Nobody anxious to help with problem

This narrative will come as no surprise to anyone, but in my opinion needs to be told.

I own a small company in Kelowna and several months ago had a problem which involved the arrival of goods through the Canadian Border Services Agency.

In fact, it was the second time that our shipment had been delayed in customs. CBSA is a very necessary organization, but one with little recourse. The delay was unnecessary, unfair and put our company at serious risk.

In what I knew would be an exercise in futility, I called Victoria for assistance, and as expected, was referred to someone else, in this case, our local MP.

Two emails were sent and the latter received a response. The entire scenario was explained in detail, not to the MP but to her assistant. The assistant was polite and attentive, however after several conversations it became clear she had no concept about the structure of the problem, and as a consequence, had no idea how to solve it.

The problem was never resolved, and in fact the outcome appeared to take longer than it did the first time. Thankfully we did manage to weather the storm.

We are a small Canadian company, but growing. Additional staff will be needed in the future which means employment for Canadians. That outcome was in jeopardy. It was a dire situation and this was not a problem which could have been resolved by an assistant.

The woman who could have helped was missing in action, and it would appear, not really interested.