Vancouver woman’s Facebook letter to Stephen Harper goes viral

A Vancouver woman’s Facebook letter to Stephen Harper has gone viral online.

Mary Cleaver posted the letter on Oct. 10 and it has been shared more than 31,000 times.

She discusses why she will not be voting for the Conservative Party on Monday, even though, as she says, “we’re the picture of the family who benefits the most from your economic policies.”

She says, on Oct. 19, she will be “voting for change.”

Read the full letter below:

Dear Mr. Harper,

I live in BC with my husband and two little girls. I grew up in Calgary and have many friends and family members there. I’m white and in my early 40s. One of us is a stay at home parent, so we benefit 100% from the direct deposits in lieu of a national childcare program. We also benefit 100% from income splitting. And we can afford to take advantage of the increased allowance in our TFSAs.

In other words, we’re the picture of the family who benefits the most from your economic policies.

But we’re not voting Conservative on October 19th.

You see, you’ve misjudged us. We enjoy our standard of living, we work hard for it but it’s not the only thing that matters to us.

You assume we don’t care about our first nations neighbours, or Canadians trying to bring their family members here from war torn countries. That we don’t care about less fortunate Canadians, our veterans, or scientists. You think we don’t mind that to save a few bucks and balance the books we axed the census, dumped decades of research from our libraries, cut funding to CBC, underspent our budgets in important departments and closed coast guard stations. You figure we no longer want our lakes and rivers protected and that we don’t understand that climate change is a far greater risk to our way of life than Barbaric Cultural Practices.

You’ve underestimated us.
On October 19, we’re not voting for our bank balance. We’re voting for change because we want the caring Canada of our youth back. The Canada that supported our single mothers that gave us the opportunity to succeed in the first place.

Mary Cleaver

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: Dear Mr. Harper,</p><p>I live in BC with my husband and two little girls. I grew up in Calgary and have many friends and family members there. I'm white and in my early 40s. One of us is a stay at home parent, so we benefit 100% from the direct deposits in lieu of a national childcare program. We also benefit 100% from income splitting. And we can afford to take advantage of the increased allowance in our TFSAs.</p><p>In other words, we're the picture of the family who benefits the most from your economic policies.</p><p>But we're not voting Conservative on October 19th.</p><p>You see, you've misjudged us. We enjoy our standard of living, we work hard for it but it's not the only thing that matters to us.</p><p>You assume we don't care about our first nations neighbours, or Canadians trying to bring their family members here from war torn countries. That we don't care about less fortunate Canadians, our veterans, or scientists. You think we don't mind that to save a few bucks and balance the books we axed the census, dumped decades of research from our libraries, cut funding to CBC, underspent our budgets in important departments and closed coast guard stations. You figure we no longer want our lakes and rivers protected and that we don't understand that climate change is a far greater risk to our way of life than Barbaric Cultural Practices.</p><p>You've underestimated us.<br />On October 19, we're not voting for our bank balance. We're voting for change because we want the caring Canada of our youth back. The Canada that supported our single mothers that gave us the opportunity to succeed in the first place.</p><p>Mary Cleaver

When asked by Global News who she wrote the letter for, Cleaver said it was originally intended just for her Facebook friends.

“I wrote it initially as just a status update and it wasn’t until people started commenting on it and encouraging me to share it more widely that I put it into a note that could be easily shared,” she said.

Cleaver said the letter was ‘written’ in her head on a 20-minute walk home from the park with her kids.

“I edited it in my head and when I got home, I got on the computer and it just all came out. If I’d known it would be shared around the country, I might have spent more time on it!” she added.

Cleaver said she has been receiving generous comments about the letter, making her feel connected with other Canadians.

“Everyone is proof that we are so much better than this campaign has let on,” she said.

Global News has reached out to the Conservative Party for comment.