Comment     I sense Mr. Dunford is a little frustrated now. 
At 12:48 PM 7/21/2005, you wrote:

Dear Mr. Cutmore,
Please work with the Edmonton office.  I have forwarded a copy of your
email to them.
                                                               Cordially,

                                                              Clint Dunford
MLA,
                                                               Lethbridge West
Constituency
                                                               Minister of
Economic Development

-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Cutmore [mailto:tom.cutmore@thebowriver.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2005 10:05 PM
To: Lethbridge West
Cc: Calgary MacKay; Lethbridge West; Livingstone Macleod; Fort
McMurray-Wood Buffalo; donna.ballard@gov.ab.ca; Calgary Buffalo;
Strathmore Brooks; Innisfail SylvanLake; premier@gov.ab.ca; Calgary
Elbow; barb.walline@gov.ab.ca; Barrhead Morinville Westlock;
mayorweb@gov.calgary.ab.ca; trevor.rhodes@gov.ab.ca
Subject: Re: flooding of the Bow River
Importance: High

---

Dear Mr. Dunford,
I purposely held off replying to your email below to give myself the
opportunity to formulate a response. This is it.

No, you didn't say that you were not the lead minister. What you said
was,
and I quote, "The issue of river access reconstruction will involve the
cooperation of several departments." You then stated that you forwarded
my
letter to several other ministers for their review and response. No
where
in your letter did you mention that you were not the lead minister on
this
flooding and access issue. Let's be very clear about that.

You did say in your email below that you would have someone in your
Edmonton office ( Warren Chandler ) contact me. Question, if you are not

the lead minister, why is Chandler going to call me? When is he going to

call me? Why isn't the lead minister going to call me? What is the time
table for this supposed call? Why should I deal with the Edmonton office
if
you aren't the lead minister? I could go on and on with pertinent
questions
but I fear I wouldn't like the vague answers you might give me.

Mr. Dunford, it has been almost a month since the rain stopped. The
river
has been dropping daily and we have yet to hear anything substantive
from
the government about repairing river access points. You say you are the
minister responsible for tourism in the province and you appreciate my
concerns but it rings hollow. The guiding industry on the Bow River is
to a
large extent comprised of foreign anglers. That would be tourists and
tourist dollars. If you really appreciated my concerns, as you state in
your letter of June 30/05, you would actually do something. You would
initiate a plan for repair or replacement of destroyed access points.
Yet
what I get from the government is excuses, passing the buck and the
sound
of dragging feet. I really would appreciate an answer with substance. A
plan of action with a definite time table. Is that too much to ask of
the
government?

I await your reply.
Sincerely,
Tom Cutmore
PS. I'm attaching your letter of June 30/05 so you might review just
what
you said. I also pasted in the previous correspondence so there is a
complete string of emails.

---

Comment   This email is particularly telling!  As of August 2/05, Chandler has yet to call me. Dunford is washing his hands of this situation!

At 01:55 PM 7/18/2005, you wrote:
>Dear Mr. Cutmore,
>
>    As I said in my June 30, 2005 letter, I am not the lead Minister on

> this flooding and access issue. However, I will ensure we get someone
to
> call you.  I have asked Warren Chandler in my Edmonton office to
contact
> you directly.  Please deal with the Edmonton office on this critical
issue.

>Cordially,
>Clint Dunford,
>MLA, Lethbridge West Constituency
>Minister of Economic Development

---

Comment  This email from me to Dunford is a reply to the letter he sent me on June 30th. In it he talks about being pleased to contact me on behalf of Forsyth, how he appreciates me taking the time to voice my concerns and how the government is working closely with those affected by the flood. As you will see I don't pull any punches.

To: Clint Dunford
From: Tom Cutmore <tom.cutmore@thebowriver.com>
Subject: Your response or lack there of
Cc: calgary.mackay@assembly.ab.ca ...snip... Heather Forsyth MLA

Dear Mr. Dunford / Clint,
I should start by thanking you for taking time out of, what I can only
imagine you to believe, is your busy schedule. While I do appreciate
your
response you missed the point of my email. You failed to pick up on the
urgency of the situation - if you had you might have phoned or emailed
me.
But I shouldn't be surprised as the wheels of Government move slowly and are never efficient.

I am so pleased, that you are pleased, to respond on behalf of Heather
Forsythe. God knows she can't seem do it for herself and seems to be
avoiding me. She won't return my phone calls. I guess I'm a pain in the
...... Instead, her assistant forwards my concerns to the wrong
departments and further wastes my time. Just today I spoke with someone in Public
Lands that was told to call me but didn't have the slightest clue as to why
she was calling.

You say that the Alberta Government is committed to working closely with
those affected by the flood. I don't see any evidence of that. What I do
see is a Government letter from you spouting politicaleze  and informing
me of exactly nothing. If you had actually read my email you would have
seen that I already  sent it to all the ministers you mentioned in your
letter.

I am thrilled that you appreciate me taking the time to voice my
concerns. I can now sleep at night knowing you are on the job. Continued best
wishes to you as well.

I attached your letter to this email as a reminder of the total lack of content within.
Sincerely,
Tom Cutmore
PS. If this is your best effort then the Conservatives have lost my vote
in the next election as it is painfully clear to me you don't care and never did.