David Warren gives bloggers a nod (en francais)

I apologize if this has already been posted, but I just noticed it in today's Windsor Star. I definitely have to check his site more often.

Ottawa Spring
An entirely new generation of Canadians, most much younger than I, is thinking aloud about the realities we face, and about how to deal with them, with a broad outlook. They feel empowered by Harper’s win -- even many of the disgruntled Liberals -- and they not only feel, but are, involved. The several hundred websites inter-linked through the Red Ensign network, and Blogging Tories, are also the means by which the new government can remain intimately in touch with events “on the ground” -- by-passing the “heritage media”.

As a political and research tool, they are already indispensable. We have fresh minds applying themselves to such practical problems as how to defeat the Liberals in the inner metro ridings; how to appeal to their captive ethnic groups; how to persuade their clients among the denizens of relatively depressed economic regions to buy into the hopeful new coalition. How, more simply, to challenge the big lies that have contaminated our public discourse, and overcome the crippling stench of “political correctness”. In almost every case, it is fresh air that is coming in to a very dank political parlour, and the spirit is generous and enterprising. Dare I say, this is participatory democracy.