Watch Dimitri Duck and Dive as Ethics Commissioner Plans to Investigate Them

Dimitri is nothing if not consistent. We may be bloody crooks but look at the sponsorship scandal. Of course this means completely ignoring the 'In and Out', Cadman, record-breaking patronage, nepotism, illegal elections, handbooks to make sure committees can't function that are investigating your misdeeds, taxpayers footing the bill for your fundraisers, and the list goes on.

Public servants are saying they have never seen anything like this government in terms of partisanship and abuse of tax money to advance their own interests.

So Brian Mulroney may have hired the companies involved in the sponsorship scandal and Liberal bureaucrats were caught, but these are elected Reform-Conservative MPs, in the same way that every other scandal they've been involved with has been.

Give it a rest Dimitri. The sponsorship scandal can't save you now and I was glad Tom Clarke pointed out his 'deflect'.

Ethics czar to investigate Tory logos on cheques
CTV.ca News Staff
October 20 2009

Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson will formally investigate complaints over the use of the Conservative party logo and individual names of members of Parliament on government cheques that were issued for stimulus projects.

"She's going ahead with an investigation," a spokeswoman for commissioner Mary Dawson's office said Tuesday.

CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife said Tuesday afternoon that the ethics commissioner will look into whether government regulations were violated when the Conservative logo appeared on cheques for stimulus projects, giving the impression that the money was coming from the party and not the government.

Opposition MPs have filed a number of complaints over the cheques and Dawson said in a statement she expects there to be about 50 complaints in total.

Liberal MP David McGuinty said his party is considering pushing for the public service commissioner, the auditor general and Elections Canada to investigate the matter.

Prime Minister's Office spokesperson Dimitri Soudas said on CTV News Channel's Power Play that the use of the Tory logo on the cheques was "inappropriate."

"It will not happen again," Soudas said. (I think that should be the new Reform-Conservative slogan. 'We are sorry and it won't happen again.')

But Soudas said the government has "no concern" over individual MPs having their name on oversized cheques announcing federal stimulus projects.

"These members of Parliament represent their constituents," Soudas said. "The government sees no problem with the federal identity program and members of Parliament working hard and ultimately delivering these results in their own region."

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has implicated 55 Tories in the "dubious strategy" of putting their names on the novelty stimulus cheques.

"Conservative members have tried to funnel $600,000 of taxpayers' money to their ridings as if this money belonged to the Conservative party," he charged Tuesday in the House of Commons.

He said it looks like the economic stimulus plan is "a plan to help Conservatives."

Last week, Liberal MPs lodged dozens of complaints with the ethics commissioner over the oversized novelty cheques.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper admitted the party logos should not have been on the cheques.

"The use of a partisan logo on a government announcement is not correct," he said in the House of Commons. "We endeavour not to do that."

Of course little 'Dimi-Witty' said that the other parties should be working as hard for their constituents. The problem is that mounting complaints suggest that they are, but their projects are being turned down.