A few days ago I wrote 4 My Canada with a list of questions regarding a reception and week long series of meetings they hold yearly with various MP’s.
The questions are basic and can be found in the post below. Here is the comment left by 4 My Canada.
FYI – Our administrator did respond to you, several hours prior to this posting so your 11:10pm comment is misleading in this regard.
Your e-filters may be amped up a bit to high.
Your comment regarding “non-profits paying for access to meet with MPs” is also misleading and incorrect if you are suggesting something regarding the meetings you are noting in your discourse here.
The young adult Canadians met with MPs as citizens. None of them are paid lobbyists. 4MYC organizes these field trips to Parliament periodically as a way to encourage positive dialogue between our elected officials and Canadian citizens. MPs received no payment to participate in meetings. Gifts of appreciation were presented as an act of honour, not payment for the meetings. Gift giving: flowers, candy, etc. is a normal Canadian practice when anyone is showing appreciation for another person for their efforts – which is exactly what the young people were doing.
Thanks for your concern and interest.
We will not be participating in your blog from this point onward as your intention and your identity is suspect (we have noted that you have not been transparent in disclosing your identity on a variety of frontiers).
Take Care.
Okay, 18-35 year olds on a field trip to lobby share with MP’s and hand out candy and flowers.
Why would 4 My Canada hesitate to disclose which MP’s chose to attend?
Here is the email response from 4 My Canada.
Thank you for your interest in the affairs of our nation.
This event had nothing to do with NHOP, so your facts are incorrect there. NHOP is not a co-sponsor of anything MY Canada is doing, though they are a wonderful organization doing wonderful things in our nation and often report on what is happening in Canada. The same would be true of TheCRY (who you noted on your site). These organizations are separate from MY Canada – though we do appreciate any group who is leading wonderful times of prayer for Canada. There are many. Freedom of religion, and people of prayer, have helped to make nation great in the past and will undoubtedly continue to add to her strength.
The purpose of the delegation’s visit to our Parliamentarians was clear on our site, the report of our week to our members was clear and the projected budget was as well. The $525 / team member was to cover each team member’s hotel and food costs of the week – so that was uniform for all members. Thankfully we were able to scholarship a few of the young adults who applied that otherwise would not have been able to participate in this positive week for Canada.
The gifts of appreciation were between $20-25/MP and were hand made by young adult volunteers. The fundraising was for the supplies for the young adults to make the gifts of appreciation and they did a beautiful job.
As far as MPs who attended, that is for them to disclose if they would like to and you can feel free to contact their offices to ask them in person and I am sure their assistants will be happy to tell you if they attended if they feel so inclined to.
The intention of your research, and who you are exactly, is extremely vague. We have made note that your blog is generally anti-socially conservative and opposed to many wonderful organizations dong great things on our nation. In light of this, and the fact that you have not explained who you are up front, in order to protect the privacy of the young people who attended we will not answer specific questions about them. The Parliamentarians who met with them got a proper introduction and that was adequate for the purposes of the week.
We live in a wonderful nation and we are so proud of these young people for the spirit of honour an authenticity that they addressed their elected officials on a variety of topics they care about last week. Canada at large, and all those reading your blogs, should be very proud of these excellent young Canadians. There are so many wonderful young people in our nation who are working on great causes and we hope they continue to in a variety of forums. As young socially minded Canadians continue to engage, Canada will continue be a wonderful place to live.
There is a reasonable answer buried in this response. Gifts to MP’s totalled 25 dollars maximum.
As for the rest, I believe that is the best 4 My Canada can and will do, telling others what we should and shouldn’t feel, think or ask.
Make of the response what you will.
Attacking the questioner is an old deflection trick, as is straining at gnats while swallowing the camel.
That’s called politcs.
Thanks for the research into this, hopefully more can be dug up, or perhaps an MP could come forward and let us know what’s so important that these kids need to be shuttled to Ottawa to meet their MPs (who should at least occasionally be in their own riding).
18-35 year olds aren’t kids on a field trip meeting with legislators who don’t represent their ridings.
It was a reception, not a national security meeting.
It’s sad simple questions are painted as threatening, spiritualized and reduced to:
“As far as MPs who attended, that is for them to disclose if they would like to and you can feel free to contact their offices to ask them in person and I am sure their assistants will be happy to tell you if they attended if they feel so inclined to.”
Channelling Rod Bruinrooge?
Sorry kids, giving a tangible gift to an MP or bureaucrat is called lobbying. Thus the being careful to note that the gifts are under $25, perhaps so lobbying rules don’t kick in?
You’d also think that they would like to let people know who the MPs were to 1) see if their efforts worked and 2)see if the MPs really listened to what the kids had to say…
Why hide your light under a bushel?
Interesting that Faytene would say My Canada is separate from The Cry… According to her background/bio presented in the “Missionfest Toronto” 2008 magazine, the two are linked together quite nicely, “Under 4MY Canada in July 2006, she led the CRY 2 (Him)”. http://www.missionfest.org/files/file/MFTmag08-sm3.pdf
When most conferences are being prepared, guest speakers are usually asked to send in some form of a bio and some background so attendees can learn a little about them. I’m not sure who sent Faytene’s information to the organizers of Missionfest in Toronto, but I’m sure if someone other than Faytene did submit it, Faytene would have made sure it met her approval before it was submitted and if it was Faytene who submitted it, then we have the information first-hand. Regardless, the background/bio information would have been provided and approved BY HER at some point.
On another note, I find it interesting that Faytene uses the excuse of “The intention of your research, and who you are exactly, is extremely vague. We have made note that your blog is generally anti-socially conservative and opposed to many wonderful organizations dong great things on our nation.”, in order to avoid answering your questions. I can say with some certainty that Faytene wouldn’t answer any questions I posed to her either, though she knows exactly who I am including my first and last name, exactly what I stand for and she would also be quite familiar with the website I run which is linked from this site.
Let’s face it, she will never be open to public scrutiny. As a matter of fact, she will do everything to avoid it because she knows where it will lead!
“dong great things on our nation…” LOL … Now that’s prophetic.
I don’t recognize my nation any longer. I was born in The Dominion of Canada, not The Harper nation or the American GOP Republican States of North America.
How has this happened, can we as
Canadians really be this blind or are we ostriches, sticking our heads in the political sand? This nation has such a climate of political fear now about the opposition, the Bloc and terrorism that we are blinded to the hijacking of our country through the back door.
I despair of the day we shall have to pledge allegiance to the flag of religious xenophobia, but I can see it coming…fast. I wish we had the right to refuse our ballot and have it noted in a federal
election, instead of not voting. That kind of apathy panders to
conservatism but only garners lip service; ‘if you can change the
future but don’t vote too bad for you, our people will and give you
George Orwell’s jackboot to the face for your complacency’.