Conservative Shennanigans - CONFIRMED!

I just received an email from my MP's office regarding the conservative mailings I've been receiving in my mailbox! Here it is:

Dear WC,

Thank you very much for contacting Alex with this information. I will bring your e-mail to his attention at the earliest.

To respond on this matter, please be assured that you are not alone, as our offices both in Ottawa and Castlegar have received numerous calls, letters and e-mails about the Conservative mailing into the Alex's riding, all expressing their outrage.

With that said, I have taken the liberty of investigating this, and have found out that while the material has Mr. X's name and address on it, that it was a Conservative Party mailing, which means that the Party dumped this into our riding as a mass mail out.

I would like to emphasis that Alex is extremely disappointed that the Conservatives have sent a mailing into his riding where they attack and try to persuade. They have offered no facts on the issue and their tactics display their narrow minded opinions. Their "it's my way or the highway" approach to the issue leaves no room for a balanced a fair approach to drawing your own conclusions. Rather than inform and solicit your opinion, they have chosen to once again dictate how you should think.

If you so wish, please do not hesitate to contact Mr. X's office at _____ to voice your dissatisfaction with this type of blatant partisan material.

Again, thank you very much for contacting us.

Sincerely,

J. R., MA

to Alex Atamanenko, MP
BC Southern Interior

My response:

Ms. R,

Thank you for responding to my email in a very timely manner. I contacted Mr. Cannan's office via email a week ago now, and have yet to receive a response. I will send another email, however, now that I have more information.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has noticed this or who is a little ticked off about it. If this had been a regular Conservative Party mailing, or one from Mr. Z, I might not have been so annoyed. Yet, it seems disingenuous to me to send out a mailing that looks like it's coming from a neighbouring Conservative MP. It's bound to cause confusion and questions, and though we should all know who our local MP is, I wonder if this is an attempt to confuse those who might not understand our Parliamentary system or our local, federal-level politics. Also, I wonder if this is a deceitful means of garnering votes for Mr. Z in the next election.

Once again, thank you for responding.

Regards,
WC.

So, I am not the only one with concerns about this. I think misrepresenting yourself as an MP for another riding - which is what I interpret given that the neighbouring MP is sending stuff to this riding, not the Conservative Party in general and not the local Con candidate - is pretty sneaky to say the least. If enough people have noticed and been as annoyed as I have about this tactic, I can't see how that would benefit the Cons in this riding in the next election.