Do any of you write your Government Reps.??

[CanadianLove]

I was just thinking of a few threads here and wondering if any of you ever write your MP, or MPP, RCMP, or City Politcians concerning issues that upset you. I know it has been ingrained in me to shut my mouth and play the game. In the last couple of years this has changed, when I have gotten the urge I have written the reps and with some good results at times. I myself choose to send them through email, while others say that snail mail is the best, and others say it must be registered or they will say they didn't get it. I guess that depends on you.

The thing to remember about our politicians is that we are so strick about who we allow to run for any office in North America, that these people have almost always run a sheltered life. They do not know what it is like to be on the dirty side of the coin. They have for the most part been protected from the bad things in life. They just don't know. And, they like it when someone gives them a good idea, because thier advisors are pretty well the same as they are - Nerds.

 

[lone wolf]

Oh, man.... Have I ever. The tone of some of mine made me the subject of a little CSIS activity shortly after 9/11 too.... Funny how they can equate pissed-off citizen with terrorist. Hell ... I'm a rebel and proud of it!

 

[TenPenny]

I have written to my MLA, mayor, city councillor, premier, and cabinet minster (provincial). To their credit, the premier and minister at least responded to me; the others, not a freakin peep.

 

[Nuggler]

Yep, to no avail. They haven't changed the EI back to UI, and people who qualify still have a hard time accessing it.

Can't see this changing anytime soon, but, at least they know how I feel.

Does it not seem our govt. tries to starve people in Canada, and then say......."Oh look, folks are starving"......or is it just me.?

Or lay off nurses (for eg.), and then say........."see, the PUBLIC health care isn't working!!!"

Yepper, they's got my opinions on several items.

:angry3:

 

[bobnoorduyn]

You betcha, I forget the ratio but it was something like one letter was equal to 500 voters. Don't send e-mails, they're electronic and only a delete button away from disappearing. Snail mail is good, (and its free, you don't need a stamp), but I prefer a fax, it generates paper and is fast. I actually got a phone call from my MP in Ottawa within hours of me sending him a fax.

 

[gopher]

I have done so quite a few times over the years. And usually, the pols are very responsive.

 

[Cannuck]

I have actually attended a couple of municipal council meetings in the last year and have visited both my MLA and my MP in their offices. I believe a face to face meeting accomplishes more than a letter.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

I contact my elected representatives--municipal, provincial, and federal--frequently, whenever there's some issue they're dealing with, or not dealing with, that I want to say something about. I always use snail mail for that, so there's a paper record, or else I phone their offices, depending on what the issue is. I have always received a response, though sometimes it's obviously been just a form letter that pisses me off severely and prompts me to write something really nasty. I hate form letters from my elected representatives, I expect to be taken seriously and a form letter sends exactly the opposite message. Interestingly, I have a letter from my local MP's office that counsels me to break the law in response to an issue I have with the gun registry. The issue, simply put, is that it exists at all. I was told I can ignore the threatening note I got from the gun registry folks about paying up for another five years to license my firearms, and that note pissed me off pretty badly too. It was rude, aggressive, and threatened me with criminal prosecution if I didn't pay up by a certain date. !$!@#$# arrogant swivel servants... And you can be sure I wrote a pretty sharp note about the tone of that message too.

 

[bobnoorduyn]

I have a letter from my local MP's office that counsels me to break the law in response to an issue I have with the gun registry. The issue, simply put, is that it exists at all. I was told I can ignore the threatening note I got from the gun registry folks about paying up for another five years to license my firearms, and that note pissed me off pretty badly too. It was rude, aggressive, and threatened me with criminal prosecution if I didn't pay up by a certain date. !$!@#$# arrogant swivel servants...

I don't know what that letter was referring to, you don't have to license your firearms, you have to license yourself. Since the Conservatives got elected they eliminated the fee too. They have also extended the amnesty for registering non restricted firearms. I got a nastygram from the CFO because they didn't receive notification that I was a club member and threatened to take my restricted firearms, like thay have nothing better to do.

But here's something you may wish to write your MP about, seems Garry Breitkreuz tabled a private member's bill, (Bill C-301) http://www2.parl.gc.ca/content/hoc/Bills/402/Private/C-301/C-301_1/C-301_1.PDF

I just found this out and haven't had a look at it yet but it sounds like it'll take the wind out of C-68.

 

[mit]

When I was about 20 (3 decades ago) I got wind of a plan for the village I lived in to build a new municipal office on our only public park downtown - We were a small community (1600) and the costs of the new building would have been the equivelant of likely $700,000 in today's dollars - It would have left 3 empty buildings and no common area for our local festivities. I wrote a letter to the editor of our local paper expressing my dismay. Seems my letter struck a nerve - others organized a town meeting - I received several phone calls of support for my letter - The new building not only was stopped but a fundraising effort to build a new grandstand emerged and with 0 public tax dollars - my father's design efforts and volunteer effort from all the local service clubs the park was a center piece for events and just chilling out. The following year a 5 year old bank building became available at a very reasonable price to become the new administrative offices. The vacancies arising from that were filled in short order and there was a renewed optimism in the downtown.
Over the years I have had the occasion to encourage debate in our local paper during elections and Stick-U-mulus efforts but the readership of local papers has declined or people just do not want to get involved as much. Blame the Internet - or the governments but it is us that must take back control through more involvement.
Letters to council - MP's or MPP's have only elicited a carefully worded answer in my experience - Structured Meet the Candidates nights do not allow for debate - The last weapon in the publics arsenal seems to be forums such as this and Facebook - Look at Ontario's response to the outrage over one 17 year old or under passenger for young drivers legislation- Facebook killed that within weeks.

Governments respond to public perception -

 

[Scott Free]

I do.