A propos of not answering our questions....

You may recall that some time ago I wrote to the Prime Minister, asking him, among other things, why I shouldn't get married (vide here).

I finally got a letter back.

I don't know if you all have the same experiences I do, but it seems to me that most often when I write to elected legislators, I get form letters back that tell me that my opinions are important. This, regardless of whether I asked specific questions (that need answering) in my original letter.

Municipal bureaucrats seem to write back real letters most often, and federal politicians pretty much only send thanks-for-your-input responses.

Someone from the Prime Minister's Office wrote to tell me that "my comments have been carefully reviewed". I was also told that my letter was forwarded to the Cabinet Minister in charge of the legality of my impending nuptuals.

Although my comments had been carefully reviewed, my questions and my requests for information about government policy seem to have been very ignored. Aside from bluntly asking the Prime Minister why I shouldn't get married, my last letter also contained two requests, which you'll read below.

I have now written back to the functionary who sent me the reply-letter; here's round two:

Dear [Executive Correspondence Officer],

Thank you for your June 17th acknowledgement of my letter about equal marriage. I am happy to hear that my comments have been carefully reviewed.

I asked Mr Harper to send me information on his government's position on this issue. Could you please let me know when I can expect this information to arrive?

Also, I asked Mr Harper to let me know why his government does not support my own forthcoming marriage. Although of course Mr Harper is too busy to respond personally to my question, I had hoped that someone in your position would be able to briefly set out the government's position for a concerned citizen.

Here is an excerpt from my original letter:

"Why, sir, should I not get married?

"I would like you to send me information on your government's position on this issue, if possible. Please contact me and let me know more about your plans for putting marriage equality before Parliament for a second time."

Please contact me by post at [...], by 'phone at [...], or by email at [...]. As you can imagine, I'm eager to receive a response that addresses my concerns. I feel, as I'm sure you do, that dialogue between Members of Parliament and the People of Canada is essential to a system that works.

Thanks so much for your attention to this,

Yours,

-Andrew