Yesterday I wrote about how Rona Ambrose and her Cons were going after the decent Health Minister Jane Philpott for having rented a
Instead of taking a taxi or a bus.
As well as going after the equally decent Environment Minister Katherine McKenna, for the "crime" of having spent about $6,000 on photographs at the Paris climate summit.
Even though the Harper regime spent millions doing the same thing.
But what makes this grotesque assault even more disgusting is the way the Con media are trying to make it look like a major scandal.
With the Con stooges at Postmedia sucking and blowing like only they can.
David Akin trying to claim that Stephen Harper never wasted the taxpayer's money.
Say what you want about Stephen Harper but he ran a penny-pinching shop. Among all the nasty things I heard about Harper as I cross-crossed the country during last year’s election, I never heard anyone suggesting the Harper Conservatives had developed a fondness for taxpayer-funded luxury during their decade in office.
And
As former top Harper aide Dan Robertson said yesterday, entitlement is like kryptonite to the Liberals. It will be the thing that one day — maybe not now but someday — has the potential to do them in.
Even though no government in Canadian history spent more time and more money wallowing at the trough...
While Anthony Furey repeated the same absurd story.
So much for doing politics differently. It looks like the Justin Trudeau Liberals are just as entitled to their entitlements as those who came before them.
Or the same wishful thinking.
The Liberals have clearly mastered Marshall McLuhan's rule that the medium is the message. They've got the whole image thing figured out. Fresh Nanos Research data released Tuesday confirms as much, showing the PM is still immensely popular.
However these expense stories are putting small cracks in the Liberals' image. If hardworking Canadians see more stories about their money being frittered away, they're going to have serious doubts that Trudeau stands for "real change" after all.
And Andrew Coyne twisted himself into a knot of distorted logic claiming that little means BIG.
It is quite possible to be disgusted by the little bits of waste without losing sight of the large. Small things can be indicative. The person who is rude to waiters may well be capable of much worse.
While mocking the Globe editorial board for calling the non scandal nothing but pettiness.
Inevitably, there is a Globe and Mail editorial, huffing at Canadians’ crabby refusal to maintain their officials in a style befitting a G7 country. This week’s installment did not disappoint. “We have to stop demanding that our cabinet ministers book the middle seat in economy,” the paper advised, “or bed down at discount hotels.” Oh? Why, exactly?
Even though the Globe is right, and Coyne is the last person to demand austerity having attended the Bilderberg conference.
Where the rich pleasure each other.
The poor aren't invited...
And Coyne like all the other Postmedia stooges is just trying to please his boss Paul Godfrey...
And begging pathetically for his job....
And the good news?
The Con media can't rewrite history.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government has spent more than $2.3 million to photograph Conservative cabinet ministers since it came to power, iPolitics has learned.
Taxpayers are picking up the tab for a quarter of a million dollars on average each year to hire photographers to take pictures of ministers making announcements. Since 2006, the government has commissioned outside photographers to record more than 2,483 events.
There was no worst offender than the depraved Stephen Harper...
While past prime ministers have generally had a single official photographer, Harper currently has three.
“This is the most narcissistic prime minister and narcissistic government that Canada has ever, ever had,” said Liberal MP Frank Valeriote, who had submitted the question that led to the spending being revealed.
Postmedia will go down long before the Liberals do...
And if the scummy Ambrose Cons think they can use their bought media to do their dirty work.
They will share the same fate...
For they are the worst and grubbiest party this country has ever known.
Canadians know scumbags when they see them.
We shot those bullies down in flames in the last election.
Now let's make sure they never return...
Please click here to recommend this post at Progressive Bloggers.
I hope this does not work anymore. Whats his name that runs Post Media, does he take the TTC?
ReplyDeleteHi Steve....I doubt it will, most Canadians know the Cons and their bought media too well. And no, you can be sure that Godfrey does not take the TTC. In fact if he wanted to travel to Hamilton he'd probably take a helicopter or a corporate jet....
DeleteI am so tired of public servants (regardless of what political party) living the high life on our dime. Again, they are public servants. The sense of entitlement baffles me. They think they hit the jackpot with their big salaries and their pensions and all their perks. Rolling around like fucking celebrities. Limos, planes, photographers, magazine covers, their own staff running around kissing their asses. They say whatever they have to do to get elected in this popularity contest we call a democracy. I'd rather have a dictator at this point, instead of all this progressive cultural marxism bullshit which is jammed down on throats on every level. The Government and The Lying Press are working in cahoots to undermine the social fabric of our country. Old stock Americans are sick of this shit, that's why they're going to vote in Trump. Let a few more terrorist attacks happen in Canada, and see how long Sunni Ways lasts.
ReplyDeleteHi anon....nobody wants to see public servants living high on the hog. But renting a car to travel across a place as big and as busy as the Greater Toronto Area is not wasting the taxpayer's money, it's the price of government in a democracy. But then you probably can't understand that since you crave a dictator, which is absolutely pathetic. Our soldiers didn't fight and die in the Second World War to see some kind of tin pot fascist run this country. But it does tell you how low the Conservatives have fallen. And all I would say to you and all those other fascist loving losers is over my dead body.....
DeleteThe above comments are exactly why the Cons are pushing the luxurious excess story. They want the general population to believe that all politicians are crooks and just in it for themselves.That way we don't vote and all the Cons have to do is blow the dog whistle to activate their zombie followers in order to win elections.
DeleteI once had a similar view but thanks to Harper I came to realize that politicians can be so much worse than just ineffective and self interested.Given time they can turn a country into a divided, war mongering fascist little state while still flying the phony flag of democracy.Thanks to Harper my apathy is gone and am looking forward to Trudeau,the Liberals (eventually others?)leading Canada back towards the light.Sure there will be hiccups that have to be addressed and bogs that will have to be skirted but overall its the path that counts as it shapes our destiny.
RT
Waaaaaaaah, waaaaaaaaaaah, another column from the LPC crybabies. How dare the media do their jobs of holding the government to account.
ReplyDeleteHow quickly Trudeau's blind supporters forget the following words:
"Hey! We have respect for journalists in this country," Trudeau said, turning toward them. "They ask tough questions and they're supposed to. OK?"
Still too blind and stupid to see the CPC were turfed because they acted like the Liberals before them, still too blind and arrogant to see the Liberals now are starting to act like the CPC before them.
Hi anon....actually those who are wailing these days are the Harper Party losers. Have you seen the latest polls? Somebody call an undertaker. And if you look at their leadership race it couldn't be more pathetic. And no, neither Trudeau nor any other progressives had any respect for the Postmedia stooges, who if you remember did their best to elect a Con government, only to fail miserably. I heard there were more Postmedia layoffs yesterday. The more the merrier....
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThe above comment was deleted for exceeding the bounds of decency and exhausting my patience with Con commenters. This comment space is for progressives to contribute their own ideas, support or take issue with anything I have written. I'm quite frankly not the slightest bit interested in hearing what Cons have to say about ANYTHING. So please take your comments to The Rebel, or other toilets where right-wing freaks gather, because you're not welcome here....
ReplyDeleteSimon: it would be better if members of the Trudeau government used discretion and common sense when it comes to certain expenses that they incur. Why give the Harperites and their followers any unnecessary reason to attack the new government? Don't give the Tories anything with which to disparage Trudeau and his MP's - it is pretty much known how they feed on such opportunities.
ReplyDeleteThis should also apply to the civil service.
hi anon...I agree completely, and if I thought the Liberals were acting like drunken hogs I would be the first to criticize them. But at this point I don't see that. The incidents in question could have been handled better, and it's clear that some of the many rookie staff members are still learning how to run their offices. But I believe that the Cons and the Con media have blown them out of proportion, and just playing cheap politics...
DeleteHave the Harper or the Kenney resigned as MP yet? It must be some convoluted process involved in order to resign. Or gotta finish out this pay period? Money for nothing and there shit for free. And how much longer will the real owners of Postmedia continue to bleed money in support of a dying corporation?
ReplyDeletehi anon...no, neither of them have, although Harper is said to be ready to resign in the next few days. But yes, the money that has been spent paying them to do nothing far exceeds the money the Liberals are accused of wasting. As for how long the hedge fund will keep Postmedia going. But to be honest I don't want to see them go out of business, the more Canadian papers the better. I just wish they would stop acting like the propaganda branch of the defunct Harper government, and left their obvious bias at home...
DeleteDon't think Honourable Philpott was lapping up the "limo" experience while she was serving Canadians on her duty travel in Toronto. She was more likely studying briefing notes. I don't think many rational Canadians are concerned about this. Everyone knows what a rip off airport limos can be. Business travellers routinely take advantage of such conveniences.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the vocal complainers are the adult children still living in moms basement? These pot shots are getting tiresome. Really, the lady who lost her child doing missionary work in Africa is ripping off Canada by joy riding in a Lexus around TORONTO????
Simon, you are very patient with some of these posts on your blog. Saintly, lol. Keep up the great work.
Cheers
TS
hi TS....I believe that those who represent us, whatever party they might belong to, are entitled to some of the privileges that come with their office. It don't believe that a Health Minister should have travel to Hamilton and back in a taxi. And spending $40 a month to allow them to use an airport lounge were they can conduct business while they wait for their plane only makes sense. despite my many differences with Harper I never denied him the perqs of office. A prime minister should be treated like a prime minister for the sake of us all, and our standing in the world. So the cheapness of the Cons, and the way Jane Philpott has been treated disgusts me.
DeleteBut yes, you're right I have been very patient with some of the Cons who have been leaving comments here, and my saintly halo is fading. You wouldn't believe the number of Con comments I have had to delete, and that's the way it's going to be in future. I have no intention of letting the comment section of this blog resemble the Blogging Tories. I want a safe space for progressives to use to share their opinions, and that's the way it's going to be in the future...
Under harper 26 ministers and 11 junior minister were entitled to a car and driver. Wages for drivers were 46,883 to 50,755. Ms. Ambrose's driver racked up 40,000 in overtime. Altogether the over time bill for the drivers of these ministers was 600,000. Then there is the cost of the cars.
ReplyDeletehi anon...yes, let's not forget that the Trudeau cabinet is much smaller than the bloated Con cabinet was. And while as a Scot I naturally applaud thriftiness. ;)
DeleteThe Cons are the last group on earth to accuse anybody of wasting money, for they spent our tax dollars like drunken sailors, and have never apologized fortheir disgraceful behaviour...
Simon, thanks for posting again.
ReplyDeleteThe Conservatives seem utterly bereft of ideas, conflating public stupidity with not agreeing for their incessant cries for a referendum, and jumping at any chance to discredit a fairly working government.
The attacks will only get worse once 2018 and 2019 come forward...hopefully by that time we won't have to read the hyper-partisan stuff from PostMedia and there will be more balanced views.
hi Pierre...you're welcome. It just infuriates to see the way the Cons are treating decent people like Jane Philpott who I greatly admire. they haven't changed a bit, they're still the same old bullies and political thugs. And as long as I have the strength to continue this blog I'm not going to let them get away with it. We suffered and fought for so long to get our Canada back, and I'm going to defend it as hard as I can....
DeleteThe use of a car with driver when on business makes sense. It might have been "smarter" to not hire some one you know, but its a lot easier than taking a taxi every where. The complainers needs to remember that was a cabinet minister and you don't want a cabinet minister climbing into the back of just any vehicle. They carry all sorts of important documents, etc. The work on their phones, so its best to have a car and driver. end of story.
ReplyDeleteOf course the Post Media is going to carry on, but really its like the pot calling the kettle black. Now wasn't that guy Tony on the hook for how many million for building some sort of gazebo during some G something event. Didn't Harper take jets to watch hockey games. Come to think of it one was with el gordo, former premier of B.C. So let the Post Media jackels go find something else to do. Oh, well they won't be there much longer if fewer and fewer purchase their newspapers. With their carrying on like they do about the Liberals, that might be sooner than later.
The federal Liberals will have to be careful about the optics of what they do. The media is not their friend. Like did the other cabinet minister really need all the pictures? Not so much, but it is something they will all learn.
The need to remember the end of Bev Oda was over a $16 glass of orange juice.