Hockey millionaires and pharmacare tell you all you need to know about who the CTF really works for

For a while now it's seemed as if the so-called Canadian Taxpayers Federation has been adopting the modus operandi of the Fraser Institute -- cherry-picked data, conclusions contrary to the evidence presented and dubious claims stated as facts in a frenetic stream of press releases.

Well, you can hardly blame them. The media treats each of the purported "taxpayer watchdog's" pronouncements with a solemnity once reserved for texts thought to have been chipped into stone tablets by the Almighty.

Shocker: Canadian Taxpayers Federation suffers 17% membership slump!

In a stunning development, membership in the Canadian Taxpayers Federation has slumped close to 17 percent -- from six members, to five!

Alert readers will recall Alberta Diary's revelation in March 2013 that the much-quoted organization, which is as pure an example of political AstroTurfing as can be found in Canada, in reality has only five members.

The self-described "citizen advocacy" group had been allowing itself to be portrayed by its many friends in media as an organization of 70,000 Canadians -- including, as it happened, your blogger's dog Riley, who, aside from his rather basic understanding of economics, is as friendly and loyal a fellow as you could wish to meet.

Pictures worth 1,000 words: Getting to see what's behind a CTF operative's tantrum

How do we explain the strange spectacle last week of a well-heeled Canadian Taxpayers Federation operative bellowing at an Idle No More activist in the halls of a Winnipeg hotel while news cameras rolled?

Perhaps like me, you shook your head and moved on when you heard the March 28 broadcast coverage of an Idle No More protest apparently disrupting a news conference held by the federal Aboriginal Affairs minister and the follow-up clip of the CTF's Prairie director yelling at a First Nations leader.

The report I heard that afternoon on CBC radio explained only the barest outline of what was going on: Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt and some of his supporters were holding a news conference in Winnipeg to announce something about the government's "First Nations Transparency Act."

Minuscule Canadian Taxpayers Federation in running for 'Turfy Award'

When it comes time to hand out the annual Turfy Award -- named for AstroTurf, the green synthetic blades that look like grass and feel like grass but do not absorb carbon dioxide like grass -- I expect the Canadian Taxpayers Federation to be a contender.

Indeed, consider 'em nominated.

After all, seeing as I cooked up the Turfies just now, the CTF's chances are likely pretty good to win the award for the Canadian organization that best exemplifies the concept of Astroturfing -- a slang expression for political activities that, in the words of our wonderful collectively owned Wikipedia, "are designed to mask the sponsors of the message to give the appearance of coming from a disinterested, grassroots participant."