In/Out & Other Cons

Squealing and prissy, the Cons are in highest dudgeon as it appears they will be well and truly grilled during an inquiry into their shifty election finance practices.

Conservatives reacted with rage Wednesday after opposition MPs on the Commons ethics committee agreed to 78 potential witnesses for its inquiry into the Tory election ad controversy – but excluded every witness the Tories proposed.

The so called "in/out" scandal has led to search warrants and suspicion countered by endless roadblocks from the Cons, impeding investigation and inquiry. See, all of that guff about responsibility and transparency and accountability... well, they didn't mean it to apply to themselves. And they really do seem to believe that their perpetual campaign should proceed by any rule they can bend or get around. For instance, MPs are allowed to mail things to Canadians at no charge. It is a privilege and a perquisite that is intended to facilitate ready communication between the elected representatives and the citizenry.

This afternoon I pulled yet another flyer from a Con out of the mailbox. I was going to dump it into the building's junk mail recycling and when I looked down there were dozens of these stupid things discarded there. It's more of the campaign against the Green Shift proposed by Dion and the Liberals. I certainly have my own issues with Dion's leadership and questions about the function and value of this policy proposal. I'm more inclined to say we just have to make some fundamental changes to the way we do business here in Canada. I'd like to see some real caps on emissions. But I am willing to listen to any proposal that might reduce the pollution we are wallowing in.

Anyway, I stopped to have a look at this flyer, sent to me by MP Peter Goldring. Who the hell is Peter Goldring? I've received mailers from the dim witted Harold Albrecht and other regional Con jobbers. But I've never heard of Goldring. As I looked at all the flyers in the bin, I decided to help myself and I grabbed the ones off the top. I just finished adding notes on topical issues and counselling against waste and tomorrow I'll pop them back in the mail. Call me crazy but I find it a little insulting to receive what amounts to campaign literature while there is no election called. And I certainly don't enjoy scare letters warning me that trying to implement a carbon tax is going to cost me money. Not from a party that acts against pollution control at every step. Not when they come in mass mailings to flood another MP's riding. Not when they're sent from an MP from a few provinces away. Not when they are wasting physical resources and abusing parliamentary privilege. There is no cost on the face for these mailers but the sheer amount of waste and misuse by the Cons is paid for by Canadian taxpayers.

They say timing Mr Goldring is indeed everything. Today I received your wasteful note at the same time you and the rest of your crooked pals got held up for some long overdue scrutiny. And it looks good on ya. But just who is this Peter Goldring, busily spamming my riding in Southern Ontario? Well he's none other than the Member of Parliament for Edmonton East. And why would a member from the capital city of Alberta be blanketing a Liberal riding in another province with campaign spam? Because dear reader they are the party of the perpetual campaign. And they are sneaking around the spirit of franking privilege to pursue this endless task.

So yes, in the midst of Cons weeping at the sky over the injustice of having their shady dealings questioned in that little matter of the old in out, in out scandal (wherein they fuck the rules) I am gifted with another of their tricksies. So thanks to you Peter Goldring from the riding of Edmonton East. Because without your efforts and Canadian taxpayer dimes, I'd have never noticed you and I'd have never gotten to look at your claim to fame. For you are indeed the kind of puke that hires Gord Stamp as your campaign manager.

That would be Canada hating, Alberta separatist whackaloo Gordon Stamp, who was a Free Dominion regular, posting under the nom de blog of Psycho. That's just so... squinchy. Gord Stamp who ran your campaign and offered up such pithy comments as:

Alberta has no future in Canada. We refuse to be ruled by a corrupt dictatorship that continually stays in power by a bunch of eastern voting idiots.

Bouquets of Gray has a lovely collection of articles covering Stamp and Goldring and their tumultuous association. Eventually Stamp resigned because, well, he was a bit too visible with his separatist leanings.

Mind you it isn't that Goldring doesn't associate with nutters all on his own. Goldring was a featured speaker at a Free Dominion banquet. And as quoted by blogscanada his own opinions are somewhat, shall we say, retrograde.

Peter Goldring (CPC) This pivotal issue has brought unity to the people of Canada in recognition that they can no longer take their constitutional freedoms for granted. Further, it has brought with it the realization that all of us, as citizens of Canada and as human beings, must come to the aid to support our family values and the institution of marriage, and those who choose this definitive, child-centred relationship as their lifelong vocation.

Well Mr Goldring, I hope you take the time to read through the flyers I'm returning to you. And might I implore you to reconsider spamming my neighbourhood with your puerile nonsense. Here's hopinig the voters in Edmonton East make a wise decision and oust your plump rump from the position you currently hold. You can take some time to hang out with your separatist pals, your bigot buddies and perhaps the next representative of that riding won't be such a wasteful fool.