Liberal and NDP MPs say they suspect PMO speechwriters who prepared the Speech From the Throne for Gov.-Gen. David Johnston to deliver at the opening of a new session of Parliament may even have penned the phrase in anticipation of a last-minute fundraising drive.
The phrase, lifted from the cover page title for the Throne Speech as well as the text delivered by Gov.-Gen. Johnston, was used last week by Conservative Party President John Walsh in an appeal to party supporters for $2-million in donations before the end of the month.
Mr. Walsh at the same time acknowledged Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) may pose a threat to Conservative dominance over fundraising since 2004, along with the Liberal fundraising strategy of using social media, email, and other media to seek small amounts in donations from large numbers of contributors, a model based on U.S. President Barack Obama’s early success.
“Justin Trudeau and the Liberals have made fundraising their top priority, and they are working hard to close the gap,” Mr. Walsh said in an e-blitz to party members and supporters.
“Our party can only win the next election if we keep our fundraising advantage and the 2015 elections is right around the corner,” Mr. Walsh wrote.
“If we want to win, we need to get ready now. That’s why we are launching the Seize the Moment campaign to raise $2-million by the end of the year,” Mr. Walsh’s Seize the Moment phrase was a hyperlink to contribution options, which further raise the ire of the opposition.
“This is a government that has no concept of the difference between serving Canadians and serving the interests of the political fundraising machine of the Conservative party,” said NDP MP Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay, Ont.). “They always put the interests of the fundraising machine first.”
Mr. Angus pointed out the Conservatives earlier this year used a Cabinet decision to halt a Health Canada program promoting legal use of heroin to help combat addition as part of a fundraising drive.
“They are basing their legislation now around what they can raise money for, so they come up with their attack on Insite. The second the Health minister stands up to challenge the Supreme Court, challenge the medical community of Canada, they have a fundraising letter going out talking about junkies getting into your backyard,” Mr. Angus said.
“The come up with this Speech From The Throne, which, by the way, got completely dropped; they made a bunch of promises and we never heard from it again, and now they’ve got the nerve to try to raise money from it. They didn’t deliver the goods, and they’re trying to hit up people for cash,” Mr. Angus said.
Liberal MP Gerry Byrne (Humber-St. Barbe-Baie Verte, Nfld.) said he believes the Conservatives drafted the Throne Speech with an eye on using it for a fundraising drive.
“There is no doubt that the targeted language of the Throne speech, and the repetitive use of the slogan, 'seize the moment', was crafted for future Conservative fundraising efforts knowing that taxpayers would be the ones on the hook for 'priming the pump' on their partisan solicitation campaign,” he said.
“This is offensive,” Mr. Byrne said. “No one should have to pay taxes and have their money used in a way that erases the line between the public good and Conservative party interests.”
The Conservative Party has for the past decade dominated federal political fundraising, routinely collecting more than all the other parties combined. In the final three months last year, the party gathered $5-million in contributions compared to $2.8-million that the Liberal Party raise during the same period.
But Mr. Trudeau’s appeal and the party’s new fundraising formula is paying dividends, however, as the Liberals raised $1,003,462 from 12,707 donors with Mr. Trudeau’s Million Dollars for Change Campaign over the past two weeks.
Conservative Party spokesman Corey Hann did not reply to a request for comment.
Original Article
Source: hilltimes.com/
Author: TIM NAUMETZ
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