My contribution to the nation's political discourse this morning:
The Harper government's political opponents are accusing Conservative MPs of using government advertising and communications — paid for by all taxpayers — to advance their own partisan interest.
The NDP is so incensed, it has asked parliamentary ethics commissioner Mary Dawson to launch an investigation.
Both the NDP and the Liberals are upset about some recent advertising and public relations initiatives they say veer over the line separating appropriate communications about government projects and partisan appeals for political favour.
Conservative MPs have been orchestrating cheque-presentation ceremonies, in which the oversized ceremonial cheque contains the picture of the MP, the signature of the MP, Conservative Party logos or a combination of all three.
The NDP and Liberals say they have dozens of examples where a Conservative MP hands over what Liberal MP Wayne Easter called “government of Canada cheques disguised as Conservative cheques.”
In one case, B.C. Conservative MP Colin Mayes handed over a cheque with the Conservative party logo and his own picture on it.
In Ontario, Conservative MPs Scott Reid and Larry Miller dispensed with party logos altogether, but put their own names in large print in the top left corner of ceremonial cheques they posed with, making it seem as if the cheques were drawn on their personal accounts.
And my friend and colleague John Ivison opines on this issue in today's National Post:
… the Conservatives were elected to put an end to all that. Remember when Stephen Harper promised to replace a culture of entitlement with a culture of accountability? No? Apparently, neither does he.
This has the potential to do tremendous damage to the Conservatives. All the polling shows that their Achilles' Heel is the perception that they have a tendency to put their party's interests ahead of the country's.