It seems that every government party engages in some sort of questionable conduct. Currently, the Conservatives are being accused of breaching Elections Canada spending limits on advertising for the national campaign.
Elections Canada initiated a review on the Tories spending and found that they manipulated spending limits breaking electoral law. Elections Canada alleges that this scheme involved 67 local candidates, 4 of which who are now Cabinet Ministers.
The actions are being deemed a clever "in-and-out" scheme where the party would direct money to local candidates, who would then transfer it back to the party. The party would then use the money for more advertising on the national campaign.
Currently, Elections Canada allows $18.3 million for national campaign advertising. If the trial judge finds that the Tories did breach electoral law, they would have overspent by some $1 million.
Stephen Harper's comment's on the infraction can be likened to a three year olds response. He denied that any wrongdoing had occurred. Furthermore, Stephen Harper felt inclined to not only deny that their actions were wrongful, but that, simply put, everybody does it.
This situation brings up some serious ethical concerns. Firstly, political parties need to follow electoral law. The review of political party elections spending has found that no other party in the 2006 campaign engaged in this activity. The Tories stand alone. Secondly, it is well known that Prime Minister Harper appoints his Cabinet Ministers. Having 4 Cabinet Ministers participate in this undertaking is a concern. Did they partake in this scheme as a simple deal to ensure a ministerial position?
Either way, I've always believed that ethics operates above and beyond the law. Therefore, it raises some concern in me when political parties can't abide by simple electoral law. Also, this further leads me to wonder whether being elected has anything to do with politics.
If that extra $1 million actually made the difference in winning the 2006 election, government is all marketing and has nothing to do with politics.
Until next time
Sources for this blog provided by:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/07/15/inandout.html
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4 comments:
Well, you're absolutely right about the electoral system. The job goes to the one who can turn your head their way. The one who held up the brightest flame and sold us on a better future, now.
They're no better than travelling salesmen, hocking their wares. Except not only are we trusting our hard earned money to them, but our well deserved freedom as well.
The only way a harmonious government could be justly elected, would require money to no longer equal to power.
When the greed is gone, so shall be the corruption.
I'm looking forward to it.
It doesn’t surprise me in the least that the Conservatives have overspent beyond the allowable limits for political party campaigns. Just like everything else they believe they are above the rules that everyone else must follow. $1 million dollars is a lot to be over by and they can’t blame that on a little miscalculation.
This type of scheme rings very true to the Conservative party’s nature. I really distrust pretty much everything they do…and it’s not just the conservatives. I have a hard time believing that most of the parties play fair all of the time and I think this is a problem that has been created by our current system. The only way that they can get ahead is if they play dirty and smear the others campaigns.
This is a huge ethical issue. If it is true, which it most likely is, they broke the law that no one is above. Unfortunately, Harper thinks he is. This really bothers me that he would have the you-know-what’s to say that no they didn’t do anything wrong but that it really isn’t a problem because everyone does it. Is that really the type of leader we want for our country? I certainly don’t feel that this type of behaviour is acceptable. Steven Harper needs to be held accountable for his actions, his party’s actions and the direction that political campaigns in this country are headed.
What I think is really disheartening is that the conservatives won the federal election by their attack on the Liberals with the sponsorship scandal. They followed it up with a campaign built on misappropriating funds back to the federal campaign. Harper’s response of everyone does it just does not seem to be hitting the mark in terms of “accountability” he so flagrantly preached about during his campaign. Seems the world is fighting a war right now in the middle east wouldn’t it just be wonderful if Harper continues to operate backhandly and decides that Iran needs to be attacked as well? After all everyone is doing that too. But really what should a citizen of Canada really expect from a federal conservative government? We live in a country that is truly at heart Liberal but elected out of fear the Conservatives. In this case one should always remember tis best to trust the devil you do know then the devil you don’t.
I leave you with a quote from Pierre Trudeau “Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt.” Be careful Mr Harper because you don’t seem to realize the political power you hold comes from the purse strings of the Canadians that have worked hard for their money and we are watching.
Big mistake Harper.
This probably couldn't come at a worse time for the party. Dion is trying to gain some ground for the liberals and this could definitely up the momentum. The Tories have, ever since the sponsorship scandal, seemed flaunt their moral high ground. Now that the playing field has been leveled, the Tries are going to have some serious trouble in the next election. The only thing that may save the party at this point is the fact that the charges may be seen as too trivial and technical for the public to actually swallow. In any case, if the charges stick we might see an early election, and if they don't there will probably be a big media blast coming from the Conservative government.
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