Well, it’s happening (at least the latter). Organizations are starting to experiment with the idea of invading the digital privacy of would-be employees — in the case of the B.C. NDP party, leadership candidates. The party is apparently planning an exhaustive risk assessment of people who are committed to their cause.

This is the kind of slippery slope that, if taken, will marginalize political parties and will discourage some of the best candidates; not because of a photo, video or blog post (all of which can be found in plain view online) but because none of the good candidates are likely to endorse big brother tactics. Not without risking the suggestion they endorse that approach.

The people most successful with social media, mix their personal and professional lives into something of a personal brand. They know how to communicate and engage, even galvanize, their public using a personal digital account. They may have even gained some experience navigating the sometimes-stormy seas of social media.

Politicians — well, all of us — have been making public mistakes without Facebook since the dawn of civilization. The true sign of a leader isn’t his or her freedom from life experiences, but their ability to lead through any situation no matter how bad and still galvanize the support of their community.

Besides, it’s more likely your missteps will be captured and shared by someone else.

I spoke about this very topic with Dan Matheson on CTV’s Power Play earlier this evening. Click here to see the video.

4. The next federal election is scheduled for fall 2012. The United States will also be holding election at that time which is very likely to be a referendum on President Obama’s first term.  Given the vitriol coming from the States during the mid-terms last fall, I would not want to be running a federal campaign in Canada with the Tea Party or a stagnant US recovery in my rear view mirror.  Some would see this as a huge risk to the Conservative government but I see all parties seeing some risk from running a concurrent Canadian campaign to a US campaign.

3. The Government is getting solid marks for its management of the economy coming out of the recession.  As the economy grows it will be faced with larger issues of deficit reduction and investment in social programs (pensions, health care, day care).  An election now would allow them to run on a record of economic management and get out before the social debate takes over the ballot box.  Although you can expect both the Liberals and NDP to do everything possible to make the next federal election about the social contract the federal government has (or should have) with Canadians.

2. In order to avoid an election at least one opposition party needs to support Jim Flaherty’s budget.  At some point in time over the next 18 months, that same opposition party will have to answer the question as to why they allowed the Conservatives to continue governing if they thought they needed to be replaced at the next election.  Parties need to be in election messaging now (as has been apparent in messaging from the Prime Minister and Michael Ignatieff this week) and not taking an aggressive stance now against the budget is not likely to serve any opposition party well come election time.

1. Health Care.  With 5 provincial elections taking place in fall 2011, many Canadians will be focused on the key issues being raised within each province.  As I explained in my last post the key issue during these provincial elections is going to be Health Care.  As provinces complain about health services they will point to federal funding (or lack thereof) as being the primary reason they can’t make the investments necessary to improve health services for residents. Blame the feds is an old provincial trick that has worked well for many years (there is a good reason why Ontario usually elects the opposite party provincially to who is governing federally).  The federal government may see getting an election out of the way ahead of the ‘Blame the Feds’ game to be in their best interest and ‘allow’ themselves to be forced into an election.  If an election waits until 2012, the federal government would have to put forward a strong plan on the future level of federal funding for Health Care and, as we’ve seen in the past, this debate is a dangerous one for any government.