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Paul Jackson

Paul Jackson

  posted on Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Bio/Email | Paul Jackson Archives | Printer-Friendly Version

Fiscal infidelity
Failure to back his own party reveals Martin’s true motives

A shipping tycoon purportedly worth $200 million donates $13,000 to the political party he supposedly loves, while another fellow, without much of a bank account, living in a modest home, and trying to raise a family, donates $17,000 to support his political allegiance.

Yes, friends, we’re talking about our nation’s parsimonious Prime Minister Paul Martin on one hand, and the man who really should be prime minister, Stephen Harper, on the other.

These are figures from Elections Canada covering the time since Martin became Liberal finance minister in 1993, and Harper became Conservative leader just two years ago.
Think hard about this: Donations over a long 12 years by Martin, just two years by Harper. Hey, frugality can be a virtue, but penny-pinching meanness is surely a vice.

Cripes, I’ve given a good $13,000 spread around to the Reform, Canadian Alliance and Conservative parties since 1993, and, not only do I not own a shipping line, I do not even have a car in Calgary and live in a rented basement apartment.

The Grit leader, by the way, has always been careful about handing over his money to anyone, even his own government and nation.

That’s why he raised foreign flags on some of his vessels in Canada Steamship Lines (CSL) to avoid paying Canadian taxes like the rest of us.

Now, tax evasion is both illegal and unethical, while tax avoidance is legal if you find the loopholes, but to my mind unethical in some shadowy circumstances, CSL being a case in point. The PM of a nation, the finance minister, or any elected official, should not be scouting out ways to cheat the federal treasury out of every dollar they can. What kind of example does this set for the rest of us?

Yet one guesses Conservatives such as Harper and myself have far different values than Canada’s Liberals, who are, by any real understanding of the term ‘Liberalism,’ masquerading and pretending to be something they are not

The assumption I get from Martin’s lack of fiscal fidelity to the Liberal party is he is using it solely as a vehicle for his political ambitions.

If I were the party president, or a member of the executive, I would certainly be calling for an accounting of this abominable behaviour.

Yet, it is quite likely that getting into the higher echelons of the Liberal party is a bit akin to becoming a higher-up in the Communist party in the former Soviet Union.

In the U.S.S.R., being admitted to the hierarchy meant you got a pass to shop at select stores—their windows blacked out—that were stacked to the ceilings with gourmet food and consumer goods from Finland, Sweden and other Scandinavian nations, while the average Russian was scouting around hoping to barter for a cow’s head to stew for Sunday dinner.

Being admitted into the Liberal hierarchy, I suspect, involves a secret ceremony in which you promise to adhere to two tenets of faith.

“I will tell the Canadian people to do as I say, and not as I intend to do,” and “I now truly appreciate being given permission to rip off the average Canadian at every touch and turn, without fear of consequences.”

A reminder of more hypocrisy: Jean Chretien, Paul Martin and Martin’s latest convert, Joe Clark, professes it is OK for them to be Christians (Roman Catholics) because they don’t let their faith influence their political lives. But it is definitely not OK for Preston Manning or Stockwell Day to profess to be Christians (Evangelical) because obviously they can’t be trusted not to let their faith influence their political lives.

Shake your heads a little and think about this: Aside from the hypocrisy of Chretien, Martin and Clark—and ask Roman Catholic Bishop Fred Henry about that—surely one’s faith should be part and parcel of one’s political life.

Major religions, Christian Jewish, Hindu, even true Islam, stand for honesty, integrity and high personal values from their adherents.

This being so, if certain politicians proudly profess they leave their faith on the steps of Parliament before entering that edifice, you get to understand why this nation is foundering and government awash in one scandal atop another.

I would be extremely dismayed to learn prominent Conservatives such as Ezra Levant (Jewish), Rahim Jaffer (Muslim), Deepak Ohbrai (Hindu) or the aforementioned Stock Day (Christian) ditched their beliefs on the steps of the House of Commons rather than letting their faith guide them in both their political and personal lives.

How about you?

Nice line, eh


©2005-06 Paul Conrad Jackson
Paul Jackson is one of Canada’s most distinguished and thought-provoking journalists.  He is currently senior political commentator for the Calgary Sun and other related newspapers, after being both Editor and Associate Editor for a number of years. Mr. Jackson has interviewed such world famous political figures as Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev, John Diefenbaker, Brian Mulroney, Pierre Trudeau, Yitshak Rabin and Benjamin Netanyahu.


Posted on 07/19/05 at 05:07 AM
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