Kathleen Wynne takes heat for mailed in Reddit AMA

When Premier Kathleen Wynne announced that she'd be doing a Reddit AMA this week, there was reason to be cautiously optimistic that the forum would provide an opportunity for the provincial leader to drum up some interest provincial politics, and, of course, her own position on issues of concern to her constituents. The goings on at Queen's Park don't typically tend to enrapture the general public to the same degree that, say, a cracking smoking mayor might, but taking to Reddit just sounded like a smart way for the Premier to engage with a younger set of voters.

Well, that didn't happen. Instead, Wynne mostly squandered the opportunity by being overly selective about which questions she answered (10 in total) and failing to demonstrate much by way of openness and personality. In fairness, the AMA was only an hour, but the whole thing seemed like it was mailed in. This didn't go unnoticed by those participating in the thread, who racked up over 600 comments and questions, a healthy dose of which were critical of the Premier's perceived guardedness. If you want to interact with a community known for its high level of engagement, playing it too safe can ultimately backfire.

Perhaps aware of the disappointment in her performance, Wynne promised to answer one additional question a day for the next week. What do you think? Did the Premier miss an opportunity here?

Photo by Mark Spowart on Flickr