Millions are being spent on self-promotion & self-advertisement by Canadian government, but nobody sees this before complaining that taxpayer money is always misappropriated in only the corrupt "developing" countries. "Developed" countries are seemingly all free of corruption & clean. Remember that what you see externally in developed countries is completely different to what is actually happening inside.
Social services are being cut, education budget is being reduced, health budget is constantly decreasing ... all because of not enough of taxpayers' money being in the governments' coffers to spend on the taxpayers' welfare, but there's definitely enough for self-promotion & advertising how great the government is doing.
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What is the proper word? Is it brazen? Shameless? Unprincipled? Immoral? Choose the word that you think best suits the Harper government’s unprecedented use of public money for self-promotion.
Let’s not be precious, of course. Other federal governments have promoted themselves using what the Harper government jokingly calls “hard-working taxpayers’ ” money. None, however, has done it so openly, lavishly, frequently & unashamedly.
With just six months between the budget & October’s federal election, the sluice gate of advertising spending will be open wide. The money will come from taxpayers & from the party itself.
Recently, the government had to report the amount it spent on advertising. It was $75-million a year for 2013-14, up from $69-million the previous year. This being an election year, the figure will likely be higher still. We already know that the government has allocated $7.5-million for spending to tout the budget’s virtues.
That means anyone who watches the forthcoming Stanley Cup playoffs can expect a deluge of advertising, because the government prefers to use hard-working taxpayers’ money in the most expensive time slots: hockey playoffs, Super Bowl, Academy Awards.
The explanation given for this spending is shameless, the kind of explanation that gives politicians a bad name everywhere as systematic liars. We need to spend the money, the government says, in order to explain how taxpayers’ money is being spent. Yet anyone who has watched the Harper government’s advertisements knows they are there for promotion, not information.
They use government websites, too. Check out the Fisheries and Oceans one, for example. There, you will find advertisements for the government’s recent announcement of millions of spending for harbours & ports across the country.
Recently, the Conservative Party sent an urgent letter to its supporters asking for money. After the budget, it said, the party needs money to promote the document’s low-tax, pro-growth policies in the face of what the letter described as the “Liberal” media that always deforms Conservative accomplishments.
The letter conceded briefly that there were a few pro-Conservative voices in the media, but insisted the bulk of the media is systematically hostile. This media-baiting is typical of all Conservative cash appeals: The party is surrounded on all sides by enemies, elites & hostile media voices. Only if supporters give generously can the party’s message be communicated.
Which is ridiculous, of course, since the Liberal media argument flies in the face of AM talk radio, the Sun Media chain (whose leader, Paul Godfrey, is a strident pro-Conservative voice), the National Post, plenty of private television & many other columnists & editorialists across the country. But “them against us” is a proven money-earner for the Conservatives, so they will stick with it.
Before the election writ is issued, parties can spend what they want of their own money. Since the Conservatives have more of it than the Liberals & New Democrats, they will spend this advantage & marry it with the government advertising.
The use of public money to promote the government has been much commented upon, usually negatively. But the Conservatives don’t care about such criticism, believing that their supporters like seeing & hearing positive things about the government. They also believe that many Canadians don’t know where the money comes from for the ads, or they don’t care, having been conditioned to think that all politicians will do just about anything to get re-elected.
Who can blame voters for being cynical?
Social services are being cut, education budget is being reduced, health budget is constantly decreasing ... all because of not enough of taxpayers' money being in the governments' coffers to spend on the taxpayers' welfare, but there's definitely enough for self-promotion & advertising how great the government is doing.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is the proper word? Is it brazen? Shameless? Unprincipled? Immoral? Choose the word that you think best suits the Harper government’s unprecedented use of public money for self-promotion.
Let’s not be precious, of course. Other federal governments have promoted themselves using what the Harper government jokingly calls “hard-working taxpayers’ ” money. None, however, has done it so openly, lavishly, frequently & unashamedly.
With just six months between the budget & October’s federal election, the sluice gate of advertising spending will be open wide. The money will come from taxpayers & from the party itself.
Recently, the government had to report the amount it spent on advertising. It was $75-million a year for 2013-14, up from $69-million the previous year. This being an election year, the figure will likely be higher still. We already know that the government has allocated $7.5-million for spending to tout the budget’s virtues.
That means anyone who watches the forthcoming Stanley Cup playoffs can expect a deluge of advertising, because the government prefers to use hard-working taxpayers’ money in the most expensive time slots: hockey playoffs, Super Bowl, Academy Awards.
The explanation given for this spending is shameless, the kind of explanation that gives politicians a bad name everywhere as systematic liars. We need to spend the money, the government says, in order to explain how taxpayers’ money is being spent. Yet anyone who has watched the Harper government’s advertisements knows they are there for promotion, not information.
They use government websites, too. Check out the Fisheries and Oceans one, for example. There, you will find advertisements for the government’s recent announcement of millions of spending for harbours & ports across the country.
Recently, the Conservative Party sent an urgent letter to its supporters asking for money. After the budget, it said, the party needs money to promote the document’s low-tax, pro-growth policies in the face of what the letter described as the “Liberal” media that always deforms Conservative accomplishments.
The letter conceded briefly that there were a few pro-Conservative voices in the media, but insisted the bulk of the media is systematically hostile. This media-baiting is typical of all Conservative cash appeals: The party is surrounded on all sides by enemies, elites & hostile media voices. Only if supporters give generously can the party’s message be communicated.
Which is ridiculous, of course, since the Liberal media argument flies in the face of AM talk radio, the Sun Media chain (whose leader, Paul Godfrey, is a strident pro-Conservative voice), the National Post, plenty of private television & many other columnists & editorialists across the country. But “them against us” is a proven money-earner for the Conservatives, so they will stick with it.
Before the election writ is issued, parties can spend what they want of their own money. Since the Conservatives have more of it than the Liberals & New Democrats, they will spend this advantage & marry it with the government advertising.
The use of public money to promote the government has been much commented upon, usually negatively. But the Conservatives don’t care about such criticism, believing that their supporters like seeing & hearing positive things about the government. They also believe that many Canadians don’t know where the money comes from for the ads, or they don’t care, having been conditioned to think that all politicians will do just about anything to get re-elected.
Who can blame voters for being cynical?
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