RCMP Looking Into Misappropiation of Funds Re: G-8 Spending

Several people, including myself, have contacted the RCMP about the $50 million dollars spent in Tony Clement's riding, that was supposed to be for border security and the easing of congestion at crossings.

Stephen Harper's only defense was that they had done it before. He no longer even pretends to be honest.

But Liberal Marlene Jennings has taken the bull by the horn, and we learn today that the RCMP will be investigating the matter.

Just because you steal the money from taxpayers, doesn't make stealing legal, despite what Harper says.

Let's hope the RCMP don't bury this one along with countless other Conservative crimes. We deserve better.

Election Issue Number 1,456: Canada is Now Only Garnering a "C" on Our Handling of the Economic Crisis

For all their bluster, we learn today, that Canada's economic recovery is not going as well as the 'Harper' government would like to have us believe. In terms of economic gains:

The projected Top Five in 2010 include Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, Australia and Norway. All get “A” grades. Also ahead of Canada with “B” grades are Norway, Denmark, Germany, the United States and Austria. Last on the list of 17 is Italy. In 2011, the Conference Board projects Australia will leapfrog Sweden to take the top spot on its list.

What happened? The taxpayer funded ads suggest that we are leading the pack.

Maybe part of the problem is all those taxpayer funded ads, clearly the focus of the Harper team. Or maybe it was targeting stimulus money to Conservative ridings instead of places that needed it the most. Or maybe they simply lied.

All of the above?

Let's take a look at some of those countries that are outpacing us.

Australia. How did they direct their stimulus? They gave money to those who needed it, and those who needed it put that money back into the economy. (Their corporate tax rate is 30%)

Their 42 billion stimulus package, included:

- Free ceiling insulation for around 2.7 million Australian homes
- Build or upgrade a building in every one of Australia’s 9,540 schools
- Build more than 20,000 new social and defence homes
- $950 one off cash payments to eligible families, single workers, students, drought effected farmers and others.
- A temporary business investment tax break for small and general businesses buying eligible assets
- Significantly increase funding for local community infrastructure and local road projects

The money went to home insulation, upgrades to schools, social housing and those in need. Not libraries for private religious schools, and certainly not on signs.

And they provided an additional $4.2 billion to pensioners:

- $1,400 to single pensioners
-$2,100 to pensioner couples
-Benefits were extended to Age Pensioners; Disability Support Pensioners and Carer Payment recipients

The money went to the people. How about that? And Australia is expected to lead the pack in terms of economic recovery. (1)

Sweden: They did reduce their corporate tax rate from 28% to 26.3%, but are offsetting the costs by closing loopholes to the system.

The Swedish government also bailed out their banks, but unlike Jim Flaherty who bought up all the toxic paper (sub-prime mortgages that he let into the country), on behalf of the Canadian taxpayer, to the tune of $125 billion, with no strings attached; they passed the losses onto the shareholders.

Sweden did not just bail out its financial institutions by having the government take over the bad debts. It extracted pounds of flesh from bank shareholders before writing checks. Banks had to write down losses and issue warrants to the government. That strategy held banks responsible and turned the government into an owner. When distressed assets were sold, the profits flowed to taxpayers, and the government was able to recoup more money later by selling its shares in the companies as well. (1)

Norway: Was able to do better by using their reserves:

The Norwegian authorities have met the financial crisis with an expansionary fiscal policy, primarily by spending more of the government’s oil and gas revenues than it would otherwise have done. Normally, the use of oil revenues through the state budget is not to exceed the returns of the state oil fund, a principle supported by a broad political majority. In the present economic situation, however, there is a general consensus that a larger share of the oil revenues may be spent to avoid high unemployment and long-term recession. (2)

Their corporate tax rate in 28%

These economies are doing better than ours, because their governments put their people first. Ours continued to pander to the corporate elite, while an alarming number of our middle class joined the ranks of the working poor. Our actual unemployment rate is still high, since most recent gains have been in the temporary and part-time work.

Corporate profits still climb and despite getting $125 billion from us, the banks continue to shell out billions in bonuses to their executives.

And none of the governments of the countries who have passed us by, spent money to promote themselves. I guess they felt it wouldn't be right when so many are suffering.

Our corporate tax rate will be 15%.

Yet another election issue.

Sources:

1. Stopping a Financial Crisis, the Swedish Way, By Carter Dougherty, New York Times, September 22, 2008

2. More optimistic forecast for Norwegian labour market, Eiroline

The Conservative Party Owes Taxpayers 45 Million Dollars

When the Harper government was designing their own website to promote the Canada Action Plan, they claimed that they got the go ahead from senior bureaucrats.

Turns out they were lying. Lying through their teeth.

The Harper government claims a senior bureaucrat gave it the go-ahead to avoid rules governing the look and feel of its Economic Action Plan website.

But the Conservatives are declining to provide documentary evidence of the exemption, which does not appear among hundreds of pages of memos,drafts and emails obtained by The Canadian Press under an Access to Information Act request that took more than a year to process. Instead, the public-service paper trail leads to Oct. 1, 2009, when the Treasury Board team leader in charge of policing the government’s own "Common Look and Feel" standards wrote that the exemption request for the action plan website should be denied.

They were told to buy their own ads, but instead stole 45 million dollars from the public purse so we could be treated to more than 30 photos of Herr Harper and a rendition of his piano playing, linked from every single government website.

And along with that cheque, we must also demand the resignations of Vic Toews and Stockwell Day, since they perpetrated this FRAUD.

The party MUST and I mean MUST, pay us back. This has gone too far.

Harper's "Fly by Night" Operations Filling Party Coffers

So I guess the party of accountability has become the party of "now you see them, now you don't" schemes, that hand out contracts at dubious fundraisers.

The Conservative riding association in question, Bourassa in Montreal, had hosted one of two large fundraisers featuring Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Quebec lieutenant, Christian Paradis. It raised about $15,000 at the time of a single fundraising event in January 2009, with contributions from some local and out-of-town construction industry entrepreneurs, including the vice-president from a Toronto-area firm that did roofing work on Parliament Hill.

But Elections Canada has announced the Montreal-area association would be deregistered by the end of October for failure to meet its financial reporting requirements. “In fact, it seems to have only been used to collect donations from entrepreneurs who received government contracts,” said Diane Bourgeois, the Bloc’s public works critic, in the Commons. “The Conservatives opened a phoney association, cashed in $35,000 collected in a few cocktails and fundraisers (from 2007 to 2009) and closed the books. It’s a fly-by-night (operation).”

Clever huh? Politicians by day and crooks by night. Or "fly by night", I guess.

Conservatives Could Still be Charged in "In and Out" Scam

Some Conservatives could still face charges over the "In and Out" election scheme in 2006, that allowed them to undemocratically spend more money in the final days of the campaign; but also cheat taxpayers out of almost a million dollars.

I posted the other day, that several may not even be allowed to run for re-election.

Still no decision on charges on Tories' 'in-and-out' ad buys

A federal prosecutor is still considering whether to bring charges over contentious advertising purchases made by the Conservative Party during the 2006
election. Director of Public Prosecutions Brian Saunders was referred the file on the Tories' "in and out" advertising buys in June 2009, but, more than a year later, has yet to say whether he'll initiate a prosecution under the Canada Elections Act.

Federal prosecutor still considering charges over Tory ad buys

Corbett's investigators raided Conservative party headquarters in Ottawa in April 2008 and, aided by the RCMP, seized boxes of documents and computer records. They also hired forensic auditors and outside legal counsel to help unravel the trail of wire transfer, expense claims and invoices from the campaign. The dispute between the Tories and the Elections Canada centres on $1.3 million in radio and TV ads the party purchased during the campaign.

Harper at it Again With Patronage Appointments

Stephen Harper already held the record for the most patronage appointments, but I guess he wants to make sure his record can never be broken.

Clearly it's not who you know but who he knows.

The latest appointments went y with little notice in the media, possibly because it has become almost business as usual, possibly because it got lost in Twitter and the relentless cycle of web page news and blogs. But over the past two weeks Prime Minister Harper and his cabinet named Mr. Silye, a former Calgary Reform Party and Progressive Conservative MP, as chair of the board of the federal Museum of Science and Nature in Ottawa. Ms. Skelton became a member of the Security Intelligence Review Committee, responsible for civilian oversight of Canada's spy agency—the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Her government appointment resume lists her pre-political job experience as a coordinator for Canadian Blood Services, with experience in organizations ranging from 4-H to the Royal Canadian Legion.

Silye is also on the board of Jason Kenney's old haunt, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

It's no wonder the Reformers don't believe they could be ahead in the polls. How can we trust them when they don't even trust themselves?

UPDATE:

One more patronage appointment - another senator.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has appointed Toronto-area realtor and former Conservative candidate Salma Ataullahjan to the Senate to fill a vacancy for Ontario. Ataullahjan, who immigrated to Canada from Pakistan in 1979, lost to Liberal MP Navdeep Bains in the southern Ontario riding of Mississauga-Brampton South in the 2008 federal election.