One of my goals with this blog is to explain to people some of the more, shall we say, arcane aspects of our system of government. My role is not to go into explicit detail, but to provide an overview which I hope will help people understand some of the important, yet often misunderstood (or unknown!) procedures that make up parliamentary government in countries such as Canada.
I have recently come across a blog which has a similar goal, but rather than explain how our system of government works, or the fine points of parliamentary procedure, this blog looks at how to best engage with government. All of those online petitions you’re asked to sign? Those angry emails you’ve sent off to your local MP or a minister or even the prime minister? Maybe not the best way to get a response.
For an insider’s view on how people communicate with government, and why many approaches really don’t work, The Civic Engager is a blog written by a someone who works for the Canadian Government controlling and coordinating executive correspondence from the public. As explained in the About section, the goal with the blog is “to encourage better input from the public. The misconceptions people have about corresponding with the Government are endless, and the results are discouraging.”
So if you are planning to write to your MP, you might want to have a look at this blog first for some key advice on what to say and how to say it.