The NDP made a splash in question period today when they released a
fund-raising letter accidentally sent from Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s office to NDP MP Linda Duncan, instead of Conservative MP John Duncan. Big oops.
The letter said the CPC needed $200,000 from party riding associations to make its ethnic campaign –“Building the Conservative Brand in Cultural Communities” — a success. (Hey, that’s only about $650 per. Pony up, everyone.)
The NDP released only the letter and not the unspecified attached “presentation materials” about the party’s strategy to win over ethnic voters in close ridings. The NDP press office wanted to spool those documents out over a couple of days, to keep the story alive.
But NDP MP Pat Martin had a copy and was happy to show the attached PowerPoint deck at the end of his scrum.
Only “A Few Tasteful Snaps” has the, uh, tasteful snaps.
UPDATE: The pages of the document Martin was waving around appears to be a simple demographic breakdown of certain ridings. It lists the population by “South Asian,” “Jewish,” “Chinese” and “Ukranian.” It also notes that of the top-ten ridings where 20 per cent or more of the population is ethnic, three were decided by fewer than 800 votes and one — Vancouver South — swung on fewer than 10 votes. That’s Liberal Ujjal Dosanjh’s turf.
Also interesting in the bold-faced message, “If GTA South Asians were to form a city, it would be the third largest city in the country.” Cool.
FURTHER UPDATE: The NDP has released the full document. Here for your reading pleasure:
Fair enough, but the chart was titled “Target Ridings – Very Ethnic”.
This may not seem like a big deal, but whatit means is that “Kenney is accused of using Parliamentary resources for partisan fundraising”. See here for details: http://davidakin.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2011/3/3/4763093.html
Again, ethics seems to be a blurred concept and it will probably be defended in some fashion :/
Well, since the letter is sent in Kenny’s name it seems perfectly reasonable to me for him to use his own letterhead. Doesn’t Bob Rae use Bob Rae letterhead?
The point here is that he’s not supposed to use his office for party fundraising, and he did. That’s the problem. How can you not see that? Or are you just trying to change the channel?
It’s an ethics issue, and that type of slip-up is very hard to justify – especially from a purpotedly accountable government. oO
Sure, you can always whine “the Liberals did it so the Conservatives can too!”, but that’s not exactly a sound argument 😛
Too bad the NDP can’t win over the “ethnic” vote … and the Liberals are losing ground amongst informed ethnics.
Inexorably, the Libbers and Dippers are facing their final demise come the next election.
And like a bad case of the clap, Observant shows up again.
Yeah, Observant is too chickenshit to show up @ Kinsella’s place now that we know what a slimeball Observant has been.
A scandal a day with this regime, the newly rebranded “Harper Government”. I am so very tired of them and really hate what they are doing to our country.
Thanks for this post
Too bad the opposition can’t actually talk about issues that matter to Canadians. Oda-gate, In’nOut, now this – no one cares and they wonder why they are floundering in the polls. How about offering Canadians a positive alternative to the current government and maybe people will start to pay attention.
Because the real issues that the Cons keep spouting, such as Iggy is an American and he’s not here for us, are the ones that matter to Canadians?
Thanks for this. I feel rather well served these days by online msm journalists.
There goes that word “target” again. Taking a page from Palin’s website is he? Next, they’ll be encouraging us to “take aim” at the “ethnics”?
Conservative Party of Canada = KKK v. 2.0
It is sad that political commentary has come to this. Do people really need to degrade the commentary to accusations of “nazism” or the “KKK”?
you are absolutely ridiculous. Comparing the CPC, a middle-right Canadian political party which has done more for minorities than any previous Canadian government, to the KKK, a hateful, violent, racist organization perfectly exemplifies how pathetically misguided political opposition has become. For shame.
That is truly the dumbest fucking comment I have ever read online. Where does one even start with something like that? Are you out of your mind?
I hope that the first comment is still “awaiting moderation.” It would say a lot about this blog if it’s considered acceptable to claim that the governing party is going to start calling for the summary killing of “ethnics,” and that it’s somehow comparable to the KKK because it engages in the common practice of trying to appeal to certain key demographics. That should be grossly offensive to any normal, well-adjusted Canadian.
I won’t delete a comment just because it’s idiotic. Always better that, as in this case, it is loudly refuted.
Liberals, NDP, and their sympathizers just hate it when Stephen Harper and the CPC do their jobs well. It makes them that much more out of touch with the voters, who increasingly agree with the direction the Harper government is taking.
I predict a landslide CPC majority, by the way.
What’s so scandalous about political parties trying to increase their support in ethnic communities? Check out any ethnic pride event. MP’s from every party are there. Shouldn’t elected officials be reaching out to them?
Hmmm. Wasn’t that long ago Linda Duncan was in the same boat, with her parliamentry office email account being used for partisan purposes. I’m sure the media will jump right on this, and NDP MP Pat Martin will offer a full and proper apology for his comments on Power and Politics today.
http://thealbertaardvark.blogspot.com/2011/02/linda-duncan-call-your-office.html
Ok progressives put your thinking caps on. We called the Cons the Harper Gov because we didn’t want our grandparents turning over in their graves, so what now shall we name these faux cons? How about, We’re the Government, You’re Not. That way we the people can be NOT part of what we’ve known all along.
This type of data via Statistics Canada is expensive and must have been provided to the Minister using public service resources. Is this legit?
I can’t wait until we have a majority Conservative government, and it will be sooner rather than later. It is almost humerous watching the other parties desperatly trying to create faux scandals, and do their best Abott and Costello impersonations. Bring on the election!!
Uh, I’m pretty sure it’s an offence to open someone else’s mail. Is there going to be any repercussions for this?