A few months ago, CBC started a series on their website called ‘Live Chats’.

So far these have been with people like Martha Hall Findlay and Roberta Bondar.

The way it works: CBC posts an article about the live chat personality and then people can submit questions to the person through the website.

A cool idea that lets people ask questions to prominent Canadians (that they would likely otherwise never have the opportunity to ask) and potentially receive a response.  I say ‘potentially’ because not all questions will be answered.  It makes sense not to commit to answering all the questions in case hundreds are submitted.

The current chat is with Canadian Rock Star, I mean Chief of Defence Staff, Rick Hillier.

Now I didn’t have a huge interest in following any of the previous Live Chats, so I don’t know how long it took to post the Qs & As for each of them.

I do have an interest in this one with General Hillier and, unfortunately, it has not been well executed.

The opportunity to submit questions opened on March 9^th and closed (I believe) on March 12^th.  Qs & As were first supposed to be posted on March 14^th, which was then changed to March 15^th.  The latter is still the date indicated, but General Hillier’s Qs & As are not yet up.  CBC has now added the following note:

We have received word from General Hillier that he has been delayed in answering you but will be sending his answers very soon. He says “I will respond fully as soon as I can, and appreciate your patience in the meantime.”

Fortunately, there is a RSS feed so I don’t have to keep checking back to the website.

Given General Hillier’s responsibilities, CBC should have provided a longer than normal turn-around time for this particular chat.  Say two weeks instead of two days.  It is better to get them up early rather than several days late.

General Hillier is also currently doing a similar session with the Globe and Mail, which is also running late.  It now has the following note from the General up:

I have received your questions as forwarded by Brodie Fenlon your web host, and I am impressed by their scope, their depth, their quantity, and what they demonstrate about your interest and understanding about the Canadian Forces. Your questions deserve my considered answers that will take some time – several hours in fact. I will respond fully as soon as I can, and appreciate your patience in the meantime.

The PR machine that is General Rick Hillier, with his many other important commitments, appears to have stretched himself a little thin on both of these outreach opportunities.

I’m sure this isn’t going to negatively impact Canada’s most popular CDS in recent memory, but both sessions likely should have been better planned to allow General Hillier more time to respond.