Working for the man
Kevin Libin - Monday,23 January 2006
I don't know about everyone else's parenting strategies, but so what if my kids happen to really like beer and popcorn? Would the Liberals deny me the right to occasionally treat my kids to their favourite snacks? Actually, they would.
The comment by the prime minister's press secretary, Scott Reid, that Canadians would waste the Tories' proposed $1,200 day-care grant on a few cases of Labatt's and a whole lot of Orville Redenbacher wasn't a mistake. It was a frank admission of Liberal philosophy: Ottawa knows how to spend your money best. Reid, after all, is no school- principal-turned-Tory-backbencher from Pecker's Point--the sort that would touch off a national furor should he accidentally suggest mid-campaign that we might, perhaps, one day in the distant future, want to have a look at fine-tuning our bilingualism policy. Nope. Reid is slick and experienced. He worked for former Ontario premier David Peterson, and for Earnscliffe Strategy Group, the high-powered Ottawa PR firm. He was communications director for Paul Martin while he was finance minister.
Reid is as polished a communicator as they come. He meant what he said. Liberal strategist John Duffy later defended the comment on a CTV panel, adding that the money might go to buying things like "a coat or a car." This was no gaffe--it was a Liberal talking point.
Nor does Reid have anything against beer--not judging by his expense accounts. Toronto-based Internet blogger Stephen Taylor dug up Reid's expense claims for the first six months of 2005, and found loads of charges at Ottawa establishments with names like The **** and Lion, the Manx Pub, Darcy McGee's Pub, the Celtic Cross Pub, and so on. Many claimed expenses for "refreshments for meeting." What sort of refreshments do you think they serve at Brixton's British Bar?
And what sort of meetings do they have at these places? Thanks to another blogger, Toronto Tory, we have an idea about that, too. One of Reid's expenses was for a May 19 meeting to "discuss media briefing" at a place called Suite 34. May 19 was the night the Liberals nearly lost the confidence of the House, spared only by the venality of Belinda Stronach. The Toronto Star reported that "[Martin's chief of staff Tim] Murphy, Stronach and the hordes headed to Suite 34 in the Byward Market" to celebrate the narrow victory. Once there, the Star reported, Stronach and Murphy celebrated by "dancing atop a speaker . . . The tune? 'Material Girl,' by Madonna." Murphy and Material Girl Belinda are parents themselves, but they don't need day-care dollars to pick up the celebratory rounds--not when Reid's putting it on the taxpayers' tab.
You see, these folks don't mind the occasional pint and nosh at the public's expense. But average Canadians? Apparently, from Duffy's comments, we're spoiled for wanting coats. The Liberals made this the third-heaviest taxed jurisdiction in the world, according to the Organization of Economic Development. No wonder they see the money we earn as theirs. The whole point, after all, of the Liberals' own day-care plan is to entice Canadian parents to get a job, rather than raising children. Stay-at-home moms don't pay taxes, you know. Give parents a choice, and they might pass on day care, opting to stay home and make popcorn with the kiddies.
It's a heck of a formula. Tax parents to the point where it's nearly impossible to get by on a single income. Tempt them with virtually free child care, making it impractical for them to justify staying home. Soon, you've got everyone in the country slaving away just to send more taxes to Ottawa for ministers and their flunkies to spend as they see fit. Come to think of it, what are you doing reading this magazine? Get back to work. You've got government refreshments to pay for.
Western Standard
Kevin Libin - Monday,23 January 2006
I don't know about everyone else's parenting strategies, but so what if my kids happen to really like beer and popcorn? Would the Liberals deny me the right to occasionally treat my kids to their favourite snacks? Actually, they would.
The comment by the prime minister's press secretary, Scott Reid, that Canadians would waste the Tories' proposed $1,200 day-care grant on a few cases of Labatt's and a whole lot of Orville Redenbacher wasn't a mistake. It was a frank admission of Liberal philosophy: Ottawa knows how to spend your money best. Reid, after all, is no school- principal-turned-Tory-backbencher from Pecker's Point--the sort that would touch off a national furor should he accidentally suggest mid-campaign that we might, perhaps, one day in the distant future, want to have a look at fine-tuning our bilingualism policy. Nope. Reid is slick and experienced. He worked for former Ontario premier David Peterson, and for Earnscliffe Strategy Group, the high-powered Ottawa PR firm. He was communications director for Paul Martin while he was finance minister.
Reid is as polished a communicator as they come. He meant what he said. Liberal strategist John Duffy later defended the comment on a CTV panel, adding that the money might go to buying things like "a coat or a car." This was no gaffe--it was a Liberal talking point.
Nor does Reid have anything against beer--not judging by his expense accounts. Toronto-based Internet blogger Stephen Taylor dug up Reid's expense claims for the first six months of 2005, and found loads of charges at Ottawa establishments with names like The **** and Lion, the Manx Pub, Darcy McGee's Pub, the Celtic Cross Pub, and so on. Many claimed expenses for "refreshments for meeting." What sort of refreshments do you think they serve at Brixton's British Bar?
And what sort of meetings do they have at these places? Thanks to another blogger, Toronto Tory, we have an idea about that, too. One of Reid's expenses was for a May 19 meeting to "discuss media briefing" at a place called Suite 34. May 19 was the night the Liberals nearly lost the confidence of the House, spared only by the venality of Belinda Stronach. The Toronto Star reported that "[Martin's chief of staff Tim] Murphy, Stronach and the hordes headed to Suite 34 in the Byward Market" to celebrate the narrow victory. Once there, the Star reported, Stronach and Murphy celebrated by "dancing atop a speaker . . . The tune? 'Material Girl,' by Madonna." Murphy and Material Girl Belinda are parents themselves, but they don't need day-care dollars to pick up the celebratory rounds--not when Reid's putting it on the taxpayers' tab.
You see, these folks don't mind the occasional pint and nosh at the public's expense. But average Canadians? Apparently, from Duffy's comments, we're spoiled for wanting coats. The Liberals made this the third-heaviest taxed jurisdiction in the world, according to the Organization of Economic Development. No wonder they see the money we earn as theirs. The whole point, after all, of the Liberals' own day-care plan is to entice Canadian parents to get a job, rather than raising children. Stay-at-home moms don't pay taxes, you know. Give parents a choice, and they might pass on day care, opting to stay home and make popcorn with the kiddies.
It's a heck of a formula. Tax parents to the point where it's nearly impossible to get by on a single income. Tempt them with virtually free child care, making it impractical for them to justify staying home. Soon, you've got everyone in the country slaving away just to send more taxes to Ottawa for ministers and their flunkies to spend as they see fit. Come to think of it, what are you doing reading this magazine? Get back to work. You've got government refreshments to pay for.
Western Standard
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