A cheque, also spelled check (US spelling), is a negotiable instrument instructing a financial institution to pay a specific amount of a specific currency from a specified demand account held in the maker/depositor's name with that institution. Both the maker and payee may be natural persons or legal entities.
Canada's latest political scandal.
Unlike the US we don't get the same sex scandals and stuff like that.....
But this is pretty big news here....
The current minority government, the Harper Conservatives are using taxpayer funded stimulus money to hand out projects to areas of Canada that vote conservative....With their own MP's signatures on the BIG novelty cheques. In one recent instance the cheque was emblazoned with the Conservative party logo instead of the "Canada" wordmark..... Some of us on the Canadian Blogs have had some fun with that.
The Liberal party of Canada came up with this little collage to show how many times this sort of thing has happened just recently:
They are not usually this creative, and it's not too bad.
This would be like a Republican handing out taxpayer funded stimulus money with a great big ol' GOP elephant on it.
Bobby Jindal had some fun with BIG GIANT novelty cheques just this last summer...
Despite the fact that the checks contain millions of dollars of Recovery Act funds for job training programs, housing assistance programs, homelessness prevention programs, police training, criminal justice technology upgrades, and community development block grants, Jindal has been printing his own name on the checks and taking credit for the money. For example, Jindal presented Lafayette with yet another jumbo-sized check that contained at least $2,125,584 in Recovery Act funds. Though the money came from spending policies authorized by the Recovery Act, Jindal did not appear to credit the Recovery Act at all. And although the state stands to gain nearly $8 billion in federal funding from the Recovery Act, Jindal was one of several GOP governors to try to block the measure earlier this year.
The Conservatives and their apologists insist that it's not the same as when the Liberals did it....And even though a few years have passed, and even though the Conservatives have railed against this kind of thing for years, and even though there is a new "accountability act"....IOKIYARepublican, is much the same as IOKIYAConservative.
Campaigning on the public purse, it's a nice gig if you can get it eh?
The Conservatives are also crying that this is just meanness, that all taxpayer funded stimulus money is being divided even-Stephen....(Yes that spelling was totally intentional)
But the numbers are not showing that at all.
The Conservatives have only 46 per cent of the seats in the House of Commons, so Conservative ridings appear to have landed 41 per cent more projects than had they been distributed evenly.
The numbers suggest that opposition politicians are right to complain that the Tories are using politically desirable recreation facilities for partisan advantage.
The province of Ontario — where the Tories hold about 48 per cent of the seats — a full 62 per cent of federally-funded recreation projects went to Tory ridings, data obtained from the Economic Action Plan website shows.
The Conservatives really really want to make some gains in the Province of Ontario...
Overall, about three of every four projects so far funded through the RinC program has gone to Ontario, where Conservative hopes for a majority government in the next election.
The northwern Ontario riding of Kenora, once Liberal turf but now held by Conservative Greg Rickford, received more projects under the program than any other riding in the country.
And you know, when even the most Conservative paper in the country says that this is happening.....There is no way to whitewash it.
Canada's print version of FAUX newz...
OTTAWA -- Conservative ridings across Canada received more than their fair share of big-money stimulus projects paid for by taxpayers, an investigation into the Harper government's Economic Action Plan shows.
The numbers -- drawn from Ottawa's own website -- bolster opposition allegations of pork barrelling in the multi-billion-dollar stimulus package, a charge the Tories deny.
Ouch. Now that has GOT to hurt.
The Harper Conservatives have been trying to get a majority government for years now, they think they are close. So this partisan stuff is only going to get worse. More favours for corporate Canada, more stuff for loyal voters....
Recently Stephen Harper "sang" at a gala concert with Yo-Yo Ma. Totally a surprise impromptu performance....that his wife planned a month previous to that.
When he sang a Beatles song and tried to look all "Mr populist/Artsy fartsy"..(Last year Harper denounced galas and arts shows as "elitist") One should also know that the Harper Conservatives have been cutting the arts in Canada for a couple years now.
A few million dollars invested in the arts does bring in Billions of dollars in trade, but that is long term thinking.
The song, With a Little Help from my friends had more of a hidden message than some people initially thought.
It is getting rather absurd up here in the great white north.
Next up....
Come see Canada. The New Cheque Republic. (I am not sure who originally came up with that phrase, but it's bloody brilliant.)