Reports on Stimulus Become Conservative Ads
The Conservatives turned the requirement that they report on the stimulus money from one of clarity and responsibility toward the Canadian taxpayer, into a self-promotion funded by Canadian taxpayers.
The CBC reported1 (14 October 2009) about Conservative logos appearing on federal (not party) stimulus cheques being presented at funding announcements. One striking example (images at the CBC link) was a large cheque handed out by Conservative MP Gerald Keddy in Nova Scotia. In other words, Canadian taxpayer money is used to produce publicity linking a federal program to the Conservative party (though the Conservative party cannot and should not claim 100% responsibility for the program). The other parties have called on the ethics commissioner to investigate.
That type of publicity stunt just continued as The Star2 shed light (9 November 2009) on Conservatives making themselves very visible at public events to announce funding, while they kept their colleagues from the other parties in the dark. Again, it’s a federal program. The article says
“Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his government have been using taxpayer-funding announcements to boost the fortunes of unelected Conservative candidates, critics charge…
In Edmonton-Strathcona, the only Alberta riding the Conservatives do not hold, local Tory candidate Ryan Hastman has participated in at least five government announcements over the past few months, while the local NDP MP, Linda Duncan, says she has been excluded from all of them. Hastman boasts of his participation in pictures on his Facebook page. Duncan… says it becomes doubly irritating when a Conservative candidate claims credit for funds she helped to get for the community, as the duly elected MP.”
Finally, The Star3 reported (12 November 2009) about the greater than $3 million dollars Conservatives spent, in one month, of taxpayer money advertising the notion that the stimulus spending was creating jobs. One has to wonder how useful this advertising is in a deep recession, when the $3 M could be put to far more effective use, say boosting unemployment payments to the thousands or workers that lost their jobs, or else assisting fledgling industries. According to the article, Liberal MP, Martha Hall Findlay said
“…she could understand if the money was spent educating Canadians about H1N1 flu, ‘but patting yourself on the back and making big pronouncements is not part of what taxpayers’ money should be spent on.’”
The advertising gets further criticized as promoting the Conservative brand without informing citizens of how the plan supposedly might have created any jobs.
