Both the Torstar group and CTVglobemedia have shown some non-partisan integrity today, by disclosing two interesting reports that involved a fair bit of investigative journalism and do not help the PR images of the Ontario and Federal Liberals.
The Record reports that Torstar's Hamilton Spectator actually went to the trouble to obtain summaries of Ontario government aircraft flights from 2002 to the summer of 2006 under the Freedom of Information Act! Apparently Premier McGuinty has a penchant for flying and is under no legal obligation to be accountable to the taxpayer for these expenses.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation wants to see more accountability and transparency. Seems like a good idea to me.
(Note: The links to these articles do not translate well on Blogger. For the Record article go here and then click on "Premier's $2,000/hr flight pattern". For the Spectator's piece, go here and then click on News - Local, then "McGuinty Plane rides cost up to $1 Million".)
Then we have Globe and Mail, CTV and Canadian Press actually filing and winning a court challenge regarding a publication ban on RCMP affidavits surrounding the 2005 Income Trust investigation - and then releasing the results!!!
Oh sure, only one top Finance Canada official has been charged with making a profit on information to which he was privy while in Ralph Goodale's confidence. But it does cast the previous Liberal government in a poor light in terms of security control, competence and good judgment.
Mr. Nadeau, 50, was one of only eight people in the room with Liberal finance minister Ralph Goodale on the afternoon of Nov. 22, 2005, when a decision was made not to tax income trusts, according to the RCMP. Mr. Goodale announced the change at 6 p.m. the next day.
According to the RCMP, Mr. Nadeau bought 3,100 units of Yellow Pages Income Fund early in the morning of Nov. 23, 2005, through his TD Waterhouse Discount Brokerage account. That was more than eight hours before Mr. Goodale's announcement.
Another interesting behind-the-scenes story here ('Sheer Agony' followed Income-Trust Leak allegations: Goodale). It seems that Ralph isn't a big fan of Blackberries.
Liberal media - reporting stories unfavourable to Liberal parties.
Hell surely won't have to worry about global warming now.
12 comments:
Goodale's crocodile tears are no more impressive than his defense regarding the early allegations of malfeasance directed at the Liberal Insiders who profited from the leak!
The fact that the RCMP only sought charges and prosecution against Nadeau is meaningless. BTW - do I detect a note of dismissal on the part of G&M in the description of the sum ($7000)? Is the amount the issue? If so then when was the last time you made a 7grand windfall investment in one day?
Since it's well documented that other Liberal insiders acted on investments prior to the announcement the results of the RCMP investigation are laughable.
There are so many questions that are ignored and remain unanswered I see this as another blot on the reputation of the RCMP and just more SOP for the Libranos!
Oh well! Another day another boondogle!
I agree with the complaint on overuse of government planes. I wonder if the costs of them were disclosed, however - I believe they were.
More troubling to me is the hundreds of thousands of dollars of government jet flights taken by federal ministers like Cannon and Blackburn where they deliberately set out to hide the costs in the bowels od departmental records.
Does that sound anything like transparency to you?
BTW - do I detect a note of dismissal on the part of G&M in the description of the sum ($7000)?
Yeah, I noticed that too. I thought I'd let it go this time since they at least reported the proceedings. Baby steps, ya know.
"More troubling to me is the hundreds of thousands of dollars of government jet flights taken by federal ministers like Cannon and Blackburn where they deliberately set out to hide the costs in the bowels od departmental records"
What you fail to recognize anonymous is that Treasury board Guidelines state that expenses conducted for a specific department, then the expense must be disclosed on the department's website.
"Ministers are required to post on their respective departmental Web sites all travel expenses incurred on program-related business. All travel expenses must be posted on a quarterly basis within 30 days following the last day of the quarter and must include the following information:"
If you don't like the rules then just say so, don't make unfounded accusations when minister's are just following the rules.
Kitchener Conservative - glad you received the talking points from HQ, but they miss the point. The expenses were NOT published in the departmental records as you say as ministerial travel. Rather, they were hidden in many different accounts deep in the records and required a major effort to uncover.
Never mind - I did assume that most of you BT koolaid drinkers would be as hypocritical on this as on other files. I am sure you would have had the same reaction had a Liberal government done the same, right?
I did assume that most of you BT koolaid drinkers
Brave and highly original comment, 'Anonymous'.
It's times like this that I contemplate changing comment access to exclude anonymous trolls.
In any case, as I said the focus is on the media here, not the substance of their message, but be rest assured that the Liberal media generally does an excellent job of showcasing perceived Conservative shortcomings.
It's times like this that I contemplate changing comment access to exclude anonymous trolls.
If you're taking a poll on this issue, I vote for making the change. If trolls want to post, they should show some courage and be ready and willing to identify themselves.
Yeah, really!
What's the point of having a forum for discussion when you can't guarantee that everything everyone says is completely consistent with the party's talking points!
The nerve...
O.K. Brian, let's give it a try.
As much as it behooves me to support a Liberal, I believe that Ralph is not guilty. If you really want to find the guilty party look to see who did the most trading and trace back to the minister who friends with those guys. You'll have a gay old time.
Oh, isn't John a clever monkey? A gay old time... Ha, ha, ha. You guys are just too funny for words sometimes.
John .... that was funny I'll bet Red's just annoyed that some else got a good quip in! What a petulant little specter!
Post a Comment