I remember it clearly because I found it to be the source of uproarious laughter—second only to ”…and we lead the world in [fill in the blank—anything that sounds good! …]” during the election campaign of 2004, where the Liberals were, and I quote, “MAD AS HELL!” about the scandals that they themselves created and got caught being in. Turns out they weren’t mad at the scandals per se, they were simply ticked that they got CAUGHT in the scandals, some of which are still popping up just this week. Two just yesterday alone!
Given how “mad” they are, why is it that Sun Media and various Conservative Party MPs have to be the ones who find the scandals, fight to get Access To Information material, then bring it up, and only then be acted on (defended, actually) by the Liberals? Then the Liberals act all “mad as hell!” again. Quite a bunch of honorable folks, no?
What happened to the “Mad As Hell!” tour? Perhaps it was a hidden agenda…. to dupe voters into voting for them. Well it worked. Congratulations. Election please.
The Winnipeg Sun’s editorial today (hat tip Ross M.) speaks to the corruption which is, I would say, systemic within the Liberal Party and—importantly—all of its bureaucracies. It’s a hellacious mess. But expensing a pack of gum worth $1.29? Taxpayers pay for Liberals’ chewing gum? What else do we pay for?
Being around all those coins obviously got the better of mint prez David Dingwall. Dingwall, a former Chretien-era Liberal cabinet minister, resigned yesterday as head of Canada’s Royal Mint after Sun Media broke a story about his lavish spending habits on the taxpayers’ dime.
Conservative National Revenue critic Brian Pallister is livid about the big-ticket items Dingwall racked up courtesy of John Q. Taxpayer.
Pallister wants to know what taxpayers received in exchange for Dingwall’s lavish spending on golf club memberships, gourmet meals and extravagant travel.
We’d like to know that, too, but what really upsets us is the revelation he billed us $1.29 for a lousy pack of chewing gum.
Dingwall earned $277,000 a year, while he and his top aides racked up $130,000 in foreign and domestic travel, $14,000 in meals and $11,000 in hospitality.
Then there is the $5,297 for golf membership fees and $2,500 for domestic limousine service, despite having a government car at his disposal.
Those are big numbers, but we’ve grown all too used to seeing them in connection with allegations of misuse of public money by cronies of the Liberal government.
But $1.29?
Perhaps Dingwall felt he could justify expensing a pack of gum because he had to freshen his breath after a meal of expensive wine, caviar and other delicacies most Canadian working stiffs cannot afford.
After all, one of his aides billed us for $5,300 that appears to have gone toward a single meal.
Dingwall’s nickel and diming us for a few sticks of gum tells us plenty about the attitude of entitlement rampant in the Liberal party and its hangers-on these days.
As long as they have the public trough to stick their nose in, they don’t have to spend a penny of their own dough.
Prime Minister Paul Martin promised to clean house when he took office, but his shameful reaction to Dingwall’s expensive habits and subsequent resignation—praising the fallen Liberal soldier—show it was yet another vow that isn’t worth a dime.
Or maybe that should be $1.29.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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