Canadian Railroads > Prime Minister Trudeau Responds to Reindeerflame on Late Canadian

Office of the Prime Minister/Cabinet du Premier Ministre
Ottawa, Canada K1A 0A2
June 14, 2018

Dear Mr. RF:

On behalf of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, I would like to acknowledge receipt of your correspondence, in which you raised an issue that falls within the responsibilities of the Honourable Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport.

Please be assured that your comments have been carefully reviewed.  I have taken the liberty of forwarding a copy of your correspondence to Minister Garneau, who, I am certain, will wish to give your views every consideration.

Thank you for taking the time to write.

Yours sincerely,

J.P. Vachon
Manager
Executive Correspondence Services

I sure wish the writer of that letter was standing in my garden.  It needs the fertilizer.

Norm

Norman Orfall
Helendale, CA
TIOGA PASS, a private railcar



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/18 22:47 by aronco.

aronco Wrote:
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> I sure the writer of that letter was standing in
> my garden.  It needs the fertilizer.
>
> Norm

Train Orders needs to have a "Response of the Day" just like Image of the Day. I nominate this one.

irhoghead Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> aronco Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I sure the writer of that letter was standing
> in
> > my garden.  It needs the fertilizer.
> >
> > Norm
>
> Train Orders needs to have a "Response of the Day"
> just like Image of the Day. I nominate this one.

GREAT IDEA!!!!
😀
C

Carol Voss
Bakersfield, CA

From the Minister, you may someday get a customized version of the "bug" letter. 

At least a member of the Prime Minister Trudeau's office responded. Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper was famous for not responding to communications except from people he thought were "suitable".

This is a fine "thank you for sharing your views" letter.

I wonder how many Via letters are received by the PM?

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Why is everyone getting so excited about a boilerplate form letter?
The PM's correspondence unit probably has lots of similar form letters ready to go at all times.

 

Will MacKenzie
Dundas, ON

Here is the original text of the letter I sent to Prime Minister Trudeau, with copy to the VIA CEO:

May 24, 2018
Honourable Justin Trudeau
Prime Minister
House of Commons
Ottawa, Canada  K1AOA6

Re: Poor Performance of VIA Rail Canada "Canadian" Passenger Train/Toronto to Vancouver

Dear Prime Minister Trudeau:

I am writing to highlight the poor performance, and embarrassment to Canada, of VIA Rail Canada's Canadian passenger train  between Toronto and Vancouver.  This train, operated by Canadian National, is routinely operating 8 hours behind schedule.  On some recent days, it has operated 10, 12, 24, and recently 48 hours behind schedule.  This is simply unacceptable.  If the government cannot arrange for this train service to operate close to on schedule, it should not be operating the train at all.  Even Amtrak here in the U.S., which has its own problems, does much better in terms of performance.  And yet in Canada, the tardy trains are apparently considered acceptable.  It's a disgrace.  These are third-world conditions.  It's misleading to the consumer.  

Canada needs to do better, or Canada should get out of the transcontinental train business and leave this to the Americans.  I cannot recommend that anyone travel on this train, and will not be visiting Canada to use this train as I have in the past.  I'm done.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my views.

Very truly yours, 

RF
USA



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/09/18 12:27 by reindeerflame.

Prime Ministers and Cabinet Ministers have always received a tremendous amount of correspondence. With the ease of e-mail, it has been far more in recent years. Many years ago my Member of Parliament told me if I wanted a Cabinet Minister to see my letter and respond to it it was best to write to the local M.P. who would send a covering letter to the minister.   I have done that a few times over the decades and the response to the local M.P. was then forwarded to me.

There is no guarantee that this will happen.  I had one M.P. for four years - a "back-bencher" in the Harper government - who did not respond to any letters or e-mail, not even a "thank you for sharing your concerns" response. Yet I had one M.P. for 17 years who responded in detail to every letter I sent - never more than one a year.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/09/18 04:16 by DrawingroomA.

DrawingroomA Wrote:
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> Prime Ministers and Cabinet Ministers have always
> received a tremendous amount of correspondence.

> ............................ Yet I had one
> M.P. for 17 years who responded in detail.....

That’s what I found also. Best route is though your MP. When Peter McKay was mine....he would respond in detail.

I wonder, if your letter gets through, if Marc Garneau will act on your second option?  ie. to close the service down.

This continent does not understand rail travel at all. 

Rick

Well they can now respond that there is a new schedule being released and all will be right in the world....... 

Letter ers was direct and to the point - operate it with some national pride - or as trains should be - or EXIT the business. 

The existing schedule and schedule to come is the slowest transcon schedule in 100 years. A new low from what used to be the schedule when operated by CN, CP, and even VIA. 

The US equivalent of the Canadian - even when all were operated by the current freight railroads - in my mind has always been the combination of the Capitol Limited and CA Zephyr. Here's Richard's Andersen's "experiential" train, if all other Amtrak long distance trains are discontinued.....

Letters are nice, but, the thing I found in a correspondence, is your last line ought to be "respectfully, awaiting your reply". In other words, you have asked for a reply and if the issue goes further, you can point fingers that "you asked for a reply" and none was received.  In my time with a railway Union, several grievance's were initiated at "level one" with the end line "awaiting your reply" the company never did reply, grievance escalated to level two and eventually arbitration to resolve the issue. The Arbitrator ruled in favour of the Grieveor to the effect that the Company did not "reply" and therefore accepted the Grievance.  convoluted, yes, think about it.  Doug

Many years ago, my political mentor, a retired steelworkers union official, was leading a senior services organization and needed to get the State of New Hampshire, with a very conservative Governor, to spend some funds on certain housing projects. He rallied local senior groups across the state to bring on a set day thousands of older people to gather on the state house lawn. They got the message and voted for the projects. As he said afterwords: "Politicians are not too smart, but they can count."

Politicians often react to media events if they are TV worthy.

DAY 22, Mr Rep, where is our bill?

WV and OK teachers showed exactly how it can be done.

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Lackawanna484 --
Would youl pleae be so kind as to provide a summary or a link to exactly what the teachers in West Virginia and Oklahoma did that was so successful in getting them what they asked for?  Thanks!

To all --
I never expect a personal reply from any state or Congressional politician, simply because there are far, far too many people in any state for any politician at the state or federal level to have the time to read more than a few e-mails.  There are simply not enough hours in the day.

What can be effective is groups of people working together,and, yes getting media attention, and keeping the pressure on the politicians.  Bicyclists have been very effective at this -- they got organized and kept the pressure on, and that is how they get all that political support for tens of millions of our tax dollars being spent on bike paths in many places.

Anymore, in this day and age, I think if you want to ge the attention of a politician, you have to send him or her a briefcase full of hundred dollar bills. 

Large corporations and "one percenters" understand this.  

NY Times article on WV teachers strike. Thousands of people in the street can make a difference.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/06/us/west-virginia-teachers-strike-deal.html

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