Bloc the original In-and-Outers: Thompson
H/T to National Newswatch for this one - The Original in and out election financing .
Elizabeth Thompson had an ‘aha’ moment today:
…Listening today to one Bloc Québécois MP after another get up to denounce "in and out" financing and praise Elections Canada, those bells started to ring even louder.
The term "in and out" in connection with election financing was first used by my former colleague and classmate Andrew McIntosh to describe a lucrative arrangement cooked up by the Bloc to take advantage of a loophole in election financing laws to extract the maximum amount of taxpayer-funded refunds from Elections Canada. We might never have heard about it if Bloc MP Jean-Paul Marchand hadn’t balked at the obligation to spend the maximum amount possible on his campaign in the 2000 election, prompting a court case, a scandal and a decision to close the loophole…
Quite amusing in view of the Bloc’s fawning confidence motion .
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Update : The Trusty Tory has been doing a great job tracking the hypocrisy of the opposition parties on this matter - Hypocritical Party of Canada .
More at Sandy’s with links to Andrew Coyne and Hunter .
Jack’s Newswatch - Tories Blast Elections Canada .
April 30th, 2008 at 12:49 am
I love the fact that Poilievre is giving examples of the hypocrisy of every party! I especially loved this little example…the Bloc member had no clue what to say. He did the same to the NDP! (It was hilarious to watch Pat Martin mumble “shaddap”). Oh, egg on all of their faces…
April 30th, 2008 at 7:02 am
TT - I just checked out your blog - Good work! I added a link on the update.
April 30th, 2008 at 7:17 am
Thanks! But of course, our friends on the left seem to think exposing the Liberals as hypocrites “isn’t a serious discussion”. It’s so pathetic, it isn’t even funny. So what do they do next? They blame Mike Harris. PLEASE!
April 30th, 2008 at 7:23 am
So what do they do next? They blame Mike Harris.
That’s fair - if we can blame Bob Rae.
April 30th, 2008 at 8:32 am
Off Topic … Happy Birthday, Prime Minister! (April 30)
April 30th, 2008 at 8:45 am
Yes!! Happy Birthday to the Best Prime Minister ever!
April 30th, 2008 at 10:08 am
The big problem for Dion is that he can’t run with this critcizing, outrage, and fear-mongering throughout a campaign. I can’t wait to watch Dion switch from OPPOSE mode to PROPOSE mode over a 36 day period. How will he do in explaining and advocating LIBERAL policies–something he has done very little of.
If I was a Liberal partisan, the thing that would make me the most nervous, is the image of Dion on the campaign trail, giving stump speeches, pumping up the troops, providing sound bytes for the nightly news, dealing with pesky reporters.
Never mind the two debates, where Harper and Layton will be waiting with surprise punches, that Dion will have to fend off, forced to think fast on his feet, as millions of voters pay close attention to his every twitch, pause, and utterance.
Remember the last debates, where Martin threw out his “scrapping the Not-Withstanding Clause” bombshell ? Harper hit that out of the ballpark, with his comparison to the American (Supreme Court rules) and British (Parliament rules) systems, with Canada being somewhere in between. I just can’t see Dion being anywhere near as smooth, consise and coherent, in a similar situation.
April 30th, 2008 at 11:41 am
re: “blaming Mike Harris” - wouldn’t it just shock the socks off folks if Harris made a comeback in Ontario?
Think about it. If they’re still blaming him for things, he just may as well come back and fix things once and for all.
Call me crazy, but I like that idea.
April 30th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Sol, I don’t call you crazy at all. I think that is exactly what we need here in Ontario. The fact is we don’t have a true conservative option in Ontario!
April 30th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Mike Harris would be good, but he couldn’t get elected in Ontario now, unless we could get rid of Toronto. Just look how they blame everything that is happening on Flaherty and his massive deficit that he left the Liberals with. No one ever corrects it and talks about the balanced budgets, money for hospitals and all the other things the Conservatives in Ontario did.
April 30th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
For some in-depth information and analysis on all parties’ returns, check out the “Donald Affidavit” Part I, II, and III here.
April 30th, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Jad: thank you so much for introducing me to that blog I love it!
May 1st, 2008 at 6:28 am
Yes, thanks Jad. That is a gem of a site for being non-partisan and very informative. I appreciate the tip.