NDP Fact Check

Yesterday three Conservative Ministers took time away from important meetings with First Nations leaders to launch a partisan attack on NDP MP Ryan Cleary – an MP known for his strong advocacy for a sustainable and humane seal industry – for pointing out how foreign bans on the seal hunt may one day make the industry unviable.

But what have Conservative Ministers said about this?

Conservatives are making their priorities clear. While out-of-work Canadians are waiting longer and longer for EI, Conservatives are throwing money at an EI agency that does nothing.

Since 2008, $3.3 million was spent on the Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board. Problem is, no work was being done on its own mandate.

Today’s red tape reduction announcement has an interesting way to “reduce” something: keep it at the same level:

“regulators will be required to remove at least one regulation each time they introduce a new one that imposes administrative burden on business”
– Government press release, January 18, 2012

If you are adding one for each one you remove, you’re actually just running in the same spot.

Far from his now infamous quote “I don't plan to appoint senators”, Stephen Harper has, once again, embraced patronage like every Prime Minister of the past. It’s the old Ottawa way. Behold the patronage!

Ghislain Maltais – Former liberal MNA in the Quebec National Assembly, former by-election organizer and key organizer for the Lawrence Cannon campaign.

Jean-Guy Dagenais – 2011 Conservative candidate in Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot.

Norman Doyle – Former Conservative MP

In the House of Commons, Jason Kenney has been claiming that only two appointments to the Immigration and Refugee Board have links to the Conservative Party of Canada.

The facts contradict his claim, as the board is brimming with Conservative donors, ex-candidates and Conservative staffers.

So which of these many Conservative-linked appointees were the two Jason Kenney was talking about?

Political advisor:

Normand Forest - Senior policy advisor to labour minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn
Appointed to Board in 2008

Candidates:

The Conservative line on handing over firearms data to the provinces is that it violates privacy rights.

“We are bound to protect the privacy rights of Canadians and that includes the rights of those who are law-abiding gun owners”
Peter Van Loan, Hansard, October 28, 2011

“In order to protect the privacy of law-abiding long gun owners, records held by the Canadian firearms program on currently registered long guns will be destroyed.”
Vic Toews, Hansard, October 26 2011

The Conservatives keep trying to convince the public that the G8 Legacy Fund boondoggle was not a massive waste of taxpayers’ money, but their broken record talking points aren’t cutting it anymore.

On Wednesday, Pierre Pollievre proudly repeated the Conservative refrain on the G8 boondoggle, claiming that every single project came under budget.

This will be news to the Town of Huntsville, where G8 projects came in more than $5 million OVER budget. (Huntsville Town Council, http://bit.ly/pgMkJd).

Lisa Raitt’s ability to fairly negotiate a deal between Air Canada management and employees is being questioned today in light of yesterday’s new allegation that the Minister accepted a free upgrade to business class, issued personally by Duncan Dee, Air Canada’s Chief operating Officer.

Raitt was reported to have received the upgrade on September 25, 2011, just days after threatening Air Canada employees with back to work legislation.

While Minister Raitt claims she used upgrades of her own, Dee’s name on the upgrade certificate is baggage that can’t be checked.

Showing that irony is definitely lost on the Conservatives, the party congratulated itself on its red tape reduction efforts by releasing the latest in a long line of press releases announcing yet another study on reducing red tape

Today’s release is the culmination of a Commission Conservatives struck in January - and re-announced repeatedly throughout the year - and announces that the commission has decided what’s needed is another, longer report.

Today, members from the Conservative Party and the Bloc Quebecois feigned righteous indignation that NDP interim leader Nycole Turmel supported candidates from both the BQ and Quebec Solidaire.

Conservative spokesman Dimitri Soudas called the NDP “not up to the job of governing Canada” and Louis Plamondon, the interim leader of the Bloc Quebecois said “when you back a party, you back its program.”

As prices at the pump go through the roof, oil and gas companies are seeing profits climb:

“Exxon earned nearly $11 billion in the first quarter, a performance that will likely land it in the centre of the national debate over high gasoline prices.”
– Associated Press, Apr. 28, 2011

“Royal Dutch Shell PLC…on Thursday said its first-quarter earnings rose 60 per cent to $8.78 billion (U.S.), thanks to higher oil prices…”
– Associated Press, Apr. 28, 2011

Michael Ignatieff is dumping millions into advertising about the dangers of “career politicians”. For the record, his slate includes:

• Kevin Lamoureux – Politician since 1988. First ran provincially at 24, elected at 26.
• Jean-Claude D'Amours – Politician since 1998, became City Councilor at the age of 26.
• Gerry Byrne – Politician since 1996, first elected at age 29.