🚀 go-pugleaf

"Karen Gordon" <ar231@FreeNet.Carleton.CA> wrote in message 
news:flrt4q$stt$1@theodyn.ncf.ca...
> <robertpeffers@aol.com> wrote:
>
>> Tories' cronyism rampant, critics say
>>
>> Two important provisions of the much vaunted accountability act
>> haven't been implemented
>>
>> Jan 01, 2008 04:30 AM
>> Richard Brennan
>> OTTAWA BUREAU
>>
>> OTTAWA-When the Conservatives were elected, they promised to do
>> business differently. No more cronyism, no more backroom deals with
>> party hacks. They were going to clean up Ottawa.
>>
>> However, critics say Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has
>> appointed hundreds of people with Conservative ties - the kind of
>> cronyism the Conservatives and their predecessors used to howl about.
>>
>> When the federal government was patting itself on the back last month
>> on the anniversary of the passage of the Federal Accountability Act,
>> it failed to mention that two key components - the appointments
>> commission and the lobbying provisions - have not been implemented.
>>
>> "The lack of a public appointments commission seriously undermines any
>> credibility that Mr. Harper is serious about cleaning up how business
>> is done in Ottawa," said New Democrat MPP Charlie Angus (Timmins-James
>> Bay).
>>
>> Opposition parties insist Canadians were duped into giving the
>> Conservatives a minority government in the January 2006 election.
>> Government accountability was a big factor in the contest that
>> banished the Liberals to official Opposition.
>>
>> "After a full year, enough is enough. We're not going to let the
>> Conservatives deceive Canadians any longer," New Democrat MP Pat
>> Martin (Winnipeg Centre) said.
>>
>> The Accountability act, drafted by the Tories in response to the
>> Liberal sponsorship scandal, passed the Commons and Senate and
>> received royal assent in December 2006, but a separate cabinet order
>> is required for many provisions to come into force. There is nothing
>> forcing cabinet to establish the appointments commission.
>>
>> Treasury Board President Vic Toews told the House of Commons these two
>> components of the Accountability Act are very complicated and require
>> time to draft. A government official said it could be another six
>> months before the new lobbying rules come in and, as for a public
>> appointments commission, that may never happen.
>>
>> Angus said if there was a public appointments commission the
>> government wouldn't be in a mess with Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.
>>
>> The Conservatives' hand-picked chair, Michael Burns, resigned from the
>> Crown corporation after Parliament was forced to intervene when the
>> shutdown of a nuclear reactor in Chalk River, Ont., caused a critical
>> shortage of medical isotopes nationwide. Burns, a Tory fundraiser, was
>> appointed to the top job at AECL by Harper's government in October
>> 2006.
>>
>> "One of the key elements to (having) the public appointments
>> commission is to make sure that there is a process in place to
>> carefully vet the public appointment and ensure that the government
>> isn't just parachuting cronies into key posts," Angus said.
>>
>> Since taking office, the Conservative have made 1,132 appointments -
>> 410 in 2006 and 722 posted so far this year - and critics have said
>> many of them are patronage appointments.
>>
>> The Liberal governments of Paul Martin and Jean Chr�tien were often
>> criticized for doing the same.
>>
>> http://www.thestar.com/article/290164
> ________________________________________
>
> (K): Same old, same old........ Mulroney did exactly the same thing during
> his term as PM.  The Harper Cons CAMPAIGNED on 'no more patronage
> appointments' and then promptly started stuffing their supporters into 
> every
> lucrative or powerful position they could find.
>
> Are any of us getting smarter about the Harper government lies and
> manipulations?

I am not defending the coruptives.  But do we remember the liberals doing 
the same?

Time for a change, vote differently.

--------------
Politicians are like diapers, once they are on for while they
all begin to stink. That why they should be rotated frequently.