-by Anne Finlay-Stewart, Editor

With ten days to go before the federal election, fingers are flying here at the Hub to try to keep up with all the submissions. Our apologies if we have missed your media release, or your favourite feature – we will be back to our regular programming soon after October 19.

We understand that the pre-election posts on owensoundhub.org look different from traditional news sources. There are three reasons.

1. I pledged to Larry Miller early in this campaign that we would post anything he and his supporters submitted, and we have kept that promise. The same commitment was made to the other candidates. This is one of the luxuries of a digital format with almost unlimited "space".

2.We are working toward solutions-based journalism; we believe that the community itself, in a respectful conversation, can best articulate its challenges and values and find its own direction. To this end we offer space for news, information and opinion from any local perspective, including that of our own editors and writers.

In particular for this election campaign, we offered specific and equal space for the candidates to share their biographies and answer some broad questions, both in writing and on video. Not all candidates have accepted this offer.

3.We are our own masters; we have no owners nor essential sponsors to please. There is paid advertising on The Hub, with which we pay for some of the work that keeps us on-line, and two candidates in this election have paid for advertising which is clearly in the ad spaces and has been authorized by their official agents.

We're looking forward to the rest of this campaign, and truthfully, to its end. Thank you to everyone who continues to share their perspective through The Hub. We will do our best to honour your submissions.