Third Anniversary of the Orange Tory

This week marks the third anniversary of this blog. Over the last year I have made the change from one to two posts per weeks, introducing the “Worth Reading” feature. Worth Reading has been a great success, in my opinion. It definitely has helped reach a wider audience and helped to provide a service for readers who don’t spend as much time on twitter as I do.

If Google and Blogger are to be trusted the number of readers has continued to grow. The last few months has seen 600-700 visitors coming to my blog each month, which is shocking from where this all started from. If no one was reading this I’d probably still be doing this, but it is rewarding to know there are people out there reading my work and taking something from it.

The focus over the last twelve months seemed to be the federal government and the scandals and erosion of Parliamentary tradition. I have also increasingly written about local issues affecting the Greater Toronto-Hamilton Area, Peel and Brampton. The process of how our democracy, elections and politics function have become a theme this year, especially since I joined a local riding association and gained a new appreciation of how political parties operate.

In terms of what to look forward to in the future, I still hope to continue the twice weekly posting. I’d like to begin the book reviews/essays I have mentioned on several different occasions. However, things are set to change dramatically over the next few months. I was recently hired to work in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. Obviously this will be a life-changing experience and will affect my political engagement. I don’t know what political activism looks like in Fort Smith, but I will do what I can. In addition I will do my best to write about issues both back home in the GTHA and in my new home in the Northwest Territories. Hopefully it doesn’t result in too much chaos.

The fourth year of the Orange Tory is set to be another great one. I’d like to thank my readers and supporters. In particular I’d like to thank Samara Canada and their amazing staff for featuring my work several times over the last couple of months and the Brampton West NDP for introducing me to the local political scene. Keep reading and I hope the fourth year is the best one yet.