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Canadian Federal Elections 2011 - Official Thread (pg. 9)
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| Jayx1 |
Socialism works well until you run out of someone else's money
You see, all those "corporate scum" types are the ones that not only provide jobs but also allow us to have the luxuries that we have for such a cheap price. Sorry to tell you commies that if not for them and their global buying power, the computer you are using to bitch about them would probably cost 10 times more and be 10 times less advanced, if it even existed.
Who do you think even has the R&D money to research these technologies in the first place?
Sure corporations can be corrupt, but no more so than the wonderful government that corporation haters seem to worship.
Corruption is a sad part of the human condition and it can be found in every town in every country no matter what the economic situation is nor what political system they use. So to me, id rather support the system that gave (gives) us the comfortable life we have instead of look a gift horse in the mouth. |
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| Jer |
| quote: | | Originally posted by Jayx1 |
Well it's either them or the Rhino party, so.. Take from that what you will. |
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| daves |
Yes, keep talking "Socialists" and "Commies" until you are blue in the face... that'll teach canadians where their loyalties should lie, wont it?
"Socialists"/Liberals/"Lefties"/"Commies" seemed to have done well in balancing the budget after they got in back in 1993, within ten years of the mess of a Conservative deficit they walked into that time!
And with our buddy here ready to plop billions upon billions down on unnecessary and unwise military upgrades and a prison agenda, where is he actually getting all this magical deficit reduction cash from?
Oh wait... we don't need to know those sorts of things do we?
All we need to do is give him his majority so that we are not engulfed by the diabolical socialist/communist/separatist coalition, right? |
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| smuncky |
| damn those commie left wing champagne limo riding elite! |
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| daves |
| quote: |
Harper says F-35s won't cost more
STEVEN CHASE
ST.-HYACINTHE, QUE.— Globe and Mail Blog
Posted on Sunday, April 10, 2011 2:32PM EDT
Stephen Harper is trying to keep a lid on accusations from rivals that his government’s pricey stealth fighter jet purchase is more expensive than advertised.
Michael Ignatieff’s Liberals are pointing to a U.S. government watchdog’s estimate that says the F-35 fighters that Canada is buying have more than doubled in cost.
But the Conservative Leader is promising Canadians that this country has a special deal with the United States that insulates it from the F-35 Lightning’s spiraling costs.
“We are sheltered from research and development costs,” Mr. Harper told reporters during a campaign stop in south-central Quebec.
The Liberals, however, dispute this, saying a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the total acquisition cost of the F-35 has nearly doubled from $81-million (U.S.)_to $156 million per plane – overruns that American Senator John McCain has labelled “an absolute disgrace.”
The Harper government insists Canada’s planes will only cost $75-million each.
The Liberals are questioning the discrepancy, noting in a statement that U.S. law prohibits the sale of military equipment to foreign countries at a lower price than the U.S. government pays.
Mr. Harper said Canada needs new planes by the end of this decade and Canada’s aerospace industry stands to reap $12-billion in business from contracts to help build the F-35s.
The Conservatives agreed to the controversial purchase of 65 fighter planes during the last government at a cost that could top $15-billion to $22-billion over two decades.
The Tories selected the jets without a competitive bidding process.
Opposition rivals have criticized the deal as ill-timed during an era of high deficits and insisted a competition would yield a better price.
Mr. Harper has said all the information in his possession suggests Canada's costs will not increase.
The Department of Defence estimates the total cost of the new jets will hit $15-billion or so over 20 years.
Canada's parliamentary budget watchdog, Kevin Page, has said a far more accurate estimate would be $29.3-billion over 30 years to reflect what he considers the full lifecycle of the new planes.
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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...article1979046/
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11325.pdf
So why isn't Mr Harper sharing of that "all the information in his possession" if it would clarify that we do not stand to face increased costs? What kind of special deal would exist that would shelter Canada from increased costs that the USA itself is facing? |
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| infinity HiGH |
| quote: | | You see, all those "corporate scum" types are the ones that not only provide jobs but also allow us to have the luxuries that we have for such a cheap price. |
creating jobs in china doesn't really help us here. |
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| PivotTechno |
| Yeah, but you can't argue with made-up politics that rely on a mishmash of outmoded compartmentalisation of social leanings as their foundation - that's the most unarguable kind of politics there is! |
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| daves |
| quote: |
Tory candidate lobbied Ottawa for U.S. fighter-jet manufacturer
TU THANH HA
Globe and Mail Update
Published Monday, Mar. 28, 2011 9:49AM EDT
Last updated Monday, Mar. 28, 2011 11:47AM EDT
One of the Conservative candidates in the federal election was until last December one of the lobbyists for the maker of the controversial F-35 jet the Harper government picked to be Canada’s next generation of fighter planes, records show.
As senior partner at CFN Consultants, an Ottawa firm specializing in defence issues, Raymond Sturgeon lobbied the government on behalf of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, the U.S. manufacturer of the F-35 Lightning II, the jet whose multi-billion sole-sourced price tag has been heavily criticized.
month before winning the nomination as Tory candidate for the Ontario riding of Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing in January, Mr. Sturgeon stopped representing Lockheed Martin and a dozen other high-tech, aerospace and weapons firms, according to records with the Federal Registry of Lobbyists.
The government has said the F-35 contract will cost $16 billion – $9-billion to buy a fleet of 65 jets and the rest for maintenance – but critics predict it will be more expensive.
On the lobbyists’ registry, Mr. Sturgeon described his work on behalf Lockheed as “(assisting) in marketing strategy for the sale of aircraft and aircraft components to the department of national defence.”
National Defence, Foreign Affairs and Industry Canada were among departments that Mr. Sturgeon targeted on behalf of Lockheed Martin.
Also, in a reflection of the economic benefits that proponents of the F-35 tout, Mr. Sturgeon listed three federal regional development agencies – Western Economic Diversification Canada, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and the Federal Office of Regional Development for Quebec..
The riding where Mr. Sturgeon is running, Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing, is a vast Northern Ontario district that the Conservatives last captured in 1930.
After his nomination as a candidate, Mr. Sturgeon attacked the incumbent MP, Carol Hughes of the NDP, as representing “big city” voters because she had failed to vote for the abolition of the long-gun registry.
Until Dec. 15, Mr. Sturgeon was lobbying for Colt Canada Corp. of Kitchener, Ont., a subsidiary of Colt Defense LLC, is the U.S. manufacturer of the Colt .45 pistol and the M4 assault rifle.
One purpose of his work for Colt was “providing assistance in procurement of small arms to the government of Canada,” he listed in his lobbyist filing.
Another, he reported, was “resolving issues” with the Automatic Firearm Country Control List, which outlines the countries where Canadian automatic weapons can be legally exported.
The RCMP, National Defence, Public Works, Treasury Board, Foreign Affairs and Industry Canada were among the departments Mr. Sturgeon listed as targets of lobbying on behalf of Colt.
Other firms Mr. Sturgeon listed as clients included Rheinmetall Canada, formerly known as Oerlikon, BAE Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries and General Dynamics Ordnance & Tactical Systems Canada Inc.
The Conservatives have sold the F-35 contract as a major source of future maintenance and supply jobs for Canadian companies.
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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...article1959650/ |
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| GGM |
Oh man that is just evil ^^^
Harper and his crew literally are a little group of American politicians that found their way north of the border. It's crap like that that made Obama introduce more lobbyist legislation (although not nearly enough). |
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| ChemEnhanced |
| quote: | Tory candidate lobbied for firm selling F-35 jets
Published On Mon Mar 28 2011
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Undated photo of Raymond Sturgeon in meeting with Stephen Harper. From Facebook:
Undated photo of Raymond Sturgeon in meeting with Stephen Harper. From Facebook:
Facebook.com
Allan Woods Ottawa Bureau
OTTAWA—A Conservative candidate in Ontario lobbied for a firm that is selling Canada a fleet of controversial fighter jets whose disputed cost helped spark the election, the Toronto Star has learned.
Raymond Sturgeon, who is trying to unseat the New Democrats in the northern Ontario riding of Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing, had a long and distinguished career in the Canadian Forces both as a soldier and civilian, before taking up his most recent position.
He is currently employed by CFN Consultants, an Ottawa-based firm that is considered to be the home of the country’s premiere defence lobbyists. Up until last December, Sturgeon was listed as a paid representatives of more than half a dozen companies seeking to sell equipment, weapons and aircraft to the Department of National Defence.
Those companies include Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, Colt Canada Corp., Israel Aircraft Industries Ltd., General Dynamics and Rheinmetall Canada, according to federal government records.
Lockheed Martin has a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to produce the F-35 Lightning stealth fighter jet, which the Conservative government hopes to sign a contract for in 2014 and begin receiving two years later.
The dispute is over the cost. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government and the Department of National Defence say the total cost to purchase a fleet of 65 jets will be about $16 billion. But the Liberals say delays and cost overruns mean those the government’s cost projections are no longer valid.
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff says he will scrap plans to buy the F-35 fleet if his party forms the government.
The Liberals got a boost in the final weeks of the last parliamentary session from Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page, whose cost analysis of the fighter jet program came up with a price tag of $29.3 billion.
“Perhaps coincidentally, (the government’s) figure reflects statements made by Lockheed Martin in 2001,” Page wrote in his report.
Sturgeon’s registration as a lobbyist for Lockheed Martin expired on Dec. 15, records show. On the same day, he also de-registered as the paid representative of Colt Canada, a Kitchener-based weapons producer. Sturgeon was involved in “procurement of small arms” for the government and “resolving issues” around the Automatic Firearm Country Control List.
As of October 2010, that list included 33 countries to which Canada can buy and sell automatic weapons. Most are NATO countries, but the list also includes Botswana and Saudi Arabia. Albania and Croatia were the most recent additions to that list.
There is no record of Sturgeon having met with any government officials, but there are shiny new pictures on his Facebook page of the candidate sharing an intimate moment with Harper in the Prime Minister’s Office.
Sturgeon, who won the Tory nomination in January, did not respond to a Star interview request on Friday. In a press release upon being nominated, he took aim at the NDP MP for the riding, Carol Hughes and her vote against a Tory motion to abolish the federal long-gun registry.
“(Her vote) is a clear demonstration that she is more concerned with the views of big city voters and her Toronto boss, Jack Layton. I want to change that.”
The Conservatives finished a distant third place in the riding in the 2008 election.
The Liberal-led opposition defeated the Conservatives last week in a non-confidence motion, sparking the election. MPs ruled that the Tories were in contempt of Parliament for hiding the costs of the fighter jet program, its corporate tax cut regime and its criminal justice legislation.
It was Conservative Leader Stephen Harper’s party that initially cracked down on the cozy relationship between federal politicians and lobbyists. When first elected, the Tories legislated a five-year ban on lobbying by former politicians and political staffers.
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| ChemEnhanced |
| quote: | Tories used praise for Liberals to defend summit costs: Fraser
Day apologizes, says 'proper quote' will be added to Tory dissent report
Canada's auditor general has rebuked the Conservatives for recycling an unrelated quote by her about a previous Liberal government's security spending in a parliamentary report on the costs of the G8/G20 summits in Ontario last summer, CBC News has learned.
The Conservatives' report, presented as a dissenting opinion to the Commons the morning Parliament was dissolved last month, quotes Sheila Fraser giving high marks to the Harper government for prudent spending on the summits.
The report quoted the auditor general as saying: “We found that the processes and controls around that were very good, and that the monies were spent as they were intended to be spent.”
Auditor General Sheila Fraser says the Conservatives used a quote from her in a report that had nothing to do with the G8 and G20 summits. Auditor General Sheila Fraser says the Conservatives used a quote from her in a report that had nothing to do with the G8 and G20 summits. (Pawel Dwulit/Canadian Press)
But in a scathing letter addressed to members of a Commons committee on Friday, which was received by the clerk and members on Monday, Fraser said the quote had nothing to do with the summits.
Instead, she said, the Conservatives inserted an 2010 comment she made during a CBC News interview on security spending by a previous Liberal government after the Sept. 11 attacks a decade ago.
“The comments attributed to me in the [Conservative] report are completely unrelated to G8/G20 spending,” Fraser writes in her letter.
“I would appreciate it if the report could be modified as it is clearly erroneous.”
Stockwell Day, a member of the Harper cabinet who is not running for re-election, said Fraser was quoted in error and the Conservatives "unequivocally apologize." "As soon as I was aware of this letter I asked for the analysis from our officials, our people," Day told host Evan Solomon on the CBC's Power & Politics.
"In fact, I believe and we believe she was erroneously quoted on that. There was a wrong attribution given to her analysis, and we just unequivocally apologize for that."
Day said that the parties' House leaders are being contacted to see how "the proper quote" can be entered into the parliamentary record.
"This quote was wrongly attributed … and she is right to be upset," he said.
But New Democrat MP Pat Martin called the Conservatives’ attempt to put words in Fraser’s mouth “probably the sleaziest thing I have seen in politics."
“It just shows such a profound disrespect for the auditor general,” Martin said.
Fraser’s letter is addressed to the chairman of the now defunct Commons operations and estimates committee, Liberal MP John McKay, and copied to several other members, including Martin.
When the government was defeated last month, the committee had just finished studying the more than $1.2 billion the Harper government spent on the three-day summits held in Toronto and in Muskoka cottage country to the north of the city.
But the Conservatives on the committee issued their own two-page report.
In it, they claimed: “All witnesses brought forward testimony demonstrating strong endorsement of the government’s unprecedented transparency to summit costs.”
The misquote from Fraser was intended to back that claim.
The incident comes as the Conservatives are trying to douse a separate political flare-up over Fraser’s draft audit of summit spending.
The Canadian Press reports that a draft copy of that audit slams the Conservatives for spending close to $50 million on dubious summit projects completely unrelated to the international events, and misleading Parliament in the process.
The draft report also suggests the process may have been illegal, according to The Canadian Press.
Conservative candidate John Baird, speaking as the former transport minister in charge of infrastructure funding, claimed he has read a later draft of Fraser’s audit that makes no reference to the Harper government misleading Parliament.
The fall of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority government last month forced Fraser to shelve plans to present her final audit to Parliament April 5 |
how in the hell can we believe anything the Harper Conservatives say. This is absolutely crazy. |
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| ChemEnhanced |
| quote: | Tories under fire over leaked G8 report
A leaked draft report on G8/G20 summit spending that alleges the Conservative government lavished millions on a prominent cabinet member's riding and "misled" Parliament has put Stephen Harper's campaign on the defensive a day before the first leaders' debate.
But Auditor General Sheila Fraser cautioned Canadians on Monday, saying in a statement that only her final report will represent her audit's findings and conclusions when it is tabled in Parliament.
Fraser said the final report cannot be released until Parliament returns, despite all four parties calling for the document to be made public immediately.
"I strongly caution the public to wait until our final report on the G8 Legacy Infrastructure Fund has been tabled in Parliament and made public," Fraser said. "Sometimes during the process of fact validation, additional information is brought to our attention."
The Canadian Press reported earlier Monday that the Conservative government allegedly misinformed Parliament to win approval for a $50-million G8 fund that spread taxpayers' money on dubious projects in a Conservative riding, sparking parties to call for the release of the report.
A chapter of a Jan. 13 draft report, seen by the news agency, said Fraser suggests the process may have been illegal. The Canadian Press said the draft was obtained by a supporter of an opposition party.
Conservative candidate John Baird, who served as transport minister and later government House leader, told reporters that statements such as "Parliament was misinformed" do not appear in a later draft of the auditor general's report, which he said he had seen. Baird said "it's common" for versions of reports to be changed substantially.
"I told you what was not in the report. I don't have the authority to release subsequent drafts. I haven't seen the final draft," Baird said.
"We are very comfortable to ask for the report to be made public so people can come to their own conclusions and their own judgments. I think that is being open. I think that is being incredibly transparent."
But CBC News has learned that while the reference to misleading of Parliament was removed, the changes in the final report were not substantial.
"I have spoken to someone who has read several versions of this (auditor general's report) right up to the final one, who says there's not really a big substantial change," the CBC's Greg Weston said on Power & Politics with Evan Solomon.
"There may have been that change, that one change, but there’s a lot of other stuff in that report. … There is a lot of damning information in that report."
According to The Canadian Press, the Jan. 13 draft reveals that then-Industry Minister Tony Clement, the mayor of Huntsville and the general manager of Deerhurst Resort chose the 32 projects that received funding — with no regard for the needs of the summit or the conditions laid down by the government.
Clement said Monday on Twitter that he was glad Fraser indicated the leaked document was not her final report, which is the version that represents her findings.
Meanwhile, Huntsville Mayor Claude Doughty said during a news conference that there were no private meetings with Clement and Deerhurst, which was sold in January of this year for a reported $26 million to Skyline International Development, which has corporate offices in Toronto.
There were never any "discussion of merits of the G8 application discussed at private meetings between myself and the leadership of Deerhurst and Tony Clement. I had no authority to determine G8 funding," said Doughty.
Fraser's scathing letter to Conservatives
CBC News has learned Fraser wrote a scathing letter on Friday rebuking the Conservatives for recycling an older and unrelated quote by her in a separate parliamentary report by Tory committee members on the costs of the G8/G20 summits in Ontario last summer.
The Conservatives' report, presented to the Commons the morning Parliament was dissolved last month, quotes Fraser giving high marks to the Harper government for prudent spending on the summits.
The tabled report quoted the auditor general as saying: “We found that the processes and controls around that were very good, and that the monies were spent as they were intended to be spent.”
But in her letter addressed to members of the Commons committee, which was received by the clerk and members on Monday, Fraser said the quote had nothing to do with the summits, and was taken not from parliamentary evidence, but was a comment she made in 2010 on security spending by a previous Liberal government after the Sept. 11, 2001.
“The comments attributed to me in the [Conservative] report are completely unrelated to G8/G20 spending,” Fraser writes in her letter. “I would appreciate it if the report could be modified as it is clearly erroneous.”
G8 Infrastructure Fund projects
The $50-million G8 Legacy Infrastructure Fund launched in February 2009 and dedicated to legacy projects in the Parry Sound-Muskoka area. This strategy corresponds with Canada's Economic Action Plan to strengthen Northern Ontario communities.
Projects Announced on June 25, 2009 (figures are for federal contribution only):
* Renovation of Allister Johnston Bridge, Main Street and Town Centre, Kearney $730,000
* Downtown entranceway improvements, Burk's Falls $150,000 Upgrades to 10 kilometres of roadway, Perry $100,000
* Improvements to band shell and new public washrooms, Lake of Bays $274,850
Other select projects previously announced (figures are for federal contribution only):
* Expansion of Huntsville Centennial Centre to create G8 Centre, Huntsville $16.7 million
* Expansion of Summit Management Office, Huntsville $9 million
* Improvements to North Bay Jack Garland International Airport, North Bay $5 million
* Reconstruction of Deerhurst Drive, Huntsville $2.4 million
* Downtown improvements, Gravenhurst $1.2 million
* Gateway feature signage, Port Severn $1 million
* Streetscaping and park improvements, Port Severn $1 million
* Various civic improvements, Sundridge $750,000
* Upgrades to James and Seguin streets, Parry Sound $700,000
* Bala Falls Road upgrades, Muskoka Lakes $400,000
* Upgrades to Highway 11 $300,000
* Tourism signage, Muskoka Lakes $250,000
* Civic improvements, Parry Sound $194,000
* Gateway signage, Bracebridge $150,000
Source: Industry Canada website
'An absolute scandal'
Earlier Monday, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff called the allegations contained in the report "an absolute scandal" and asked the report to be released immediately.
"We knew that they wasted $1.2 billion on a G8/G20 summit. We knew that they have been spraying money around like drunken sailors in Tony Clement's riding What we didn't know is that they lied to Parliament. What we didn't know is they may have broken the law," Ignatieff told reporters in Ottawa.
"This is not me telling you this. This is the Auditor General of Canada, Sheila Fraser, a respected public servant."
The Liberal leader said the G8 spending is about a broader issue of trust, adding that Harper now has "no choice" but to release the report immediately.
"He has to release this report today, and he has got to explain to Canadians how he could have so scandalously abused public money, and so scandalously misled Parliament and so scandalously disobeyed the law.
The findings are contained in a draft of a confidential report Fraser was to have tabled in Parliament on April 5, according to The Canadian Press.
The report was shelved when Stephen Harper's minority government was toppled and is not due to be released until after the May 2 election. Despite the government's defeat, the opposition parties — the Liberals, NDP and Bloc Québécois — called last week for the auditor general's report to be released on the original date.
When asked whether the Conservative government leaned on Fraser to change the draft report, Baird laughed and said the auditor general "is not someone that is pushed around."
But shortly after Baird spoke, the Bloc Québécois said the auditor general's office confirmed the final report has been released to the Privy Council Office —the bureaucratic support arm of the Prime Minister's Office — meaning Harper can order it released if he chooses.
"We are prepared to help facilitate the release of the final version of the report in any way necessary," said Nina Chiarelli, acting director of communications for Harper.
Layton slams 'secretive' Harper
An olympic-size hockey arena and aquatics centre in Huntsville, Ont., was funded by G8 funds, but was never used and never slated to be used for the actual summit last June. Dave Seglins/CBCAn olympic-size hockey arena and aquatics centre in Huntsville, Ont., was funded by G8 funds, but was never used and never slated to be used for the actual summit last June. Dave Seglins/CBC
NDP Leader Jack Layton said the leaked report bolsters his party's call for a public inquiry on the G8 and G20 summits.
He said there are ongoing questions about human rights violations at the protests in Toronto at the G20 meeting.
On the G8 legacy project funding, Layton said it shows "that the priorities of this government continue to be wrong."
He said the Conservatives put their own political interests and the interests of their "buddies" ahead of the interests of Canadian families and small businesses.
"This is all a part of the culture of secrecy," Layton said in reference to Harper's government.
Layton said the Conservatives have established a pattern of trying to withhold information from the public.
"They don't like to release information about what they do," he said, adding that Harper goes to great lengths to "hide the truth."
"We have a prime minister that is incredibly secretive," Layton told reporters at a news conference in Ottawa.
Layton and Ignatieff both want the full report released before Tuesday night's debate.
Duceppe told reporters Monday he also wants the report released before the leaders' debate on Tuesday.
"We need to know exactly what happened before the debates," Duceppe said.
"It is unacceptable, we want clarity on this. Mr. Harper must show transparency on this."
Baird disputed that report when he met with reporters on Monday in Ottawa. He said the final decisions for which projects received money were made at Infrastructure Canada, which he headed as transport minister in Harper's government.
“Those three individuals didn’t make the final decisions,” Baird said. “I did.”
The auditor general's report analyzed the $1-billion cost of staging last June's G8 summit in Ontario cottage country and a subsequent gathering of G20 leaders in downtown Toronto.
Past reports released
The demand for Fraser to release her office's report into the G8 summit has incited debate over what government agencies can release reports during election campaigns.
Fraser is an independent officer of Parliament, so her duty is to report directly to the institution. When the election was called, Parliament was dissolved, so there is currently no one to receive the report.
Kevin Page, the parliamentary budget officer, released a report into the cost of the military mission in Afghanistan during the 2008 election campaign.
However, unlike the auditor general, Page is not an independent parliamentary officer. Instead, he is an employee of the Library of Parliament, which means he does not have the same restrictions on when he can release his findings. |
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