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Lieberals steal.... Canadians off in lala land
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| ShadoWolf |
I guess Canadians like taking it in the ass, eh
:whip: :whip: :whip: :whip: :whip:
Note: that's a government plane, not a Lieberal Party rented plane!!
http://www.canada.com/components/pr...d6-579553d91ba2
Martin's pre-election jet trips cost taxpayers up to $1 million, records suggest
Alexander Panetta
Canadian Press
November 8, 2004
Prime Minister Paul Martin used the executive jet for more than 124 hours of flight time from January to May - nearly double the 73 hours logged over the same period the year before by then-prime minister Jean Chretien. (CP/Tom Hanson)
OTTAWA (CP) - Prime Minister Paul Martin's whirlwind pre-election tour cost taxpayers up to $1 million in air travel alone, government documents suggest.
Twenty-eight trips aboard the government's executive jet carried the prime minister to every region of the country in the five months leading to the May 23 election call.
Those trips included some highly political events, like the introduction of the so-called "dream team" of Liberal candidates in British Columbia.
The Prime Minister's Office insisted emphatically that it was - and remains - Martin's duty to travel to every part of Canada.
"Certainly he believes that's a vital aspect of his job, and there will be no apologies made for that," said spokesman Scott Reid.
"Canadians expect their prime minister to remove himself from the ivory towers of Ottawa from time to time, to make his way to the communities where people live and work."
The exact price tag of government air travel is difficult to calculate because of wildly diverging interpretations of how to crunch the numbers. Estimates range between $2,032 and about $8,000 an hour.
Martin used the executive jet for more than 124 hours of flight time from January to May - nearly double the 73 hours logged over the same period the year before by then-prime minister Jean Chretien, flight logs from the Department of National Defence indicate.
Chretien was sometimes accused of neglecting parts of the country in his travel schedule and Martin vowed to correct that.
He did, by touring remote areas that hadn't received a prime ministerial visit in memory. One notable example was when Martin went dog-sledding in The Pas, Man., in February.
But opposition critics are howling that taxpayers were stuck with the bill for some trips that they say were designed to sway public opinion in the run-up to an election.
"It confirms what everybody suspected at the time: it looks like he was hijacking taxpayers in an attempt to get re-elected," said Conservative finance critic Monte Solberg.
"Clearly this was a campaign-style swing that (Martin) was on before the election campaign, and not the sort of thing you'd use the Challenger (jet) for."
There was the April visit to British Columbia where Martin announced $6 million in federal money for hydrogen-fueled transportation - then introduced star Liberal recruits David Emerson and Ujjal Dosanjh, who now sit in cabinet.
And there was the March trip to Alberta where Martin announced an aid package for struggling cattle farmers in front of a scenic backdrop of rolling hills and hay bales.
Uniformed soldiers were the prime minister's backdrop in Gagetown, N.B., in April as he re-announced previously made military spending commitments.
He carried several Liberal MPs in tow as he toured ridings in Ontario and Quebec, where the Liberals were clearly facing electoral trouble because of fallout from the federal sponsorship scandal.
Martin also embarked on what was dubbed his "mad as hell" tour, where during a St. John's radio call-in show he declared himself livid over the scandal.
While the Department of National Defence officially calculates the cost of its executive Challenger jets at $2,032 per hour, the price tag multiplies four times when figures are taken into account for crew, base support and the jet's amortization costs.
That $8,000 figure is often cited by the opposition and in media reports despite the argument from DND that most of those costs shouldn't be counted.
"It all depends where you want to stop," said military spokesman Capt. Jim Hutcheson.
"(There) are costs that you're paying for that airplane if it's just sitting on the tarmac doing nothing."
While Martin's travels were almost exclusively domestic, there was one 16-hour round trip to the World Economic Forum in Zurich last January.
In hindsight, all the pre-election travels had no obvious impact on his Liberal party's success.
The Liberals remained stuck around 40 per cent in the polls for most of those months, then plunged far lower after the election began and had to stage a last-minute surge to salvage a minority government.
© The Canadian Press 2004 |
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| dEsidEL |
best tax dollars i've ever spent, i'm proud that our PM had a comfy ride :D
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| VERTiG0 |
| The man's gotta get around the country. |
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| dEsidEL |
| quote: | Originally posted by VERTiG0
The man's gotta get around the country. |
lol.. i wonder how much it costs Bush to travel on Air Force one.. but i guess that's a bad comparison .. maybe comparing these costs to say John Howard in Australia would be a bit more reasonable ..
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| Jayx1 |
using government money for campaigning is wrong. Its one thing if it were official business but if he's going to spend $1 million in taxpayer money then allt he other candidates should get the same.
Whatever, we're sheep...
Baaaaaah |
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| Orko |
| quote: | Originally posted by Jayx1
using government money for campaigning is wrong. Its one thing if it were official business but if he's going to spend $1 million in taxpayer money then allt he other candidates should get the same.
Whatever, we're sheep...
Baaaaaah |
what can we do not be "sheep" as you put it? and what may i ask are you doing to set yourself apart from the herd?(so that we may learn)
aslo...what can you do to prevent something like this? make the PM go to somebody to give him a flight ticket? wouldnt make sense because that would just slow down the process, of what ever task he may be conducting.
we have given the PM some responsibilities, let them excersice them, and we can hold them accountable. its not as if people say "here waste our money". btw all this is assuming he actually wasted the money, a single news report does not this claim, it only raises suspicion |
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| ShadoWolf |
| quote: | Originally posted by VERTiG0
The man's gotta get around the country. |
For official government use ONLY. |
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| Vivid Boy |
| quote: | Originally posted by Orko
what can we do not be "sheep" as you put it? and what may i ask are you doing to set yourself apart from the herd?(so that we may learn)
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one sheep cant do anything. if u wanted to do something it would take a group effort and nobody is willing to sacrifice and take the penalty. THATS the problem. |
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| Jayx1 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Orko
what can we do not be "sheep" as you put it? and what may i ask are you doing to set yourself apart from the herd?(so that we may learn)
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Well....
A) I actual vote in every election (including municipal)
B) I vote against parties and prime ministers that make moves like the one above.
C) I am able to think for myself and not just buy into majority thinking or what some newspaper editorial wants me to believe.
this isnt just one newspaper article. I have read it on several other sources today. It's not an isolated incident. No government is perfect and wasting $1 million although bad, is not the end of the world. However this is consistant with many more actions that combined make this the most corrupted government in memory.
Everyone laments at how stupid people can be for voting Bush back in after what he has done in the last 4 years. Welcome to exactly how I feel about the re-election of the Liberals. We aren't much better than Americans as much as we pretend we are. |
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| Vivid Boy |
i say we hold a revolution!!!!!!!!
i just really want a gun :P |
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| Fir3start3r |
| quote: | Originally posted by Vivid Boy
i just really want a gun :P |
Anyone else find this disturbing? :nervous: ;) |
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| Jayx1 |
normally yes...
but it's vivid boy |
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