Friday, February 03, 2012

Don Braid: Hubris of Tory spending on Jasper caucus retreat is breathtaking.

Don Braid from the Calgary Herald nails it with his most recent column:

The hubris of spending that kind of dough for a caucus retreat, with a deficit budget and an election looming, is breathtaking even for our durable Tory regime.

The $70,000 comes from caucus funding, which technically means it’s legislature money rather than government cash. But every last buck still derives from the public trough.

The PCs do not appear to care.

And he's right, the PCs don't care. After 40 yrs in power they seem to have forgotten the difference between government and party and it is costing every one of us money.

BTW: Has anyone else noticed that not single PC candidate has tweeted about being in Jasper? (There are over 20 of them there) I wonder why that is; I mean if the PC's really believed their own spin that the Jasper trip is no big deal and will not hurt them in the polls, why the twitter silence from a group who tweet enough about themselves for it to be almost considered spam?
 

6 comments:

wilson said...

UNELECTED PC candidates invited to a CAUCUS retreat....

I don't give a rip if the unelected candidates paid their own way,
the fact is they were invited to a CAUCUS retreat

Wildrose and Libs to make complaint to the Speaker..... who was also at the PC 'retreat'

Ardvark said...

I don't know for sure who was there but I asked David Dorward PC candidate for Gold bar: "How did you enjoy your trip to Jasper w/ the PC MLA's who were there on $70K of our money? Get in any skiing?"

No reply yet. =)

maryT said...

Hopefully this is their last kick at the cat before the election. I hope they get a big surprise. If they don't become the opposition Ihope they get a very small minority.
Still waiting for the extra 400.00/mo for AISH. Maybe those people should tell her they are teacher instead of disabled.

Anonymous said...

Oink. Oink. Consrvatives at the trough.

Calgary Junkie said...

This retreat is just another example of how Redford's actions don't match her rhetoric. Our intelligence keeps getting insulted, as we have to endure new ridiculous spin from the PC side.

There is more of a mocking tone from the media, which is obviously good. Just ask Stockwell Day how hard it is to be taken seriously, when the other side is laughing at you.

Rick Mercer, come on down to Alberta ! There's tons of PC material here, for one of your spoofs.

Meanwhile, the Wildrose radio ads, are taking the proper serious tone, talking about the "same old PCs".

So far, I like how the Flanagan-led Wildrose are conducting themselves. For example, they sent out a fund-raising letter under his name, which carries a lot of clout with a CPC-connected kind of guy like me.

Plus, Flanagan is avoiding the media, the proper tactical thing for a campaign chairman to do. No inadvertent "beer and popcorn" gaffes from him, plus the PCs are in the dark as to his strategy. Meanwhile Redford's chief of staff (and future campaign chairman) Stephen Carter, seems to enjoy getting quoted by the media.

It's all good for the Wildrose.

Anonymous said...

The AISH should be abolished. Not increased. Just like Ralph Klein said.

Too bad the Wildrose wants to spend more on this.