Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Conservative Arrogance

I live in Calgary SouthEast, MP Jason Kenney's riding.

I will freely admit that I think Kenney is a twit, and has the reasoning skills commensurate with being a twit. I've never made any bones about it - He's essentially Rob Anders with a little more tact.

However, I was talking to one of my colleagues at work this morning, and he tells me that he's been receiving - almost quarterly - newsletters from Jason Kenney in the mail. These things come as unaddressed admail, paid for by taxpayer dollars, and are intended to be a vehicle of communication by which an MP can tell his constituency what's happening in Ottawa. I haven't seen one of these little 'gestures' from Mr. Kenney's office in the high side of 18 months or more. (In fact, the last thing I saw from the Conservatives was one of their little "conveniently loaded" surveys - you know, the ones with the "have you stopped beating your spouse yet?" questions.

The neighborhood I live in is not particularly wealthy - it's kind of "middle of the road" - neither rich nor poor really. Certainly, it's not an area where any politician is going to find a lot of donor dollars - most people have their hands full with their mortgages and other day to day costs. Certainly, the average income in my area is a lot lower than you get in some other wealthier areas.

Granted, Kenney hasn't had the intestinal fortitude to actually answer any communications from his constituency (me, my neighbors or anyone else I know that has attempted to contact his office gets a wall of stoned silence). I can only conclude that unless you are among his known donors and supporters, Mr. Kenney is not interested in you at all.

The arrogance of the man and his supporters astounds me beyond words. Unless you are among the "wealthy" classes (e.g. live in a "rich" neighborhood), he can't be bothered with you? This, coming from a man who is part of a supposedly populist, grass roots party? The arrogance of Jason Kenney reaches heights that I thought only the oxygen starved brain of George Bush had experienced.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I recall a certain "Dear Mr. Kenney" letter that not only pointed out a few salient points about the differences between the American and Canadian Judicial systems, but that contained a great deal of unintentional humour as well.

It did have the blessed effect of Silence. It effectively silenced Kenney's bleatings in the Community Newsletter, and the total lack of response from his office was oddly comforting too.

It shows that a Conservative doesn't change his spots, no matter how well slicked back his hair might be.

However, a note of concern about your post - you send us to a website that is utterly devoid of content (or communication - odd, it DOES reflect the man!)... however, I MUCH prefer his "unofficial" website http://www.jasonkenney.org/. Long live Rick Mercer!

MgS said...

I think what galls me the most here is the fact that he seems to think that he only has to update the "wealthy" parts of his riding.

I wasn't aware that his role as my MP was contingent upon the value of the house I live in. (Kind of makes me think I should go move into something ridiculously expensive - maybe he'll grace my door during the next election - a good opportunity to tear him a new one)

Anonymous said...

Well, DO keep in mind the Conservative tactic on my street... I'm sure you remember the style of electioneering. If you have a blue and orange sign, you knock on the doors of the two people living on the end of the block with PREMIUM fence frontage for signs. You post signs, and ignore the rest of the block.

If you are a clueless party, you drop election literature in my mailbox WHEN I AM HOME with a nice, friendly little note from the candidate saying "Sorry I missed you...". Ergh?

If you are green, you drop me a little slip of paper that looks like it is a home-jobber by someone without a foggy idea of good layout or presentation, or the benefits of a professional image... and then you mark it with a notation "printed on recycled paper"... and you forget that SOME of the recipients are not absolute morons, and KNOW that the paper you used only comes in one variety... 0% post-consumer-waste, and 100% fresh trees, bleach and other goodies. Hmmm... Green?!

(And, if you are conservative, you don't even bother with that - your wahr chest extends to mailing me a glossy brochure filled with errors).

Anonymous said...

Tactics:

First letter: Sent to your MP.
If reply received. Then done.

Else
Second letter: Sent to your MP and party leadership (maybe they don't know about this person), include details about lack of response of first letter.
If reply received. Then done.

Else
Third letter: Sent to your MP, party leadership and leadership of opposite party (government if your MP is opposition, opposition if your MP is government). Detailing lack of response of letters one and two.
If reply received. Then done.

Else
Time to get creative!

-The Bungle Lord

MgS said...

O Wise Bungle Lord:

Been there, tried that.

Getting creative is the next step - any suggestions?

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