So Much for Belt Tightening. Stephen Harper Goes on Wild Spending Spree.

While preaching austerity and telling the nation that we may no longer be able to afford basics like health care, Stephen Harper has joined 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous'.

His communications budget has risen 30% for state sanctioned propaganda.

Opposition parties blasted Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Friday over the soaring costs of his office and said the Conservatives' excuse — hiring extra communications staff — is actually part of the government's strategy to spread political "propaganda" to the nation.

The government was put on the defensive in the House of Commons in the wake of a Postmedia News report that revealed the annual cost of the prime minister's office had ballooned to nearly $10 million — a jump of 30 per cent over the past two years. The figures stem from the latest Public Accounts of Canada, which contain details on government expenditures.

And not one to travel light, he makes the most of every trip, racking up seven million in expenses.

He travelled to foreign destinations ranging from New Delhi to Copenhagen — 15 trips in one year. So just how much did it cost Canadian taxpayers to send Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his aides abroad?

Nearly $7 million in 2009-10, according to documents tabled in Parliament Thursday ... Harper's press secretary, Andrew MacDougall, said Thursday that the prime minister aims to get results when he travels abroad.

And yet he doesn't. The rest of the world hates us.

And this spending like a king doesn't stop at Harper. His entire caucus has cracked open the champagne, slid off the satin sheets and choked on a bit of cavier.

The Public Accounts of Canada also reveal taxpayers are footing a much higher bill for the entire Conservative cabinet, with its costs increasing by 16 per cent since 2007-08, when the books began recording the expenses of the prime minister and his ministers.

The dramatic hike in costs has come as the government embarks on an offensive to reduce the $56-billion deficit and Harper's ministers have continually pledged to tighten their own belts to help out. And yet the new figures contained in the Public Accounts show the trend at the very centre of the Tory government has been one of rising expenses.

We can no longer afford this government. It's that simple. Their culture of entitlement is outdoing even Brian Mulroney.

Greg Weston is Right. Stephen Harper IS the Worst Comedian Ever!

Greg Weston had a great column in the Sun yesterday, discussing the fact that Stephen Harper has moved on from piano playing to comedy. He even calls him 'Steve'. Our PM hates that. (yuk, yuk, yuk).

I wonder if it will be out on DVD?

Actually, I've seen his act and have some advice for improving his stand-up routine. SIT DOWN!

PM needs new stand-up routine
Since passing the Accountability Act three years ago, there's been no shortage of material for slapstick Steve
By GREG WESTON
December 13, 2009

No doubt buoyed by his hit song-and-piano performance at the National Arts Centre, Stephen Harper has been strutting his stuff as a stand-up comic.

Canada's funnyman PM recently debuted at a Toronto gala for ethnic media, performing a gut-buster schtick on how his Conservative government deeply cares about freedom of the press.

For the punchline, Harper left without answering questions from reporters.

By far the most outrageous gag in the PM's show is the Conservatives' promise to usher in a new era of government openness and accountability.

They call it the golden age of whiteout.

Ever since the Harper government passed its signature Accountability Act three years ago this week, there has certainly been no shortage of fresh material for slapstick Steve.

For instance, the Conservatives passed new laws that were supposed to encourage public service whistleblowers to expose all manner of government waste and wrongdoing without fear of reprisal.

As the preamble to the act proclaims: "It is in the public interest to maintain and enhance public confidence in the integrity of public servants."

What a scream.

Canadian diplomat Richard Colvin blew the whistle on the likely torture of Afghan detainees.

But far from Colvin's getting a government medal for so much brave devotion to duty, Defence Minister Peter MacKay verbally stones the guy's career to death, branding him a dupe of the Taliban.

If you think MacKay's smear is funny, imagine how the defence minister's comments went over with the CIA, Colvin being Canada's official contact with U.S. intelligence agencies in Washington.

What a hoot.

Then there was the federal government biologist who blew the whistle on cutbacks in food inspections. That was just before the tainted-meat listeriosis outbreak which generated so many Conservative jokes on its own that the biologist was no longer needed on the payroll.

What a howler.

One of Harper's best rib-ticklers was actually a joke he told the governor general on the day she proclaimed the Accountability Act into law.

"We promise to stand up for accountability and to change the way government works," he said without breaking into a loud guffaw.

One of the ways Harper has changed the way government works is with buckets of document whiteout and many shredders.

A cornerstone of the Conservatives' new world of accountability was supposed to be strengthening the federal access-to-information laws to enhance public scrutiny of government operations.

Instead, two information commissioners in three years have savaged the Harper government's devotion to secrecy and censorship.

Now for the funny part: Rather than fixing the problem, Harper fixed the commissioners.

The first one was run out of town, while his successor quit a few months ago in apparent frustration, and still hasn't been replaced.

What a riot.

The Conservatives created a new parliamentary budget office to double-check the finance department's fiscal projections and enhance government accountability.

But when watchdog Kevin Page started catching the Conservatives having fun with figures, the government starved his budget to force him to back off and preferably quit.

It's the same hilarious story over at the RCMP public complaints commission.

Commissioner Paul Kennedy recently issued a damning report on the RCMP's conduct surrounding the tragic Taser death of Polish traveller Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver airport.

Rather than ordering the RCMP to immediately fix the problems cited by Kennedy, the government allowed the Mounties to try to bury the report.

For all his good work, Kennedy is getting the boot this month when his current term expires.

With the audience rolling in the aisles, Harper saves his funniest gag for last.

Did you hear the one about the military police complaints commission that was given $5 million by the Harper government to investigate allegations of torture of Afghan detainees?

So far, the commission is spending all the money fighting attempts by the Harper government to shut down the commission's probe.

No joke.

Look up 'Hypocrite' in the Dictionary: It Says 'See Stephen Harper'

The above video is just one more instance where Harper has lied to Canadians, but a recent CanWest article also reveals how hypocritical the man is.

While the Conservatives are urging restraint, they have been wasting our tax dollars sending out ridiculous ten per center that we pay for, and now we learn that Harper himself likes to live large on our dime.

Spending in prime minister's 'department' soars
By David Akin,
Canwest News Service
September 4, 2009

OTTAWA — Spending in the government department supervised directly by Prime Minister Stephen Harper soared by 14 per cent last year, despite a directive from Finance Minister Jim Flaherty that government must "show restraint."

Financial statements released this week show that spending by the Privy Council Office for the fiscal year that ended in March hit $172.5 million, compared to $151.8 million in fiscal 2008.

"Today we have another example of the hypocrisy and misplaced priorities of the Harper government," Liberal MP John McCallum, his party's finance critic, said Friday. "This is a prime minister who preaches restraint and spends lavishly on himself, who cuts funding for research while going on a spending binge in his own department."

Last fall, as he tabled the economic and fiscal update that would prompt the Liberals and NDP to agree to form a coalition government, Flaherty said, "We cannot ask Canadians to tighten their belts during tougher times without looking in the mirror."

Among other things, Flaherty proposed in that statement to cut a public subsidy paid to all political parties. He also imposed unilateral wage restraints on the civil service.

"We are directing government ministers and deputy ministers from every single department and agency of the government to rein in their spending on travel, hospitality, conferences, exchanges and professional services," Flaherty said on Nov. 27. "Canadians have a right to look to government as an example. We have a responsibility to show restraint and respect for their money."

However, not only did the Privy Council Office fail to tighten its belt, it loosened it a few notches.

The cost of bureaucrats' salaries and wages was the biggest single contributor to the jump, rising 25 per cent year-over-year to $114 million. That figure covers the salary expense for independent, non-partisan civil servants in the Privy Council Office and not the salaries for political staff or ministers.

The Privy Council Office is the government department that supports the work of the prime minister, as well as the ministers for intergovernmental affairs and democratic reform.

The department reported the cost to "provide professional, non-partisan policy advice and support to the prime minister and portfolio ministers" in fiscal 2009 was $124 million, which was also 14 per cent higher than the previous year.

During that period, Kevin Lynch was the clerk of the Privy Council, the top bureaucrat in the department. Lynch retired earlier this year and was replaced by Wayne Wouters.

Neither Privy Council Office officials nor officials from the Prime Minister's Office were available for comment.

Harper Vows no More Coalitions with Bloc Like he Had in 2004

Stephen Harper had really expected his newly formed Conservative party would win the 2004 election, but when they didn't he pouted until he found a way out. He formed a coalition with 'separatist' Gilles Duceppe and 'socialist' Jack Layton to take down the Martin government at the throne speech.

This would have made him an unelected Prime Minister in a coup. (his terminology during the last parliamentary crisis)

As it was, Paul Martin went to then Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, asking for another election, but instead she told him to fix it, and he did.

So is it any wonder that Mr. Martin would suggest that Harper may try to pull the same thing after the 2006 election, if he lost? The dust hadn't even settled yet on his 2004 coalition. In fact, there was still a little residue from Stockwell Day's coalition agreement with the Bloc in 2000.

But Harper reassured Canadians that he would not pursue another coalition, I suppose given that this first attempt failed and since then he had been blathering about the legitimacy of any legislation that had passed with Bloc support.

Harper: Tories won't form coalition with Bloc
By JUDY MONCHUK
Harper hits negativity by Grits

CALGARY (CP) - So much for Peace on Earth.

As political leaders began a break from the federal election campaign Friday, the spirit of brotherly love appeared to be decidedly absent.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper took time out from his last-minute Christmas shopping to lash out at the Liberals over a photograph suggesting his party would work with the separatist Bloc Quebecois.

The photo of Harper and Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe talking quietly was taken during a Holocaust memorial last spring on Parliament Hill.

The Liberals are using the picture in some of their internal instructions for candidates on the campaign trail. "I think it's beyond tasteless," said Harper, noting that Prime Minister Paul Martin and New Democrat Leader Jack Layton attended the same ceremony.

"To imply that Mr. Duceppe and I share some sort of agenda other than opposing the Holocaust is disgraceful."

An internal Liberal website has been distributing material for candidates warning of a Harper-Duceppe coalition and suggesting the two leaders could work together to weaken the federal government.

Harper said the material foreshadows how the election campaign will become increasingly nasty when electioneering resumes in early January.

"I think you're just seeing the beginning," said Harper, who spoke briefly to reporters after buying some presents for his children at a Calgary toy store. "A corrupt party that doesn't have a record to run on: this is the sort of stuff they're going to do."

Harper said he would never form a coalition with the Bloc.

"We may co-operate on the odd issue, but even there we're not naive," he said. "We understand that, even when the Bloc agrees with us, their motives are very different."

Liberal spokeswoman Amy Butcher said in an e-mail that the material is not intended for a planned advertising campaign, but is part of a list of issues to help candidates who are knocking on voters' doors. The pieces were prepared by a volunteer and have been available on the internal Liberal websire since last spring.

"They were never at any time prepared in the context of an advertising strategy, it was never our intention to use them in our strategy, nor will they be used in future ad spots," said Butcher.

Martin has said his party will stress positive campaigning.

On Friday, Harper refused to pledge that the Tories would stay above negative ads. "Anything we'll be saying in this campaign will be factual and accurate," he said.

"I won't promise it will all be pretty. But these people want to play a dirty game. I won't say we won't be tough but we will at least be truthful. I certainly won't use a misleading photograph in that kind of manner."