The talk by the Minister of Finance about the need for austerity in the federal government conflicts with the news that the federal Conservatives have spent $125 million on hospitality over the past four years.
This is an example of the disconnect between what the Conservatives say and what they do.
Let me be blunt. This government has not done a good job at managing the books. They will spend our money whenever it helps them politically. Let’s look at their record:
• Largest deficit in history – $56 billion
• $16 billion for untendered stealth fighters
• $10-13 billion for super-prisons when crime rates are dropping
• $6 billion in tax breaks for wealthy corporations when our rates are already amongst the lowest in the G7
• $1.3 billion on a 72-hour G8/G20 meeting
• $50 million on “gifts” for Industry Minister Tony Clement’s riding (which was supported by Ed Holder in a story in the Toronto Star)
• $10.4 billion on external contracts
• $130 million for Conservative partisan ads
• $10 million a year – a 30% increase – for the PMO office budget
• $67.6 million for cabinet ministers expenses – a 16% increase
• $30 million for useless, unreliable information in a new voluntary short-form survey after scrapping the one everyone else wanted, the mandatory long-form census
We need to get our deficit under control, but the Conservatives are still spending Canadians’ money for political advantage.
I predict that in his next budget Mr. Flaherty will be asking Canadians to tighten their belts. The Conservatives should have been doing it already to set an example for Canadians.
