Dinner is on Joe - Oops, I Mean Taxpayers

Oh please. I'm not a Liberal supporter either, but the sponsorship 'scandal' was greatly overblown... it would barely have been a blip in US politics. Please don't let this blog become another space for Toronto Sun-quality political "analysis".

First off - to say the sponsorship scandal was "overblown" is unacceptable. The Liberals used OUR money to finance their ads during past elections - to try to convince us to vote for them.

It is frustrating that some Canadians fail to see how fundamentally wrong this is. It was a CRIMINAL act, they STOLE from us. If this was a coporation - heads would be rolling - Please see David Radler today in the paper, or ex ENRON executives - Why is this ok for elected officials.

That being said, I cannot find a viable alternative at this point. I enjoy the minority parliament right now, because at the very least I think it provides some increased accountability.

sponsorship scandal was NOT a criminal act on behalf of the government. hence there is no criminal investigation into any active federal minister. all those who stole were private citizens, not elected officials. so that would make you wrong, ss..

and it was so overblown. if you want to compare it to the US, the $100 million stolen doesn't come close to the $80 billion USD for the iraq war, nor the more recent new orleans disaster. it's just money - no one was killed/harmed unjustly. and, i might add, money that the government is paying back.

i'm going to echo the sentiments of the first comment...

your argument is weak and really lacking quality information.

who was volpe entertaining? where did you get this information?

i agree, that if in fact, it is as you seem and mr. volpe went out to susr every night and ate dinner off the stomach of a high priced escort and charged it to the taxpayers, well that's inapropriate. but i feeel that in reality that isn't the case.

the fact that you extrapolate this spending out to an entire year, is also irresponsible. has he ever spent this much before? i doubt it. so what makes you think this will continue?

ah, i could go on forever.

Josh makes a great point - it was not a criminal act by the government - instead it was a criminal act by the Liberal Party - (ie. the government for the last 10 years) Why do you make a diconnect, I have no idea.

The fact of the matter is, that Liberal members were elected (whether knowingly or not) on ill-gotten money. There was a real opportunity to show some leadership and immediate call an election, because even Paul Martin has acknowledged that there has clearly been some wrongdoing. I admire him for admitting that, and I think that was the right thing to do - but given that he, and his fellow cabinet minister's can partially (in as little as you may think) attribute their electoral success on illegal monies. I think it would have been to have an election immediately, and declare the previous results null and void.

Canada has always been a champion of corruption free elections - in fact - Canada regularly sends envoys on UN Missions to ensure corruption - EXACTLY LIKE WHAT HAS HAPPENED HERE - does not happen. If this took place during a U.N. Observed election - they would be having another one. I strongly feel that Canada should stand by the same standards that they expect other countries to abide by.

I too was interested by Volpe's expenses, and I looked into it further - unfortunately, it does look like good old Joe was entertaining at some pretty fancy places, here is the link. As you will see Hy's Steakhouse appears several times, as does Bistro 990.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/expenses/2005-Q2/volpe/

Cheers.

What is the deal with this site. With the over-abundance of non-Italian higher level Federal politicians that have been infiltrated since at least the 1970's by the Montreal mafia we're here concentrating on Joe faqin Volpe's eating habits! Get real! Why is it this blog continually chooses to stomp on the carcasses of the few remaining hard-working Italians left in the city. He ate twice in one day! Whoopie! The likely scenario is that he's working twice as hard as anyone else as Italians are usually the ones getting dumped with all the slack by the WASPS that want to go golfing on semi-daily basis. Give the guy a break.

Glad to see all the feedback.

As far as I'm concerned, the sponsorship scandal was not over blown. I really thought the paralell's drawn by "trv" with the United Nation observed elecitons is absolutely true. It is important that Canada, and its leaders set an example.

By no means am I suggesting that any political alternative is a better one - the sponsorship scandal, and $7000 of dining expenses in 28 days, is simply wrong, regardless of political stripe.

My biggest concern lies in the fact that if everyone continues to ignore or allow politicians to continue to get away with irresponsible spending, it will lead to a slippery slope of decreased accountability.

I am not sure if anyone remembers in 2003 when then Ontario Environment Minister Chris Stockwell resigned his position, and eventually quit politics because of questions surrounding a family trip he made to Europe and inappropriate use of taxpayers money.

His reason for quitting, and I quote, from a Cobourg Star Article June 18, 2003 (don't ask how I found this)

""Over the past few days it has become increasingly obvious that questions surrounding expenses incurred as minister of the Crown are detracting from the day-to-day business of the government,"

If there has been any one single event in Canadian Politics over my own lifetime that has "detracted from the day-to-day business of the government" it was the sponsorship scandal. The scandal has been nothing but a political football.

The debate in the House of Commons has reached a new low - All parties have been caught up in this corruption as opposed to providing new innovative policy solutions for important areas such as Health Care, Education, and the Environment.

For some reason I can't seem to remember one captivating policy idea coming out of Martin, Harper, or Layton for that matter. (Although Layton probably because he gets the short end of the media stick)

I am looking for solutions to many of the challenges facing Canada as we move forward, we have an aging population, and healthcare system that needs revision - I am calling on all parties to stand up.

you can't remember one captivating policy idea coming from martin? are you kidding me?

you know that martin created the canada research chairs which help fund research at many canadian universities? he also created the canadian millenium scholarship fund.

he's actually done some very good things for post secondary education in canada.

he would be a much better leader if he wasn't working in the shadow of this damn sponsorship scandal and minority government. i've met the man several times, and he's quite visionary and impressive in person...

I checked out the link provided by TRV, outlining Volpe's expenses, and as someone who has processed her share of expense reports in her time, these are quite tame in comparison to most that I've encountered in the past. I guess the differentiating factor is that I worked in the private sector, not in government, so it was a large company's money being spent, not the taxpayers' dollars.

If Paul Bernardo was a Liberal, would you blame the Liberals for his crimes? Just cause a few guys in the party stole money, don't point fingers at the active members of parlaiment. They aren't the criminals, and they're paying for someone elses crimes.

This post is dumb. Politicians have to spend money...it's just a fact of life.