Speak Your Mind about the 2011 Ontario Provincial Election

New online forum for news, discussion and debate
launches for the Fall election

To view the Enriched Media Release, click here: http://smr.newswire.ca/en/star-media-group/speak-your-mind-about-the-2011-ontario-provincial-election

TORONTO, Sept. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ - With the launch of Speak Your Mind, Ontarians now have an interactive platform that allows them to get informed and join the discussion around the important issues driving the 2011 Ontario provincial election. Speak Your Mind brings together news and opinions from community bloggers from each electoral district, insights from expert commentators, and readers' opinions. This content will be supplemented by editorial coverage from the Toronto Star newsroom.

"Speak Your Mind, convened by the Toronto Star, is for people with varying levels of political awareness and who want to be better informed about their election choices," says Kenyon Wallace, a journalist with the Toronto Star and host of the Speak Your Mind Twitter chats and videos. "This site is for everyone from first time voters who need an understanding of our political system, parties and candidates, to the politically savvy who want a forum to express their opinions. We also hope to reengage lapsed voters and to encourage young voters to become more involved in the election."

At Speak Your Mind visitors will find:

• Coverage from each electoral district by over 200 community correspondents
• Election coverage from Toronto Star journalists
• Expert opinions
• Snapshots of each party, their leaders and their campaign promises
• A candidate leaderboard based on media sentiment
• The Star's "Smell Test", an investigation and verification of the claims made by leaders and candidates
• Polls, discussions, trending topics and more

"People can read or watch the news each day, but Speak Your Mind is interactive, using social media tools, and provides a way for people to get involved in the news as it is happening," says Wallace. "It gives everyone a voice to have their concerns and opinions heard."

About Speak Your Mind (http://speakyourmind.thestar.com, http://www.facebook.com/SpeakYourMindCanada, http://twitter.com/#!/symcanada)

Speak Your Mind is an online forum for commentary, discussion and debate convened by the Toronto Star.

About the Toronto Star and thestar.com
The Toronto Star, founded in 1892, is read in print and online (thestar.com) by 3.0 million readers. The Toronto Star is a division of Star Media Group, which includes Toronto.com, Torstar Syndication Services, The Grid, Sway and The Canadian Immigrant. Star Media Group also includes the jointly owned Metro free daily newspapers in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Winnipeg and London, Ont., and the Chinese language newspaper Sing Tao. Star Media Group is a division of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation.

SOURCE Star Media Group