Painting a Conservative picture

There's been a number of stories about the Conservative government and its principles that, taken in isolation, are telling but don't really amount to much. But when you look at all these stories in aggregate, however, a picture certainly begins to emerge about the style and attitude of this government:

Gov't program wants job applicants' views on Tory budget: An elite federal program to recruit the cream of new graduates suddenly wants to know the applicants' views on the government's vaunted Economic Action Plan before they get a job interview.

Cities stuck with bill for Tory 'propaganda': The federal government is being accused of wasting millions of taxpayers' dollars by forcing cash-strapped Ontario and municipalities to help pay for billboards advertising the Conservatives' economic program at thousands of infrastructure projects. The Liberals and NDP slammed the Conservatives for requiring provincial and city governments receiving infrastructure cash to buy an additional sign at each building project specifying that the federal government paid part of the bill under its Economic Action Plan.

Raitt accused of expense abuse: Federal cabinet minister Lisa Raitt signed off on her own expenses on at least one occasion – more than $3,000 spent on a trip to London, England – when she was president and CEO of the Toronto Port Authority.

Torch relay has a lot of stops in Tory ridings: If MPs strutting at hometown torch relay celebrations was a Winter Olympic sport, the federal Conservatives would be turning in a solid gold performance. When federal riding maps are superimposed over torch relay community events, the flame's pit stop standings are as follows: Conservatives: 126 New Democrats: 29 Liberals: 21 Bloc Quebecois: 18.

Duffy blasts NDP MP as 'faker': Conservative Senator Mike Duffy called MP Peter Stoffer a "faker" Thursday after the Nova Scotia New Democrat released a report questioning the expenses of new Tory senators.

Stimulus money favours key Tories: The biggest winners of the Conservatives' stimulus extravaganza include one of the prime minister's closest friends, a riding the Tories desperately hope to win in a byelection next week, and a longtime party stalwart. Eastern Ontario MP Scott Reid, the Nova Scotia riding of Cumberland-Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley and British Columbia MP Jim Abbott are three of the clearest winners in the distribution of stimulus spending, a broad analysis by The Canadian Press shows.

And that's all just from this past week, and never mind the H1N1 story. Each one in isolation merits a head-shake, but in aggregate it's quite a picture.

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