Our politicians should start demanding the Conservative Party to pay back the $36 million in taxpayers' money it has abused on partisan ads and web presence. This is fraud or whatever you call it when the PMO or its agents force civil servants to spend our money on the Conservative Party.
I had written last week on the massive amounts of our money ($36 million) spent on obviously partisan ads by the 'Harper Government' promoting stimulus spending, openly wondering why this isn't a major scandal along the scale of Adscam.
Well, I do have an answer. Apparently, if some party members embezzle money from contracts awarded by government and spend it on your party, that's wrong, and is worth changing governments, whereas if you order civil servants to spend public money promoting your party it's just business as usual, not worth comment.
As if.
Just for comparison, the spending limit for a federal political party on an election is around $20 million. That's right. This dwarfs the amount spent on an election.
The ads clearly promote the Conservative Harper government message that an election should be avoided or else it would interfere with the economic stimulus spending. Such a clear lie as well as elections do not grind government programs to a standstill.
We need to know what meetings were held, what politicians and government employees were involved. To ignore this, is to belittle what we learned from Adscam.
The ads direct viewers to a website wallpapered with pictures of Harper, describing government as 'the Harper Government.' As of yesterday, there were less photos, a development made late one evening, obviously related to the ample public criticism and press coverage, the most effective being a comparison between this enormous partisan spending spree and the lack of advertisement over H1N1 precautions.
Given the obviously partisan nature of these ads, spent with -- I must say it again -- OUR MONEY, should not the Conservative Party start paying us back? That's $36 million, Harper. Pay up!
The Liberal Party paid back public funds due to Adscam. I say 'continue the tradition!'
Impolitical has covered this well, and if you are not up to speed, please go read, in order:
Conservative advertising hijinks: using taxpayer funds to support their message
Is there anything else we taxpayers can get for you trough swilling Conservatives?
A retreat from Harper megalomania
The case of the missing mug shots
One telling radio interview, reposted here from Impolitical, is of Gerry Philips. Philips is a staunch Conservative (libertarian) and former colleague of Harper's when Harper headed the National Citizen's Coalition, a right wing org pressing for small government. Philips has emerged as a significant right wing critic of Harper. Philips is particularly lucid here. It is worth a listen.
1 comment:
It is pretty disgusting propaganda aimed at getting around the election law and an abuse of power. Typical Harper antics. I suppose we'll see more nuisance lawsuits from him next, like the time he sued Stéphane Dion and Libs for defamation. We have to get the word out.
When Chrétien was throwing money all around in Québec in the sponsorship scandal, at least the money was supporting community events, cultural groups and festivals that helped bring in tourist dollars and boosted the economy. And it was low-key and non-partisan promotion, such that a large banner with the "Canada" logo was prominently displayed. All this Conservative campaign does is pat the governing party on the back.
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