C'Mon Flaherty. Suck it In. Two More Holes to Go

The Conservatives non-budget this week, sent a message that there would be a lot of belt tightening.

Just not for them.

Stephen Harper may host the most expensive photo-ops known to man, but our finance minister is trying to give him a run for our money.

He spent more than $ 3,000.00 to have a picture taken of himself in a Tim Horton's donut shop, in London, Ontario.

Maybe he rolled up the rim and it read that he'd won a whole bunch of taxpayer's money.

OTTAWA–Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is under fire for using a costly government jet to fly to London, Ont., for a speech and a photo op at Tim Hortons to promote his belt-tightening budget. "It's a classic: Do as I say, not as I do," Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said, accusing the Conservative government of hypocrisy.

Opposition parties are taking aim at Flaherty because he booked a taxpayer-paid government aircraft at $1,199 an hour to go to London after last Thursday's budget for a photo op and speech the next day. Flaherty flew back commercially to Ottawa but the overall cost for the flight to London and back of the Cessna Citation C550 flown by Transport Canada pilots is estimated at $3,100.

And not to be outdone, Peter Mackay was feeling a little neglected so he tried to get us to pay for his bar fees. (Not that kind of bar ... I don't think) Coincidentally, also $ 3,100.00.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay, MP for Central Nova, will pay back the $3,100 he claimed from taxpayers last year to cover his fees to the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society. MacKay told the CBC his department had advised him he could be reimbursed for the annual fees. On Monday, a spokesperson for MacKay said more recent advice said the bar fees were personal, so MacKay repaid the money.

Time to add a few more notches, I think.