This is not the first time I have ever received an email from Stephen Harper. However, it is definitely the first time I have ever received an email from Prime Minister Stephen Harper!
In Nov. of 2005, the Hon. Stephen Harper, Leader of the Opposition had sent me an email, thanking me for my various letters to the editor that highlighted Liberal corruption.
O.K., I had shamelessly brought them to his attention.. I admit it. But it was way cool to have them acknowledged by title!!
Then a few days ago, inspired by a few fellow Blogging Tories that suggested sending birthday wishes to PM Stephen Harper, I added my own:
Dear P.M. Harper,
I just want to take this opportunity to wish you a very Happy Birthday. Your gift is on my blog...
Very best wishes,
Joanne
Of course, I received the standard reply nanoseconds afterwards:
"Please know that your e-mail message has been received in the Prime Minister's Office and that your comments have been noted. Our office always welcomes hearing from correspondents and being made aware of their views..."
Ya-da-da, ya-da-da. Then I moved on to other things.
Today, I noticed another message in my in-box from the "Office of the Prime Minister". I've got to tell you, it does make the heart beat a tad faster. And this time, it was a little different. It was a personal note from the Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, thanking me for the warm birthday greetings and kind words of encouragement.
He concluded with:
"I look forward to your continued support as we work to fulfill the mandate given to us by Canadians."
I admit it wasn't an overblown, gushing missive, but it struck a chord with me. It was like, "Hey Joanne - good job. Thanks."
Considering the fact that my own M.P. doesn't give me the time of day, this is without a doubt, the best reponse I've ever had from a politician!
And he just happens to be the Prime Minister of Canada!!! As Monte Solberg would have said in his blog days, "Who knew?"
21 comments:
Congrats Joanne..I can see that your excited. It's always nice to get acknowledgement from the top. Especially on budget day, no less.
I would have assumed that he would be super busy today. Either way congrats.
You know what, thats true Vicki..it does really speak to his character.
I met him when he was the leader of the Canadian Alliance, very nice...actually spent time talking with a 17 year old kid.
Wow, thanks, guys! And Zac - I really appreciate your comments! That is very big of you to say that. It goes beyond partisan boundaries. You're speaking to a human response of warmth and appreciation. That's what it's all about. You're o.k. in my books, Zac.
Come on and post the email already!
Way cool!
We haven't had a real personal touch PM in a long time.
Too busy to meet pam anderson, but enough time to send you a note. Nice to see us regular folks get his ear for a change.
joanne,
that's a lot of fun. what decent man, eh? well deserved!
Good for you Joanne, you better frame that puppy!!
The great thing about this is, it's not that surprising that this PM would take the time to acknowledge the acts of a deserving supporter.
Joanne, I always figured that someone as boring as me couldn't be all bad!
By the way, you just reminded me of how much I miss reading Monte's blog. Caught a glimpse of him today at the end of the budget reading, looked like he was into some serious discussion with the Liberal opposition (it feels good saying that).
That's cool! I would take Harper over a thousand Liberals any day.
Thanks, everyone. You know, I think this is EXACTLY what the media detests - Harper is trying to reach out right to the people, and he is attempting to bypass the spin doctors and massacred messages. And he has every reason to do so.
Guess what, MSM? YOU ARE IRRELEVANT! We have blogs now. The PM reads them. Wake up and smell the coffee.
Prime Minister: I will be more than happy to be your spokesperson any day of the week.
Right on..... Good to see the job hasn't gone to his head [insert lame crack about the job going to his waistline instead].
8^)
Awesome Joanne! I agree with your statement that the MSM is irrelevant. I truly like reading blogs more than the newspaper. I get the opinions of all kinds of people instead of one reporter, who in my humble opinion is usually biased one way or the other. Whatever happened to just reporting the facts? Keep up the great work!
I am pretty envious Joanne :D
I still get a huge kick of the fact that his birthday is tax day.
Holy Cww, I missed all this completely. I swear, you go away for three little days and all sorts of stuff happens.
Nice one Joanne.
Ah, Molar. Don't give up. You might get one too someday.
Tax day is his birthday.. How ironic! Well, he gave us all a birthday gift with that budget.
Thanks, Brian! Pretty awesome.
I hope you had a great anniversary.
I also believe that blogs are changing things, and allowing a lot more people to be heard. Hopefully it will help my preferred political views, but that's a discussion for another day.
In the "media muzzling" debate, they talk about how bad it is that statements made by MPs etc have to go through the PMO.
But I never heard it pointed out that each of those reporters is just as required to send their comments through their editor. They can't just print whatever they want, most television is tape delayed, so why should they expect people in the government to be any different? That's the real media muzzling. They do it to themselves.
That's why blogs are a big part of the future of communications.
Very insightful, Liberal supporter. Thanks for weighing in here!
Just on the subjects of blogs, they are getting more attention.
I have been emailed and called from pretty much every leadership contender asking who I was supporting, etc, etc.
Those who I criticized on my blog, sent me lengthy emails which stated why I was wrong and if I wanted to meet with so and so whose thier regional campaign chair or whatever to straighten things out they would appreciate it.
It just shows how the times are changing. Before the blog, these people wouldn't even shake my hand, now I'm Mr. Popular...who knew.
Lib blogger, CalgaryGrit was even contact for an personal interview with Ignatieff...
Oh, and at LPCO, they're giving press credentials to those who are willing to Live Blog the event.
Just one more example...
Wow, Zac; Awesome!
Of course any potential candidate knows better than to contact me! ;)
That's cool though, and shows the power of the blog as increasingly important force on the political scene. To me, it's a powerful democratic tool.
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