Voter sends a message to Conservative Winnipeg MP

Late last month a Crescentwood-area woman named Marsha Dozar phoned with a problem.

Her member of Parliament wouldn't return her call.

Actually, she had another even bigger problem -- one shared by thousands of Canadians -- which is why she wanted to speak with her MP.

At the time she called me, on Nov. 24, it had been exactly two months since she first emailed the office of Conservative MP Joyce Bateman (Winnipeg South Centre).

And after waiting two weeks but getting nowhere with that email, she left a message asking to speak with Bateman on the phone about changes to the Canadian Pension Plan.

Another two weeks later, there was still no return call from Bateman.

But that's just part of her frustration. Dozar's initial email outlining her concerns was sent to Bateman's office on Sept. 24. She began:

"Dear Ms. Bateman,

"I am extremely frustrated and upset with the impending changes in the Canada Pension Act. As of January those people who took an early pension are going to be penalized. I am one of them. I am 62 years old and decided to collect at the age of 60. Shortly into that year, I decided to accept a position on a part-time basis which has and will continue for the next few years... As of January 2012 I must now continue receiving CPP each month, AND begin paying premiums again. I am self-employed which means I am doubly taxed (paying the personal portion of the CPP and the employer portion). This new law will cost me thousands of dollars each year. If the government of Canada chooses to change this in midstream, there should be a grandfathering of those that are caught and some options afforded them...

"You are my MP. I turn to you for help... "

A few days after sending the email, Dozar said she heard from one of Bateman's assistants, who vowed to look into the issue and get back to her. Dozar emailed a reminder on Oct. 13. In early November, she asked to speak with Bateman. It's now been a month since she made the request to speak with her MP and more than two months since she contacted the office. Bateman still hasn't called.

Which seems strange given what Bateman said when she first announced she was running back in early April, and incumbent Liberal Anita Neville's campaign wanted her to answer 10 questions about her stance on the Conservatives' election platform.

"I'm out on the streets listening to what matters to my constituents right now," she said at the time.

Apparently Joyce Bateman isn't interested in listening to her constituents anymore. Or at least not one named Marsha Dozar. Which is why I offered Dozar a suggestion.

A week ago today, I told Dozar to call three other MPs and see what happened. I gave her the numbers for neighbouring Conservative MPs Rod Bruinooge (Winnipeg South) and Steven Fletcher (Charleswood-St.James-Assiniboia and Headingley) and Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux (Winnipeg North).

I also called Bruinooge, who happens to be my MP, and Lamoureux, and left messages for them to call me.

By 10 a.m. Wednesday, Dozar had spoken with a woman in Lamoureux's Ottawa office.

"She couldn't have been more helpful," Dozar said.

Dozar explained she wasn't a constituent, but she couldn't get her own MP to listen, so she was calling to ask if Lamoureux would take her call and help. Interestingly, Lamoureux credits being elected to spending Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the McDonald's on Keewatin Street, meeting with and listening to constituents.

Considering it's a traditional NDP riding and he only won by 44 votes, he's probably right.

In any event, Lamoureux -- who returned my call Wednesday -- returned Dozer's call late Wednesday night, although by then he knew she had spoken to me.

Bruinooge also returned my call. Later, he contacted Dozar and promised to call her today at noon, even though I didn't tell him she had called me nor about her issue with Bateman.

As for Joyce Bateman, way back on Nov. 25 I called her, too, asking to speak with her, but -- as with Bruinooge and Lamoureux -- not saying why. More than a week later, Bateman still hasn't returned my call. But she's got the message now. And if she doesn't start listening to her constituents, chances are she'll get the message again.

A message from her constituents-turned-voters she'll have to listen to.

-- -- --

More than two hours after my deadline, about 8:15 p.m., Dozar received a phone message from Ottawa. It was Bateman, leaving what Dozar called "a rambling four-minute message."

Marsha Dozar wasn't surprised by the coincidental timing. Obviously Bateman got the message.

gordon.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 6, 2011 B1