An Open Letter to Micheal Chong
Mr. Chong. I would like to thank you for the phone call you placed to me today. This was the call in response to my email requesting assistance with the harassment from telemarketers which I see as a direct result of my information appearing in the Do Not Call list. As my parliamentary representative I have reached out to you in the past starting with your election campaign during the last federal election. At that time you told me you would make my concerns with telemarketing harassment a “priority” once you were re-elected. Several months had passed after the last Federal election without hearing from you so I reached out to you to obtain the assistance you had committed to. Your action at the time resulted in a letter from the minister responsible for the CRTC which reiterated the messages I had previously received from the Federal Government. The response was that the CRTC did not communicate directly with individuals, did not respond to individual complaints, that they did not discuss specific investigations, but they did thank me for the inquiry. I guess that was intended to give me the warm and fuzzies, it did not.
Mr. Chong, I did play some phone tag with you after I received that letter to discuss it with you but then decided to gave up and try again at a later date (I moved on). Yesterday I received the daily barrage of telemarketing calls from time share sellers, vacation resorts and “we can lower your interest rates” that all seem to have obtained my number from the Do Not Call list. Again at an elevated level of frustration I reached out to you in an email for “assistance”. I fully expected a call from either you or your staff to discuss this further but what I did not expect was a call from an elected official who appeared to feel he had the right to chastise me for requesting his assistance. From the moment I answered the phone you began what appeared to be an offensive to remind me of the hours (???) you and your staff spent on my file to have the minister for the CRTC send me a letter. You continued with what sounded like a tirade insisting I listen to your response without my ability to comment or respond as you delivered your chastising. When you were finally finished on what I can only describe as a personal attach against my request for assistance, I was left with the impression that you were expecting me to apologise for seeking you out. Mr. Chong, let me explain how you call has actually been interpreted and the reaction it has spurred in me.
First, I have voted PC for most of my life and supported the broad range of principles of the party, both Federally and Provincially. Your response does not reflect those principles in your obvious opinion that I do not deserve a respectful conversation nor a respectful response from my representative in the Federal Government. If going through some motions that result in a generic form letter being generated that provides a simple “thanks for the enquiry” but does not further the case to a solution is your idea of serving your constituents, then may I suggest that you have become part of the problem in Ottawa.
Secondly, it became obvious to me quite quickly that you had called and spoke in a tone that was intended to intimidate me and cause me to accept you as one who had gone significantly out of his way which deserved gratitude, not a further requests for assistance. Your tone and choice of wording during our conversation left me with the impression that you expected that I did not deserve any further assistance and I should be happy with the current status of telemarketing harassment and lack of results from CRTC complaints. To the contrary Mr. Chong, I am not going quietly into the night. I am speaking out to you, the MP for Wellington-Halton Hills, and expecting true representation on my behalf to demand accountability from the CRTC.
Lastly Mr. Chong, if this is the style of leadership you intend to deliver as the proposed leader of the Federal Conservative Party, then I will need to seriously reconsider my support for the party as a whole should they provide you with the support you desire. Your call today has already convinced me that I made a grave mistake in supporting you in spirit and at the ballot during the last few elections. It has also convinced me that I would need to seriously reconsider my political views and party support should you be successful in your bid for this leadership position.
Again, thank you Mr. Chong for the call and my new revelation into what appears to be your nature and your view of constituents in need. It was truly enlightening.
Stephen McDonald