MP James Moore: Master of Baffle-Gab And Evasion?

Have you ever written a letter to an MP? Well, I have. Several times, as a matter of fact, to several different MPs, usually to the Minister responsible for the issue that I write about with a CC to the Prime Minister and to my own MP, if s/he is not the addressee. Occasionally it will go to a whole slew of MPs, including opposition members.

Well, about a month ago I sent an email message to the PM and James Moore, Minister responsible for the CBC among other things. In the email message I copied and pasted this CBC URL:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2011/08/my-cbc-is.html

and followed it with this:

"I believe the comments in this thread, which are overwhelmingly anti-CBC are a fair and accurate reflection of Canadian opinion of our national broadcaster. I also believe they reflect the opinion of the Conservative Party base.

I sincerely hope your government will do something about this drain on the taxpayer during your majority term in power. I also think that if you were to either privatize or dismantle altogether the CBC prior to the next election, it would be a dead certainty your party would be returned to power.

This morning (exactly one month later, which is speedier than a lot of them) I got an email message back with a letter attached. Hence the title of this entry. To wit:

"Thank you for your letter of August 21, 2011 regarding the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). I appreciate you taking your time to share your views with me.

Our government has launched a comprehensive deficit reduction action plan that will focus on the efficiency and effectiveness of government operations to ensure value for taxpayers' money.

All federal departments, agencies and crown corporations, including the CBC, have been asked to identify and to propose efficiencies. The results of this process will be part of the Budget 2012.

Our government provides annual funding to the CBC and expects the Corporation to use these public funds in the most efficient and accountable manner possible. We will continue to work closely with the CBC to ensure that public funds are wisely managed.

Please accept my best wishes.

Sincerely,

The Honorable James Moore, P.C., M.P."

Huh!! That's nice. But what about answering my question? Do you really think the CBC is going to recommend its own demise? Jesus, man. Grow some balls. Shall I write another letter?

This, unfortunately, is typical of the responses I get, no matter which MP I'm writing to. But I'm not without hope. Every letter received on the subject will create one more little scratch in the massive edifice that is the CBC. We've put up with it for 75 years. It's gonna take a while to get rid of it.

Wanna give Moore a piece of your mind (hopefully about the CBC)? Go here.

BTW, I think Moore did a yeoman's job in staring down the Iranian embassy several months back over the screening of Iranium at the National Archives. So, no, I don't think he's all bad. It's just gonna take some time to make our politicians understand what we want.