Grabbing the attention of the powers that be

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/11/2017 (2618 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I’ve been reflecting on how individual citizens speak to people with political power, and how those at the top get their message.

Other than at the ballot box.

The question occurred to me again this week, when a retired Winnipeg Transit driver contacted the Free Press because Mayor Brian Bowman’s office hadn’t acknowledged receiving his email about the city’s treatment of veterans on Remembrance Day.

As I wrote Tuesday, George Morrison had complained for years about Winnipeg being one of the few large Canadian cities that doesn’t offer military veterans free bus rides on Nov. 11.

(Just up the road, there’s a smaller city that has been doing so for veterans and others for years. Selkirk provides free service every Nov. 11 to anyone wearing a poppy, and poppy boxes are placed on the buses in the days leading up to Remembrance Day.)

I queried the city’s media handlers, and late Monday they finally answered by saying it’s a question for the mayor and council.

The next day, I emailed a spokesperson for Bowman, asking for the mayor’s position on honouring veterans with complimentary transit rides — the way Winnipeg’s two largest cab companies, Unicity and Duffy’s, are by giving them free round-trip rides to Remembrance Day services, and Applebee’s Grill & Bar is by offering free meals to veterans and active-duty military members on Nov. 11.

The response from the mayor’s office was not only prompt, but positive: “Mayor Bowman certainly supports providing free transit to veterans and their families on Remembrance Day.”

The response went further.

“Mayor Bowman has asked the public service to determine whether this is something that can be implemented in time for Remembrance Day this year. He is also supportive of making this recognition permanent on a go-forward basis beginning next year, if it cannot be implemented in time for Remembrance Day this year.”

That’s all Morrison wanted to hear. So what took so long?

It brings us back to the broader issue of how do those with little political power get the ear of people with great power?

Late last summer, another reader, with a couple of different issues, ran into the same problem as Morrison when she tried to contact Bowman and Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister, via a Canada Post-delivered letter.

Retired school principal Aurise Kondziela didn’t receive a response.

As it happened, her city councillor, Brian Mayes, would take care of the matter about the snow-removal mess left on a boulevard near her home.

But in the meantime, Kondziela had contacted someone she thought might listen to another concern.

“Good evening Mr. Sinclair,” she began the Aug. 23 email.

“I note from your columns that you often deal with personal queries. I merely wanted to ask if you are aware that our elected representatives do not respond to personal letters. I have written to mayor Bowman on July 6, and to our premier (copied to our health minister) on July 19. I am quite surprised that I have not even received an acknowledgment of my letter. In the past, I have often dealt with the health minister, Dave Chomiak, with the justice minister, Gord MackIntosh, as well as with the judicial council. I have always received a response to my letters. Is this the new trend? That is, to ignore letters received from the constituents?”

My first thought was to contact the offices of the mayor and premier and ask for an explanation. Just how many letters and emails do they deal with?

Or, perhaps more to the point, how many don’t they deal with?

If letters aren’t the way to reach the mayor or premier, what is?

“Mayor Bowman is very committed to being accessible and available to Winnipeg residents, while also balancing the reality that he is a father with two young children,” a spokesperson answered in an email.

“The mayor’s office strives to respond to invitations, meeting requests, questions or concerns arriving in the office through email, fax, Canada Post, telephone, social media or via websites. From time to time, correspondence can be missed. We are not perfect!”

The spokesperson didn’t say how much correspondence the mayor’s office receives, instead saying Bowman is connected with almost 80,000 people via social media.

The spokesperson said Kondziela’s letter was received and forwarded to the public works department.

“The mayor’s office will be following up with the department to see what has been done to respond to their concerns.”

As for the premier’s office, his press secretary reported that he received 7,000 forms of correspondence in July and all are “logged, tracked and responded to.”

She appeared to qualify that answer later, saying: “It is the goal of the premier’s office that all forms of correspondence be addressed… in some cases, letters may be referred to the appropriate responsible minister to respond.”

Again, that’s what happened with Kondziela’s letter to the premier; it was forwarded to the health minister’s office because it concerned health care. When I asked if Kondziela could anticipate a response, the premier’s spokesperson said: “A reply was sent this morning.”

The public doesn’t anticipate their concerns will be personally read, and much less answered by the mayor or premier.

But every citizen has the right to expect at least an acknowledgement from their offices that their concern has been heard and will be answered by someone.

It may not be democracy 101 to Brian Bowman and Brian Pallister, but it should be courtesy 101 for their offices.

As for how individual citizens speak to people with political power, other than the ballot box?

You’ve just read one answer.

gordon.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca