Records tabled in the House of Commons reveal the government spent at least $206,756 to circulate the news releases on commercial news wires, and the Liberal Party, which asked for the information, argues the figures demonstrate the extent to which Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) has politicized day-to-day operations of the public service.
Opposition MPs say the practice of attributing federal spending initiatives to Mr. Harper contravenes a tradition of using departmental announcements in a non-partisan fashion and, although Conservatives insist previous Liberal governments did the same, the opposition insists those statements were limited to news releases from either the office of a prime minister or a minister.
When the Conservatives first came to power, it started referring to the Canadian government as “Canada’s New Government” in press releases as opposed to the longstanding Government of Canada format. News archives on departmental web sites indicate departments began switching to “Harper Government” statements in 2009.
Mr. Harper’s communications director, Jason MacDonald, reiterated the government position on Wednesday, arguing the term “Harper Government” is in common use among the public, news media and even Liberals.
“This has been long standing practice across various governments,” Mr. MacDonald said in an email response. “A simple check of online archives shows that the terms ‘Chretien Government, Martin Government’ and similar variations appear in official government communications by various governments.”
Mr. MacDonald added: “In fact, the official Liberal website has at least 109 references to the ‘Harper Government’ since January 2009.”
The latest release from the Liberals suggests the “Harper Government” brand has spread more pervasively.
“It’s consistent with them using advertising for their Economic Action Plan that then is mirroring the look and feel of some of the Conservative branded stuff,” said B.C. Liberal MP Joyce Murray (Vancouver Quadra, B.C.), who filed the House of Commons request the topic. “That’s very much a pattern of the government going past the line that separates partisan areas from government activities.”
Newfoundland and Labrador MP Gerry Byrne said whenever previous Liberal ministers issued releases linking the name of a prime minister to a government, the work was done by the minister and their political aides, and the practice was not common.
“The Conservatives are directing the public service to perform partisan functions,” Mr. Byrne said. He argued the minimum $206,756 the government spent distributing the announcements does not include “hundreds of thousands” of dollars more spent preparing them.
And, in the case of local funding announcements designed to increase the popularity of incumbent MPs, the public money could benefit the Conservative party in other ways, he said.
“Taxpayers paying for Conservative Party benefits,” said Mr. Byrne.
Mr. Keddy's (South Shore-St. Margaret's, N.S.) riding has benefited from government funding, including the beach centre improvements and $55,089 announced last January for seven town facilities in Lockeport.
Original Article
Source: hilltimes.com/
Author: TIM NAUMETZ
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