The Conservative government violated its own advertising rules by plastering its Economic Action Plan web site with pictures of Stephen Harper and using a government web site as a partisan advertising and propaganda tool. When the civil service pointed out they were breaking the rules, the entitled to their entitlements Conservatives ignored the rules and plowed ahead anyway.
“In their typical ‘I-make-the-rules’ fashion, Harper’s Conservatives knowingly broke Treasury Board guidelines, breaking government standards for websites and advertising,” said Liberal Treasury Board Critic Siobhan Coady. “The Conservatives were advised that this was a violation, but plowed ahead anyway in order to blur the line between government advertising – paid for by taxpayers – and Conservative propaganda.”A government web site bathed in Conservative blue? Pretending Harper playing the piano has something to do with economic stimulus? It's laughable. The proper thing to do is for the Conservative Party of Canada to repay the taxpayers for this blatant misuse of taxpayer dollars for partisan political purposes.
According to federal documents obtained by The Canadian Press, bureaucrats advised that the EAP website – in the exact hue of Conservative blue and at one point featuring a video of Stephen Harper playing piano – broke Treasury Board rules. However, the website was given the green light by then-Treasury Board President Vic Toews despite these objections.
“Our party has long spoken out against this abuse of taxpayer dollars for partisan purposes,” said Ms. Coady. “In fact, we wrote the Treasury Board in October 2009 to complain about how this website and related advertising broke their own rules – and now we learn that two weeks after our complaint the Conservatives just gave themselves an exemption.”
I trust the invoice will be paid promptly, lest penalty fees and interest be applied.
Invoice En
13 comments:
A government web site bathed in Conservative blue? Pretending Harper playing the piano has something to do with economic stimulus?
Harper gave out another quarter of a billion dollars in corporate welfare to companies in conservative ridings yesterday and you're obsessed over a website's colour scheme. Do you see the problem here?
Yes, my inability to mention every single thing the Conservative government is doing, has done or will do that I disagree with in a single blog post is clearly unacceptable. I do see the problem, and thank you for taking time from your busy day to show me the light.
Obviously you don't see the problem. You're fixating on nonsense. The colour scheme of a website isn't a gripe anyone will take seriously and only makes you look foolish for bringing it up. And foolish gripes of this sort have been a re-occurring problem with liberals over the past few years.
And we still haven't forgotten the millions that were stolen through the Sponsorship Scandal/Adscam and which still remains unpaid to this day. Pretty rich for the Liberals to squeal about ANYTHING in this regard. Hypocrisy much? Well, of course. I trust THAT invoice will be paid promptly, lest penalty fees and interest be applied. The proper thing to do is for the Liberal party of Canada to repay the taxpayers for this blatant misuse of taxpayer dollars for partisan political purposes. But we won't hold our breath.
"Oh, the Liberals did it, so is it okay for the Tories to do it" and/or "but, but but.....the Liberals!!!" will be the inevitable glib response by Liberals whenever they laughingly try to point out Tory malfeasance but end up having the tables turned upon them. So you see, Liberal credibility in these matters is utterly and completely shot, and so no one is going to care about this latest "scandal", just like all the other ones that were Liberal mongered and which also fell by the wayside.
A senator charged with fraud in 2007 is barred from the upper chamber, but today continues to charge over $10,000 a month in expenses on top of his $132,000 annual salary.
http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2011/01/06/weston-lavigne.html#ixzz1AMWrixLq
Now the good CBC, shameless Liberal apologists that they are, conveniently fails to mention it, but which party does that good Senator represent? Anyone want to hazard a guess? See what I mean? Liberal outrage on anything in these matters is a joke.
Robert,
You obviously forget this is a blog, not the House of Commons. I'll write about whatever random crap I find interesting. It's not going to impact the future of Canada. My tens of readers all have their minds made up one way or another anyway. If you think it's foolish, don't read it.
Glen,
And you still owe us money from the Pacific Scandal in the 1800s. The interest on that one is going to be a bitch.
The diffence is, Jeff, that I don't have to go back to ancient times 150 years ago for an example from a long dead party to point out hypocrisy in complaining about anything in such matters. What I am talking about happened SIX years ago with the current Liberal party. Nice try, though.
You guys have long ago run out of things to complain about. So among many things, just like doorknobs, cheque logos, golf balls, and now fake invoices, this is the sputtering extent of Liberal outrage. Wow. No wonder your party is in such trouble. And by they way, Siobhan Coady is a goner in the next election.
I gave you a current example, and you said it doesn't matter because the Liberals did something years ago. But whatevs.
On the topic of your historical excuse, every dollar that was identified by the RCMP and independent forensic auditors as having gone to the Liberal Party was repaid years ago. You can even Google the cancelled cheque if you're so inclined.
Feel free to keep ignoring inconvenient facts, though. Because the "Conservatives can do bad things because the Liberals were bad once" argument makes total sense.
Jeff, I know it's just coincidence that Liberal Red and Canadian Red are exactly the same, right? All those red government websites are politically neutral, right?
No one is stopping the Conservatives from making their party colours the same as the flag.
The red and white colours are the Country's colours.The flag was made after those colours. The Liberal colour is red and with the white background as it it is supposed to be white not, blue, a the Cons have done..and the Country's colours are red and white, not Conservative blue.
No one is ignoring anything, Jeff; just that the Liberals are total and utter hypocritics when criticizing this matter when they've done similar and worse, as I've pointed out.
Feel free to keep ignoring inconvenient facts, though. Because the "Liberals are credible critics because everything they've done was in the past" argument makes total sense.
"No one is ignoring anything"
Well you are ignoring the fact the LPC paid back every cent of money that went into their bank account.
Now, instead of complaining about something that has already been done, why don't you contact your party HQ and ask them to please do the same.
Thanks
Nothing wrong with trying to fabricate another scandal over the use PR by the PMO to bask in light of their EAP.
I am confident if the Liberals had the opportunity they would have not made the same grievous mistake.
It will be very effective when Liberals go door knocking during the campaign reminding voters about the rinks, roads and bridges through EAP.
Shameful!
Clearly the Liberals have discovered supporting EAP with demanding a quarterly report card was the biggest mistake and has likely sealed their next public rout.
Jeff do you think 26.3% in 2008 was the lowest point or do you believe Ignatieff can break 25%?
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