The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Liberal Spending, Liberal Followers It is hard to resist commenting on a Reminder article submitted by the Saskatchewan government, which appeared on Oct. 21. Usually these "submitted byÉ" any government releases are self-praising comments about how wonderful (in the case of Saskatchewan and Manitoba) the NDP is doing for the people of the province. This was different and featured Saskatchewan Premier Lorne Calvert complaining about the federal Liberals, and with good reason. Six months ago the two governments signed an agreement giving the province $300 million for students, housing, infrastructure, etc., etc. Ð when the Liberals were running around the country promising money to everybody for anything to stave off an election. Now the Premier, who has spent /promised a lot of this money already, is loudly complaining that Saskatchewan has not received a penny of the funds. Why is he surprised? Promise and don't deliver is a common Liberal tactic since the days of Chretien. It's been written before, but Shakespeare said it best: "The King knows when to promise and when to pay." The Liberal who signed the deal, Ralph Goodale, Canada's Finance Minister and Saskatchewan's only Liberal MP, received a good shot in question period shortly after. A fellow Regina MP revealed that Goodale had spent thousands traveling to Regina on a Challenger jet Ð it costs $9,000/hour for the plane Ð instead of taking a commercial flight. His question was: "I know the Liberals aren't popular in Saskatchewan, but is the Minister afraid of meeting westerners on a commercial flight?" Cabinet ministers' use of expensive travel was a hot issue, but little was reported by the (surely not biased!) Eastern media. "Landslide Annie," the deputy PM and only Liberal MP left in Alberta, also had her travel costs revealed, and it was far more than Ralph's. The question was: "Were the visits important?" But Paul Martin defended McLellan as being very important, and one Liberal said it is important to get them out and back quickly as they are in a minority. They don't seem to have concern about spending tax money any more than David Dingwall. Recently an editorial article appeared in this newspaper, claiming how biased the press is Ð pro-left, anti Conservative and anti-religious right. There is nothing new about this and it is noticed by all Western MPs when they confront the Ottawa Press Corps. If you don't believe this, try watching question period in the Commons on TV, then read the next day's news stories. It can be very enlightening. See what reporting there is on Stephen Harper's policies, a number of which have been mentioned in this column but receive short shrift from the media. How about a close-to-home example? Manitoba's largest daily has as its eastern reporter stationed in Ottawa. His forte is interviewing big Liberals Ð Chretien, Martin and their appointees such as the two latest Governors-General. The interviews are usually blas with few hard questions and no negative comments. One with Adrienne Clarkson never mentioned her wild and useless spending of tax money; the other with the new GG asked a few gentle questions about her separatist past but no pursuit about how she voted in the 1995 separation vote. Speaking of Michaelle Jean, she received the royal treatment from this Winnipeg daily on her visit to Manitoba. She was on the front page and even had a headline: "A star is born." The Martin appointee said little of importance and the "crowd of thousands" was reported by the other Winnipeg daily as being 300. Speaking of the other daily, it was actually praised by several readers for its objectivity on the visit and for not getting drawn in by the hype. One letter writer wrote: "She is not the second coming of Nazareth!" and went on to say her appointment is all Liberal posturing and maneuvering. While in Winnipeg, Ms. Jean attended several events, most hosted by the province. Her words were designed to please, such as her supposed desire to open a dialogue on "Western alienation." How could anyone who visited the West 20 years ago, and has never been politically involved, do anything about this issue? The issue is certainly there, recently fueled by BSE and softwood, senate reform and the like. A recent survey of Albertans showed 40 per cent are in favour of or would consider separating from Canada. A scary number, or is it? In any case, don't expect the Governor-General to solve the problem.11/16/2005
