Posted by Grant Fraser on 6/23/2004, 4:14 am, in reply to "I am a Canadian, I am a Conservative and I am a Clubber" Your vote on June 28 is your statement about the kind of Canada in which you believe and live. The government we elect reflects Canadian values and morals. Earlier this year, the Auditor General revealed yet another example of Liberal mismanagement, even corruption, involving your tax dollars. Specifically, Ms. Fraser disclosed $250,000,000 worth of questionable spending, out of which Liberal friendly advertising firms skimmed $100,000,000 in administration fees. Last year, Ms. Fraser revealed the scope of bungling in the Liberal gun registry, in which a program budgeted to cost taxpayers $2,000,000 in fact mushroomed to $800,000,000, and is projected to exceed $1,000,000,000 by the end of this year. She was not even able to complete her audit; such was the mess within the file. An independent report suggests that the real cost of the gun registry in fact is closer to $2,000,000,000. Several years ago, the Auditor General revealed $1,000,000,000 worth of spending within the HRDC for which there was virtually no reliable accounting. Grants for tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars were handed out, too often to Liberal ridings, bypassing the most basic of accounting and management principles. Throughout all of this, Paul Martin was Finance Minister in charge of a) Canadian tax laws, and b) the spending of, and accounting for, hundreds of billions of Canadians tax dollars. If just a relative handful of audits can reveal a scope of mismanagement, even corruption, of unprecedented proportions, what has not yet been discovered? Think about this: Had Paul Martin been Chief Financial Officer for a public corporation in which this sort of mismanagement had been revealed, would he be next in line to be Chief Executive Officer? Or would he be facing criminal charges, a la Enron? In 1994, Finance Minister Paul Martin promised to close offshore tax loopholes that were costing the federal government billions in lost revenue. But did he? Canadian Steamship Lines immediately closed up shop in Liberia, only to move to the Carribean where it now enjoys tax loopholes that have permitted Paul Martins corporation to return hundreds of millions of dollars in profit back to Canada tax free. Is Paul Martin really interested in how your tax dollars are spent? Or is he merely interested in avoiding taxes? What kind of leader is it that, while devising means to avoid paying millions in taxes, at the same time makes sure you are paying ever increasing thousands in taxes? During the Liberal rein of power since 1993, our military has been neglected to the point that it is now, according to numerous studies, on the verge of total collapse. An order for replacements of 40 year-old Sea King helicopters was cancelled with a penalty cost of $500,000,000 tax dollars, and now we are still years away from delivery of fewer replacements that will cost literally billions more than they would have back in 1993. Meanwhile, our men and women in uniform continue to try to the tasks we ask of them in ever increasingly high-risk, obsolete equipment. When Jean Chretien decided he wanted 2 new Challenger jets from his friends at Bombardier, it took mere days to make it happen. Our military has to wait literally decades. All of this speaks directly to integrity. Is a government capable of managing our healthcare, our military, our international relationships, our foreign trade, our social welfare, our fisheries, our agriculture, if it cannot manage the most basic prerequisite of integrity? This election, we have a chance to make a statement about what is the most essential and dearest of Canadian values: INTEGRITY. This election, we have an opportunity to elect a new government, led by a man who has demonstrated integrity throughout his life, both private and public. A man who has had the integrity to say, not what he thought was necessarily popular, but what he thought had to be said for the sake of honesty and principle. This election, we are voting for a man of integrity. This election, we are voting for Stephen Harper for Prime Minister of Canada. We ask you to join us to make a powerful statement about the kind of Canada in which you believe and live. We ask you to say that, above all else, we must restore integrity to our federal government. Who are we? We are Canadians who are fed up with being lied to, with having our money stolen, with being called extremists, and with being told that to be Canadians, we must be Liberals.
WHAT KIND OF CANADA DO YOU WANT?
