It started with a $2-million dip into the public purse to design their Tory-blue, hyper-partisan “Action Plan” web site. Then they spent $60 million in costly partisan television advertising, paid for by — wait for it — taxpayers.
For months, Conservative Members of Parliament have been criss-crossing the country dishing out federal money as if it was their own. It has gotten so bad that some members of their caucus are now handing out giant cheques, replacing the Government of Canada logo with that of the Conservative Party — in clear violation of the Federal Identity Program —in an effort to fool voters.
As Wayne Easter said earlier yesterday, “These are the tax dollars of Canadians. They’re not Conservative dollars for Harper propaganda and his messaging machine.” And, as the Star’s Susan Delacourt points out, this practice was first objected to months ago, but the Conservatives are only promising to end it now that the public outcry has grown louder.
As the saying goes, “Integrity is doing the right thing, even if nobody is watching.” Short on ideas and sorely lacking in vision, Stephen Harper has hit a new low, now content to buy votes. But as John Ivison argues, nothing annoys voters as much as being bribed with their own money.
