Since I became city councillor, some people have asked me why I’m not on Facebook. During the 2025 by-election, our team’s volunteers ran Facebook and Instagram accounts for the campaign (I had never had a personal Facebook or IG account), and I kept up my own personal Bluesky account. When I got elected, the decision of whether to establish social media accounts was something I put a lot of thought into. 

I spoke with my new colleagues locally and counterparts in other parts of the country and asked them about their perspectives and experiences. The overwhelming majority of them felt that while there were some positives, on the balance, it could be a very difficult, time consuming, and often toxic environment to navigate, especially for women elected officials. The consensus was that it was not strictly necessary for the job, and often caused a lot of stress and consumed valuable time that could be better spent building meaningful connections and relationships in other ways. 

The job of city councillor has a very steep learning curve. As I began to learn the role, I knew that I needed to be mindful not to spread myself too thin, or neglect my mental health, so that I could be as effective as possible as your elected representative. 

I ultimately made the decision to focus our finite time and resources on responding to communication from constituents that comes directly to my office or out in the community.

My decision not to be on social media at this time reflects three key things:

1. Not everyone is on social media, and even those who are, aren’t all on the same platform. Social media algorithms mean that not everyone sees all the posts they would be interested in or expect to see. In 2026, the average Facebook post reaches less than 5% of a page's followers—I could spend a lot of time and resources on creating content that I can’t be assured of anyone seeing! And it works in the other direction, too. Because the algorithms create a personalized feed for each user, as councillor, my own feed wouldn’t show me everything that people are posting.
   
   
2. In many ways, social media can be a really helpful tool for distributing information and building connections. It makes us laugh and helps us share helpful info. But it can also lead to poor quality interactions where people assume the worst of each other, rather than listening and seeking to understand. Especially with the ability to be anonymous, social media spaces often embolden users to behave in ways they would never behave “in real life”. I’ve spent the past 10 years working to build a stronger community, and now in 2026, I believe that the best way to do that is through working together through actual conversations, whether they are in person, over the phone, or by email.
   
   
3. I’m also reluctant to participate on platforms whose algorithms favour negative and polarizing posts. At a time when we're seeing Meta (which owns Facebook, Instagram, and others) pay out multi-billion dollar settlements for engineering social media platforms that are addictive and harmful to children and youth, I think it’s fair to reflect on whether social media is harmful for adults, too. More food for thought: Meta is a for-profit American company owned by one of the world's top 5 richest people. Meta makes its money from advertising, and Canada is one of its biggest markets. In a time of Elbows Up, I'm thinking twice about supporting businesses like Meta, which take billions of dollars a year out of the Canadian economy, just by us using their platforms. 

Not everyone uses Facebook, but everyone who does has an email address. I’ve been publishing a monthly email newsletter where I share the same types of content that I would be sharing via Facebook or Instagram, through a more universally accessible medium. I do hope you subscribe! Putting it together is a highlight of every month for me. There are so many great things happening in our community, and interesting and important updates to share on city services.

I have a website that folks can contact me through, and a helpful and friendly assistant (hi Charity!) who is the first voice you’ll hear when you call my office. 

With limited time and resources, prioritizing real-world personal connections, communication and relationships allows me to be at my most responsive and help create the best outcomes for the residents of Elmwood-East Kildonan.

Warmly,

Emma