2008 Federal Election
Canadian election 2008 – answers from leaders
Can you make a difference by writing to Canadian politicians?
I may not change the world but at least I feel as if I’ve made an effort to be heard when I write to politicians.
Yes, but do Canadian politicians answer email?
Of course not, not personally. Someone on their staff answers, usually with a canned email.
So why are you telling me this?
I send the Autism Canada letter to all 5 leaders. I heard back from 3 of them – well, not personally of course. The only one that addressed the issue was Jack Layton’s campaign. I posted a copy of the NDP reply in the comments on the Autism post.
The interesting thing – to me – is that these are typical responses. Not that I have a huge sample, maybe 5 times in the past 18 months, but each time Mr. Layton’s response addresses the topic of my email. I feel that it has at least been read by a live person – or that they have some amazing email read/reply software.
Mr. Harpers response addressed the issue once, as did Mr. Dion’s.
The only real conclusions I could draw are that Mr. Layton has better staff, or more staff, or his staff has more time on their hands.
What kind of response do you get when you write to a politician?
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2 comments for “Canadian election 2008 – answers from leaders”
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In my experience of writing the leaders with things of much importance to me, I found the quickest response and most response is from Jack Layton and my MLA Jean Crowder, NDP.
I did receive a response from Peter McKay about 8 months after I had mailed it regarding Laser weapons, and it was basically double talk, which said they will use them if it saves lives.Whose lives they did not specify.
The thing I noticed about NDP is that they had specifics listed and people carrying them out listed of how they had approached the problem. I liked that.
I just got a reply from the Green party. It also addresses the issue I asked about. I’ve posted it in the comments on the Autism letter post – http://www.living-in-the-country.com/2008/09/autism-as-an-is.html#comment-131377692