r/CanadaPublicServants • u/ap_101 • 1d ago
Other / Autre Is there really a point of sending a message to your MP?
I saw some posts about emailing MPs about certain issues (RTO, WFA, etc.). First I was curious if this was allowed as a federal public servant. Then when it seemed okay (in certain parameters), I thought I would write a letter for WFA. Once I finished, I thought of the letter responses I have drafted in my role and just thought was there really a point... like what is one letter going to do? Even if it was 10,000 letters, doubt it would make a difference. I remember a union campaign when RTO was announced and I think 25,000+ letters going out and it did nothing. Most people didn't even get a generic response back from what I heard.
As someone relatively new to the public service, I wonder has this ever worked? Are there some success stories? Should I just become cynical now?
100
u/GreeneSummer1709 1d ago
A phone call is worth x10 an email
24
u/coffeejn 1d ago
Phone > mail > email.
6
u/hatman1254 1d ago
What about Fax or telegram?
10
u/GovernmentMule97 1d ago
I prefer smoke signals - government technology is basically in that era.
6
4
u/Obelisk_of-Light 1d ago
Or delivery on horseback
5
u/Reasonable-Pace-4603 1d ago
This is the public service. Send them a Telex.
0
u/Immediate_Ask703 1d ago
I personally prefer face to face conversations but eh I'm old school and want them to see the emotional distress issues that cause me to visit them create.
3
56
u/bolonomadic 1d ago
They track the level of outrage on topics so yes. If no one writes then they assume everyone is fine with what they are doing.
Does one person writing them lead to direct action? No. Unless it’s about a personal thing. They can help with massive Phoenix impacts on individuals or your mom needing a visa and stuff.
12
u/stylist-trend 1d ago
Exactly this. You as one person probably won't change their mind. You, along with hundreds of thousands of people all contacting their MPs about one topic? You're damn right that's gonna be noticed by the PMO.
20
u/ajwb17 1d ago
I wrote (email) to my MP about RTO5 listing a bunch of reasons why it’s a bad idea. She wrote back saying
“Thank you for reaching out and sharing this with me.
It appears like we are moving in the direction of employees returning to full-time and in-person work for the benefits it brings to local businesses and overall office work performance. However, you raise important points that should be considered, and I'd be happy to pass these along to my colleagues in future discussions.”
So it seems like their minds are made up.
The thing that makes me the must mad about it is that zero studies were done on cost savings and employee productivity at home vs. In the office. I work for a science department we have to have data to back up our work. They are going to send us back on vibes, not best practices. I never spend a penny downtown on my office days out of spite.
14
u/ap_101 1d ago
Wait so did your MP just confirm RTO5 before it was announced?
Also, I would respond with asking for that information (tho doubt you would get a response tbh)
9
u/ajwb17 1d ago
It looks like she did. What surprises me is admitting it’s for downtown business.
2
u/zeromussc 1d ago
I mean, for all we know the MP sees the news about RTO5 in general, and not in specific. So I wouldn't freak out too much nor think its some sort of soft confirmation. Especially if the person isn't in Cabinet, and not every NCR MP is.
1
44
u/Psychological_Bag162 1d ago
Do you think any letters that Fortier received as the head of TB during RTO announcements AND contract negotiations did anything?
She’s still laughing
14
u/GameDoesntStop 1d ago
I doubt she gave a damn one way or another. She just got her marching orders from the Liberal PMO and carried them out faithfully.
4
u/Flaktrack 1d ago
Did they even lose any seats in the NCR? I guess they're using the fact that they're not Conservatives to do whatever the hell they want.
2
1
u/Shawwnzy 7h ago
Poor Joel Harden was the strong favorite to win until Carney came in, honestly I'm not sure why a progressive leaning urban population who were sick of Trudeau would see Carney and be like "y'know, let's reelect Trudeau's guy after all"
1
u/Flaktrack 6h ago
I don't think I'm even allowed to describe what I think Carney's politics are here, let alone how I feel about them. I understand that's kind of dicey on a subreddit for public servants so I'm not sure where to draw the line.
But I would be confused by Carney's election if Harper had not been winning just over a decade ago. They're almost the same guy.
84
1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
12
1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
12
1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
3
6
1
5
19
u/Abject_Story_4172 1d ago
The decision is being made at the top. And I don’t think any Liberal MPs will push back. If a bunch of people in the riding raised a fuss maybe they’d be concerned and raise it. But not sure if it would do anything, because NCR MPs know people won’t vote anything but Liberal. We’ve had 2 RTOs and now likely a third and WFA. But I’d be very surprised if any were voted out next election. My Liberal MP has been AWOL for years. She hasn’t done a thing. But she’s knows she doesn’t have to.
10
u/ThrowItFillAway 1d ago
This is why the union needs to stop being so anti-CPC.
It'd be nice if a fire was lit under the Liberal's ass to get them to actually care about our vote. The Conservatives know the public service employees aren't voting for them no matter what, so they dont really bother trying to appease us. The Liberals dont need to fight for our vote either because they know they have it by default (for some stupid reason).
Imagine if the head of the union publicly stated they were having a closed door meeting with Poilievre and reported later that the meeting went super well. I dont even know if that's legal, but the amount of pants shitting that would occur in the offices of every Liberal MP in Ottawa would cause a city wide mudslide.
4
u/GameDoesntStop 1d ago
The Conservatives know the public service employees aren't voting for them no matter what, so they dont really bother trying to appease us.
They promised attrition-based cuts. For the 2nd election in a row, they were anti-RTO.
You're half right... they do try, but public service employees aren't voting for them no matter what.
4
u/Abject_Story_4172 1d ago
That’s true. At this point I’m not even sure why or what the risk is. Fearmongering for sure. But looks like a decade of Liberals has brought severe cuts and full time RTO.
0
u/callputs9000 1d ago
They promised attrition-based cuts. For the 2nd election in a row, they were anti-RTO.
You're half right... they do try, but public service employees aren't voting for them no matter what.
They promised attrition based cuts, but so did the Liberals.
I can't speak for everyone, but most people in the PS I've spoken to knew that neither party actually meant attrition based cuts, and both planned to cut deeper.
Heck, Poilievre blamed the reason he lost his seat in Carleton on "being honest" with people about cuts to the PS, so the argument that the CPC was promising attrition based cuts doesn't really wash. This isn't to spare the Liberals here, but we need to be realistic.
5
u/GameDoesntStop 1d ago
The Liberals did not promise attrition. They explicitly promised no cuts to the public service.
2
u/callputs9000 1d ago
The Liberals promised a "cap" on the PS, which is attrition for all intents and purposes.
0
u/OpenSourceSearches 1d ago
They promised attrition-based cuts.
Poilievre literally said that we needed to trim the fat.
4
2
u/Abject_Story_4172 1d ago
I’d love to see it. I’m sick of the complacency. We have the worst MPs in Canada. Oddly I heard up until recently that Poilievre’s constituents were happy with him. And that he was responsive. Likely because he couldn’t take the riding for granted. Unfortunate that as soon as he busy representing Canada they dumped him. For someone who promised no job cuts. And who didn’t have a job at the time.
It would be perfectly allowed for union members to meet with any politician they want. They do it all the time with Liberals. It’s just that the union heads are either staunch NDP supporters or Liberal supporters. They are not interested in working with the Conservatives like many unions did this election. I remember PIPSC a few years back told its 60,000 mostly Ottawa members to vote for anything but Conservative.
3
u/_Rayette 1d ago
He wasn’t responsive at all. He had only one guy working at his constituency office for years and it’s not a one person job.
3
u/Abject_Story_4172 1d ago
How many does Fanjoy have. Some people were interviewed in the riding and they said they always got timely responses from him. So maybe one person was enough. I know all I ever get is form letters from my MP.
0
u/_Rayette 1d ago
I believe I read 6, which shows he’s putting his budget towards constituency staff over hill staff.
2
u/offft2222 1d ago
Pretty sure we wouldn't get given any grace either PP
He probably would have made 5 days his first order of business
3
u/ThrowItFillAway 1d ago
Poilievre was the only federal leader to show any positive view on WFH.
-2
u/offft2222 1d ago
Source?
1
u/zeromussc 1d ago
the election under OToole he said something about WFH being a good way to save money on offices, and thinly veiled partisans have been riding on that one sound clip of 30 seconds for years now.
-1
u/offft2222 1d ago
Exactly
PP is not at all public service friendly
1
u/zeromussc 1d ago
In the current climate it seems no one is.
I remember being lombasted for saying the unions should have out a stake in the ground for Hybrid work, rather than FT WFH in the last bargaining round, given the fact that hybrid was already being implemented. But it would have been real prescient to at least try and enshrine some amount of telework for jobs that allow it. People who can't WFH at all were never gonna give up salary as a concession for those who can WFH, and freezing status quo as hybrid for a while would have been best. But here we are on that front too.
In the end, there is always an ebb and flow in staffing, across all industries ours included. And not one of the party leaders said they'd continue to hire at pace. And not one said that no cuts and no "efficiencies" or reallocations had to be found.
Even the caps not cuts thing was vague because if the cap is the indeterminate staffing levels, then attrition includes not only retirement but also terms and casuals and contractors that count as FTEs being cut is a lie on that front. WFA also means that retirements get accelerated through alternation and the rest.
There's always a spin. There's always a nuance. And there's always a shift from political rhetoric to reality on the ground. Let's not pretend that cuts weren't already planned under Trudeau for a few budgets now. That the writing wasn't already on the wall. And that the PS hadn't seen well out of historical pace growth that would eventually suffer a reversion to the mean, as it always does and has, under any new government.
We like to say that the politicians drive everything, but the public service does act as a ballast, and as a result there were already things being done that shifted us toward this direction before the election, the election just changed the flavour and perhaps the speed of the ship-righting that the ballast swing was already in motion for.
The issue RTO also likely wasn't purely political. There's a whole DM and ADM class - some of which hated WFH as soon as it was no longer necessary for public health reasons. In TBS discussions of RTO for TBS staff included issues like full WFH departments 'poaching' staff and eroding delivery once RTO started there, as well as the notion that people wouldn't leave because of the prestige that comes with working in a central agency meaning that they would never leave - before they started RTO internally in earnest (prior to the gov wide direction).
It's not just politicians. It's also the top of the food chain internal to the PS.
-1
u/Abject_Story_4172 1d ago
What’s the relevance of this comment. We have no idea if he’d be the same. But we know he can’t be worse.
1
7
u/Remote-Thing-9341 1d ago
If city councillors oppose the 5 days RTO and have no weight to prevent it, I very much doubt MPs can do anything about it.
1
u/Catsusefulrib 1d ago
Are they opposing it one or two or is the whole council opposing it? I haven’t seen any articles on it
2
u/Remote-Thing-9341 1d ago
There was a round up on the city of Ottawa Redding, seems to be at least half came our opposing, a few no answers and only a couple expressed support. They were not even given a heads up it was happening.
1
u/Remote-Thing-9341 1d ago
3
u/Remote-Thing-9341 1d ago
Ward 1 (Orleans East – Cumberland): Matthew Luloff - Against RTO (Twitter)
Ward 2 (Orleans West – Innes): Laura Dudas – Against RTO (BlueSky)
Ward 6 (Stittsville): Glen Gower – Against RTO (Facebook)
Ward 7 (Bay): Theresa Kavanagh – Against RTO (Email)
Ward 8 (College): Laine Johnson – Against RTO (BlueSky/Facebook)
Ward 10 (Gloucester – Southgate): Jessica Bradley – Against RTO (Per Laine Johnson's FB post)
Ward 12 (Rideau-Vanier): Stephanie Plante – Against RTO (Email)
Ward 14 (Somerset): Ariel Troster – Against RTO (Ottawa Citizen)
Ward 15 (Kitchissippi): Jeff Leiper – Against RTO (CTV News)
Ward 17 (Capital): Shawn Menard – Against RTO (Twitter/Email)
Ward 18 (Alta Vista): Marty Carr – Against RTO (Email)
Ward 19 (Orleans-South Navan): Catherine Kitts – Against RTO (Twitter)
Ward 22 (Riverside South-Findlay Creek): Steve Desroches – Against RTO (Email)
Ward 24 (Barrhaven East): Wilson Lo – Against RTO (Email)
Mayor: Mark Sutcliffe – For RTO (CTV News)
Ward 16 (River): Riley Brockington – For RTO (Email)
Ward 4 (Kanata North): Cathy Curry – No Clear Position (Email)
Missing in Action:
Ward 3 (Barrhaven West): David Hill -
Ward 5 (West Carleton – March): Clarke Kelly -
Ward 9 (Knoxdale – Merivale): Sean Devine –
Ward 11 (Beacon Hill – Cyrville): Tim Tierney -
Ward 13 (Rideau-Rockcliffe): Rawlson King -
Ward 20 (Osgoode): Isabelle Skalski – No response to multiple emails
Ward 21 (Rideau-Jock): David Brown –
Ward 23 (Kanata South): Allan Hubley – No response to multiple emails
Ongoing Tally:
For RTO/Non-Committal: 1 Mayor, 2 Councillors
Against RTO: 14 Councillors
MIA: 8 Councillors
Next Municipal Election: October 26, 2026
1
u/Catsusefulrib 1d ago
Amazing, thank you so much for this info!
1
u/Remote-Thing-9341 1d ago
No problem! It’s really disheartening to me that despite a majority of council opposing it and the directive going against the strategic directions provided by council that they have zero influence. I don’t think we should expect anything to change federally given how it shook up at the municipal level.
1
u/Catsusefulrib 1d ago
Yes, it is so disheartening that consensus decision making is being tossed to the curb these days. What’s the point of a council if they just get ignored? This really is a sucky timeline.
7
3
u/Secret_Mongoose3319 1d ago
Personally I think we have become detached from local politics.
At the end of the day these people want to be reelected, and im not saying you’re one email would change something but if you talk to neighbours and encourage them to write or call.
Even if one other person does so, that pressure. Regardless of if things change they see your email and they know about it now.
If more people participate in local politics our voices have so much more chance of being heard.
4
u/SciurusRex 1d ago
It’s anecdotal, but I emailed my MP in 2018 for help with Phoenix pay issues dating from 2016 (I hadn’t received any pay changes after 2 promotions) and it got fixed within a month. I guess sometimes it can work?
2
u/Significant-Work-820 1d ago
I emailed mine just over a month ago for an outstanding pay issue from 2019 and it appeared in gcpay this morning! I'm shocked honestly.
Otherwise I just send emails about my political opinions on major issues because I have nowhere else to vent it.
4
u/AlmostThere4321 1d ago
Reached out by email about a Phenix overpayment. MP never replied but the issue was fix soon after.
3
u/SpaceInveigler 1d ago
Once I finished, I thought of the letter responses I have drafted in my role
Right? My dad was a letter writer. We never talked about that part of what I did. I mean, if I got your message, you'd receive a lovely reply with as much truth and responsiveness as I could get through the approvals process. Typically not a lot. The person you were writing to would never see your message, or mine.
3
u/Slavic-Viking 1d ago
The only time I received a follow-up reply to the generic auto-reply was when I had an issue with a Canada Post shipment. I emailed the MP responsible for Canada Post after exhausting all other avenues I knew of. The reply came from a senior manager, and all correspondence went through them.
So, contacting an MP isn't a lost cause, if there is something they can actually take action on. The RTO policy came from the PCO, if I recall correctly, and all the MP can do with something like that is to track issues raised by their constituents.
3
u/__husky__ 1d ago
it's worth just as much as protesting Infront of the parliament. It makes you feel good about yourself thinking you're getting your voice heard but no one really gives a sh*t.
They have their own agendas and plans, they couldn't care less about protests and letters, they might make a small gesture if it happens to get a story in the media.
3
u/pinkaspepe 1d ago
I had a post about writing your MP. My opinion is the alternative of doing nothing is worse.
5
u/Shloops101 1d ago
It really depends on the content and context. If it’s a new and original idea then it may warrant a look. Otherwise, no.
2
2
u/Ready-Astronomer3724 1d ago
I work in correspondence - if you email your MP about a specific personal issue, you should get an answer (even if it’s a redirect to the relevant minister). But if it’s to express dissatisfaction with something, yes like others have said you’ll most likely be part of the tally of “negative” responses in relation to the given topic (in this case, RTO or WFA). It may not feel like your single voice is being heard, but the higher ups still notice when there is traction about something. Obviously it doesn’t always change anything, but I’d say it’s still worth sending even if it just wakes you feel like you did something!
2
u/Tiramisu_mayhem 1d ago
I didn’t even get the generic response. And I thought my letter made important points about federal jobs in the region (Atlantic provinces) which I would have expected them to care about. I’ve just lost faith in all of it tbh. I have a foot out the door.
2
u/Aizirtap71 1d ago
I have replied once, took care of explaining the situation and the opinion that I stand for - and then only got like a generic answer were stupid points well listed, which didn't have anything to do with what I was talking about. I think this is because the union has already entered a prepared text that they hope everybody will send to the MP to cover the masses. However, I am very hesitant to send our reply texts to someone. Especially if I don't agree 100%. In the end, no one will read them because they get lost in the mass of everybody else's reply.
2
u/StealthGnome 1d ago
I've emailed a few times. I got a real reply once (although it was loaded with political taglines) and every other time it was generic auto reply.
2
u/Dexterhollandslabrat 1d ago
You could be right, but isn’t doing something better than doing nothing? What if that one letter really could have made all the difference but you chose not to write?
2
u/No-Interest-6535 1d ago
Emailed my NDP MP a while back and got a very generic response. Felt really disappointed but also reflected the messaging NDP had about public service employees’ working conditions, which was inexistant
4
u/_Rayette 1d ago
Only to NCR area MPs and only if a lot of us do it.
8
u/bobfrombob 1d ago
I am confident there is no amount of letters that would make my NCR MP take issue with the Liberal party.
3
u/_Rayette 1d ago
Depends on who. Some are very panicky.
5
0
u/Altruistic_Past_1499 1d ago
If they are panicky they shouldn’t be in office. Similarly if a supervisor or Executive is panicky when any complaints occur then they should move on. Too many get worried rather than be rational.
3
2
1
1
1
u/Officieros 1d ago
It would civic. But in reality useless because staffers use boiler plate answers. Deflect, rarely admit and address.
1
1
0
u/jac020001a1 1d ago
"Should I just become cynical now?" -- don't ever lose your passion and determination. Government may suppress that with time :) some places can be hugely toxic.
I think these politicians should be really thinking through these cuts. Its not government employee's fault. The economy was ran red hot as they printed and borrowed money to no end and flipping houses became like flipping burgers money was red hot (ref https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE88E9ICdiphYjJkeeLL2O09eJoC8r7Dc ) Oil up inflation up interest rates up housing dies can't print/borrow money nor sell the country off (bonds) now what? as they go into a deficit cause the revenue isn't coming in as it was... in a red hot market.
The government grew by around 40% ( ref https://globalnews.ca/news/10626474/canada-civil-service-increase-justin-trudeau/ ) as they threw money into I and G to spur C (housing) GDP=C+I+G+(X-m) its fools gold really.
Anyhow, none of this is any employee's fault. Yet, those with young families will lose their job and I feel really bad for those that do lose their jobs.
Cuts need to be done strategically, first putting a call out for those about to retire if they want to go WFA. I suspect this may decrease the public service by some X amount. https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/innovation/human-resources-statistics/demographic-snapshot-federal-public-service-2023.html then they have to determine what really adds ROI/value to Canadians https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/planned-government-spending/government-expenditure-plan-main-estimates/2024-25-estimates.html
strategic not bluntly, too many programs get hit and too many lose their jobs with blunt cuts. Its stupidity really.
1
u/jac020001a1 1d ago edited 1d ago
Having worked public and private for large giant corporations (defense and https://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/worldcom.asp etc..) we used to hang government over a ledge using lobby groups, powerful lawyers and media might. Three things government hates to deal with as it never wants to look bad. The union is pretty useless right now, it no longer fights for the members but sides with the administration. I've tried to use them, issues go no place a its pretty weak right now. Has no backbone.
Does writing to your MP help, it depends. They're they one's making the cuts as we are in a deficit situation. Who got us in this mess? as the economy was running red hot - that printing press was really rolling then the oil dried up and it got squeaky ( https://www.worldometers.info/oil/ ).
I think there has to be a collective of people that voice their concerns for sure and get media might on your side. Right now, the media is against the public service for the most part. Media sets the message to the mass population.
Having said all that, there needs to be a strategy put in place and a good game plan by employees and that is lacking big time. There is no real HR dept in government you need to look after yourself and your career. And, union is failing big time another problem. So, a new collective needs to form to represent the employees.
Right now we are following the USA model, where they are trying to shift the money from public sector (housing) to private sector (stocks) with a high tech boom- MAG7.. will it work here, who knows but engineering is pretty dead in canada right now.
we are all merely debt pawns and tax slaves, that's all
61
u/darksidedenizen 1d ago
I’ve emailed my mp a few times before. Got the generic “your email is important” never any follow up. I presume you have to show up in person.