Gale and Tate Chong.

Mark Critch (centre), anchor of CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes, holds court with current and former parliamentary interns Michael Forestell, Josh Regnier, Gabrielle de Billy Brown, Matthew Blackshaw, Christine Guyot, and Claire Sieffert.

Senators Leo Housakos and Jane Cordy, lavish praise on the Senate’s sophisticated and easy-to-navigate new website.

Geneviève Guindon from Senate Communications (right) sets up a group selfie in the Twitter lounge. With her are four members of the Carleton University team that created the Senate Virtual Tour — Gillian Walczak, Adam Weigert, Kyle Toussant and Samuel Dubois.

Media panelists share a joke with Senator Petitclerc. The panel included (from right) CBC’s Waubgeshig Rice, Le Devoir’s Marie Vastel and the Globe and Mail’s Robert Fife.

Senator Grant Mitchell uses the Twitter mirror to post a selfie from the event.

Twitter Canada Managing Director, Rory Capern, tells the audience that the Senate is setting a global standard for open government through its bold use of social media.

Committee news