Keeping An Eye On Queen’s Park

Feb 14th, 2012 6:24 AM

OntarioMonitor.ca makes monitoring Ontario Legislature easy and affordable Media Release (February 14, 2012 - Toronto, ON) Today was the official launch of OntarioMonitor.ca, an online service that makes the Ontario Legislature more transparent and accessible. OntarioMonitor.ca allows users to easily monitor material from Question Period based on keywords that they select. Relevant material from the day’s Question Period is distributed to users the moment Hansard is published online. The functionality and price of OntarioMonitor.ca means that companies, NGOs, trade associations, agencies and commissions of any size can monitor issues at the Ontario Legislature on a daily basis at a fraction of the cost and effort of the old style of access. The service is useful not only for Question Period, but throughout the legislative calendar. It monitors committee hearings and provides automated updates on changes to Bills.

Why use OntarioMonitor.ca? • Hansard instant notification - alerts are sent when your chosen phrases are mentioned in the Legislature/Question Period (e.g. "climate change"): who said it, when, the full context and more. • Bill Changes - Instant notifications of changes to bills that you care about (e.g. "Bill 6 passed second reading"). • New Bills - Instant notification when new bills are introduced, bill details and more. • Monitor issues - Identify which issues MPPs care about. • Speed - Notifications are sent within minutes of becoming official and available. • BlackBerry - Notifications are sent to you in a format that's easy to read on your phone. The software developer behind OntarioMonitor.ca, Addy Cameron-Huff, is an award winning programmer, having won competitions in Canada and the United States (run by Yahoo!, TechCrunch and PayPal). While at the University of Waterloo, he developed political organizing software for a US presidential candidate. He is currently finishing his law degree at Queen’s University. You can explore the full functionality of OntarioMonitor.ca at the website and a trial version is available for your consideration. For more information on how to use OntarioMonitor.ca, please see: www.ontariomonitor.ca/overview_brochure.pdf -30- To arrange interviews, please contact: Michael Zupanic, Environmental Communication Options E: mzupanic@ecostrategy.ca P: 416-972-7401

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Keeping An Eye On Queen’s Park

Feb 14th, 2012 6:24 AM