Check the record

In July, Dimitri Soudas, the PM's spokesman,was remarkably vague -- and not at all contrite --  when I  talked to him for this story, which was written after  constituents in Peter Van Loan's riding complained about the minister passing off government cheques as his own, or as Conservative party benevolence.

In fact, the federal Treasury Board investigated whether it was proper and in the face of that, all Soudas could tell me was that he was "proud" of the big cheque given to the good citizens of Innisfil.

Tonight, I heard Soudas telling CTV's Tom Clark that it was "NOT   appropriate" for MPs to be slapping party logos and MPs' signatures on government cheques.

So, my questions are:

1. When did the PMO decide that Van Loan and others were off side with their carnival-sized  cheques? They've known since at least July that this was going on.

2. And, since when did MPs start doing anything independently in this government? Did all these MPs and ministers just head to to the copy shop and get these cheques printed up themselves, by huge coincidence?

If Mr. Soudas would like to answer these questions, in light of his comments to the Star last July, we'll happily print them here.

Comments

[peter12]

These cardboard props for a photo op are not cheques that are real or negotiable or even an enlarged duplicate of a cheque. They are a ceremonial prop for an announcement so why would one try and deceive readers into thinking they are genuine cheques - leave that deception and exaggeration to politicians. Members of the media should have a higher standard for the truth and the facts.
Your continued reference to these props as cheques is disingenuous and inaccurate.

[Moosecall]

As much as journalists ask questions of this gov't, readers can be guaranteed that they won't get answers to their question. NO answers.

Journalists to the Harper gov't are HORSEFLIES!!!

Their bite hurts. They're meant to be swatted at. Sprayed at. Journalists are members of a "sect" known to swarm around, hoping that they'll have an answer because they asked a question. In this KGB gov't, you NEVER WILL get the Conservatives to answer the questions asked. Democracy came and went, and unfortunately the media can't make the Harper gov't answer the questions they ask of it.

The opinion/respect the Conservative/Harper gov't has for the media and its journalists isn't there.

Oh the PMO will send out the fly swatters, e.g. Peter Van Loan is just one of the many public figures. PMO representatives don't like journalists asking questions. So if the PMO ignores the media they hope they will go away and no answers need be given.

Until the Conservative gov't is gone, all the journalist can expect is the fly swatter. They won't get answers. Some democracy.

[Catherine]

Moosecall, makes a point about the Harper gov't and journalists.

I would offer that the Harper gov't feels that most 'other folk' are worthy of their contempt and guile.

[Condor]

Peter12

Nice spin, but the issue is whether or not the government should be featuring MP's names, prominent party colours or even party logos on these cheques. Even partisan hacks would have to agree that this is at the very least disingenuous, and leads us further down the path of murky politics.
Mr Harper promised tranparency and accountability, not smoke and mirrors. I expected better and so should you.

[MyThought]

Isn't anyone wondering why we "adults" in Canada need props and show and tell like kiddies in grammar school? What do these props cost and do taxpayers pay for them?

Ms Delacourt, perhaps some journalists should look into the costs of the obscene number of ten percenters going out to Canadians. I've received over 25 from my Con MP from the period mid-Jan to first week in Oct. At $0.54 postage paid (by taxpayers) and the printing costs - it must be huge in costs.

[Robert McClelland]

Keep digging, Susan. The Harper gang has been using government resources and our tax dollars to promote the Conservative Party for more than three years.

[Mike-D]

I have no problem with an MP using either a PC Party logo or his / her own name on these props to showcase funding, so long as the money comes strictly from PC Party coffers or the MP's personal bank account, respectively, rather than a federal government department's budget.

But so long as the funding is drawn on a Government of Canada account, that is the only source that should be identified on an oversized cheque. Even if it is just a non-negotiable mock-up, it makes a visual statement that the Party or the MP is the source of the funding -- which is both an error and a deliberate misrepresentation.

That the Tories campaigned so vocally against such egregious partisanship makes these examples especially odious. Mr Powers' recent "defence" that "you guys did it too" is laughable. Even elementary school children have learned that "Two wrongs don't make a right".

[geo]

What a story,what a scoop.
Reporter goes to third party source(not the person holding the cheque who was responsible for the logo being printed) and reports third party information.
Next thing you know,the reporter will actually be reporting and writing about rumours....oh,sorry,that's already been done.
What ever happened to real,factual reporting?

[Ontario Voter]

Hopefully, journalists like yourself, Susan, will investigate and publicize it if there is evidence that public money was used for partisan purposes. These cheques are but just one aspect. Like others who have commented before, I have received over 10 flyers from my Cons MP over the last one or two years asking me to check one of the above as to who is proposing to raise taxes, or who is soft on crime, etc. It would not surprise me, or any one, I think, that a governing party would use public resources for some partisan purposes. What surprises me, and I suspect, many poeple as well, is the apparent extent that this is happening under the present Harper government. It may be that they think they can get away with it because they are facing a large percentage of uninformed public who will still vote for them if they push the correct buttons.

[Ted]

www.flickr.com/photos/conservativecheques

Over 170 photos of Conservatives doling out the pork with their party's logo or slogan on the cheque and, on each one, their personal signature.

[jenna]

Not sure what "My Thought" and "Ontario Voter" are talking about because Conservative 10 per centers are sent to LIBERAL ridings. So either your MP is Conservative, in which case you don't get 10 per centers, or you live in a Liberal riding but somehow think you have a Tory MP.

[Marie]

It is our hopes that Journalists will start doing the jobs they were trained to do. It is high time they start growing a backbone and print non partisan reports. That sends a strong message that not only are the Politicians screwing us, so are the media sitting in their back pocket. We want unbiased truth. Not promoting campaigning for the governments.

[Ontario Voter]

Jenna: My MP is a Cons. That is the reason for my post. Perhaps you should also pay attention to the many other posts from people complaining about this issue as well.

[Dimitri Soudas]

Susan, thanks for your blog-questions.

Here is an excerpt from your article from last summer:

“Dimitri Soudas, a spokesman for the Prime Minister, didn't comment on the appropriateness of the cheques.
"We're proud that this government provided $1, 275,778 in infrastructure funding to the good people of Innisfil," he said.”

In today’s blog you say:

“….. all Soudas could tell me was that he was "proud" of the big cheque given to the good citizens of Innisfil.”

You unfortunately may have used my quote from last summer out of context.

I commented on the importance of the announcement and your blog, today, uses the word “proud” to give the impression I commented on the cheque when I did not since in your own article from last summer you wrote “Dimitri Soudas, a spokesman for the Prime Minister, didn't comment on the appropriateness of the cheques”.

You should also note that Minister Van Loan’s event did not have the Conservative Party logo. When you say “all these MPs” you mean “a couple”. Correct?

Only a couple of MPs used the conservative party logo, which is inappropriate and should not be repeated because the use of partisan logos is clearly not acceptable in connection with government announcements. Our Government is focused on the economy, creating jobs and providing economic stimulus which is exactly what Canadians want and expect. Our Government is providing funding to important infrastructure projects across Canada in cooperation with provinces, territories and municipalities.

I found this excerpt of your blog quite interesting:

“In fact, the federal Treasury Board investigated whether it was proper and in the face of that,

If you read today’s Toronto Star you will find:
“Treasury Board policy warns against mixing partisan interests with government spending, and against misuse of the government of Canada logo, or "wordmark." But that policy covers only official announcements of spending by government "institutions" or by government ministers or their delegates.
It does not apply to the actions of MPs who might choose to reannounce or highlight government initiatives in their ridings, as Keddy says he was doing, Treasury Board spokesman Robert Makichuk said yesterday.”
As for your second question, regardless of my answer, it seems you have your own opinions, which you are of course entitled to.

If you have any media inquiries, you know where to reach.

Always a pleasure!

[margaret]

It's an advertising tactic -- of course!! That's what the significance is. It's known by Coca Cola, by Player's cigarettes, by toy marketers . . . that when you link certain things BY IMAGE in a viewer's mind - those images are what is going to remain. Not the truth, but the image. Movie hero brings in bags of groceries - cans of Coca Cola on top -- the human brain decides that Movie Hero Drinks Coca Cola.

So, on the giant cheques, you have Conservative Logo+$Money$+You as recipient, and it all adds up to "The Conservatives Give Money To You".
So, even though the recipient is an area of Canada and not you personally, the image remains that the Conservative Party is Giving You Money.

This is extremely manipulative. It's not just harmless, it is unethical, and it is manipulating the public by using advertising tactics.

[margaret]

In fact, I'd say that theyr'e also using Neuro-Linguistic Programming tactics. The Cons certainly are not straightforward and above-board.

[No One.]

I note in today's Star that Alykhan Velshi is still being used as a credible source.

Please die more quickly, mainstream news media.

[jenna]

"My MP is a Cons. That is the reason for my post"

Ontario Voter, that is patently untrue. The 10 per centers go to OPPOSITION ridings, so stop trying to stir things up.

[Jan]

Typical Liberal, Con. bashing at its highest. Susan do some accurate research before you resort to printing your report!!!!!. You might be more believable.

[syncrodox]

While this is partisan showboating is there any indication that any of the money has landed in the coffers of the CPC via brown paper bags?

Incidentally, Has the LPC repaid the money that they owed Canadian citizens from Adscam?

Syncro

[Mike L]

Dear Condor;
What a coincidence. I have received at least the same amount of Liberal propaganda from my MP. I don't like it either. When the Liberals were in power they did the exact same thing,..Tough titty.

[Steve V]

As a side issue, I find it entirely amusing to hear Conservative apologists reduced to the "Liberals did it too" retort. Think about that for a minute, then review your history. And, I thought you guys were SO different from those dirty Liberals. Turns out, you've outspent them 3 fold on party propaganda disguised as government advertising, you're the patronage "king", you're running the most secretive government, you're everything you despised. It really has come full circle, and the lesson here is NEVER trust the pius, their morality is nothing more than a function of "not having the keys".

Pass the popcorn.

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=860700553]

Aaah conservatives. Three golden tactics:

1. The liberals did it too! Adscam Adscam Adscam! It's okay that we're criminals because other criminals exist!

2. I, a forthright conservative voter, find it lamentable that in this day and age, these tough economic times, and in this day and age and times, find it, that is I, finding it, reprehensible, nay, lamentable and even disgusting, that our great, revered leader would be subject to such low, reprehensible, lamentable attacks, namecalling and bile, our political discourse reduced to smears, innuendoes, propaganda, rumours, lies, and insulting insults. Oh dear me, oh woe, oh the humanity.

3. Iggy is a loser! Iffy! Count Iggy! Fiberals! Lie-berals! Libranos! etc.

Notice 2 and 3 are contradictory, or at least hypocritical. And none of the above actually relates to the issue at hand.

The CONS used govt lolly to promote their brand. BUSTED.

Peter12, what an outrageously epic fail. They're just a prop, so there's no story? Yeesh.

[Riley Robertson]

The Chuck Cadman affiar -- cheaters
Overspending on ads in the last election (Elections Canada Raids) - cheaters
Partisan 10-percenters in violation of treasury board rules -- cheaters
Illegal partisan logos on Government of Canada cheques -- cheaters
Conservative logos on olympic team jerseys -- cheaters
Un-tendered defence contracts -- cheaters

Same old Conservatives -- your money, their friends

[Ontario Voter]

Jenna: You write: The 10 per centers go to OPPOSITION ridings, so stop trying to stir things up.

Let me say this again: He is a Con MP.

However, may I suggest that, it was possible I suppose,that he might not have realized that his own propaganda was going to his own riding. This might be kind of like, you know, the poor MP who did not notice the Con logo or his own signature on his "cheque".

[Justin]

Jenna, 10 percenters are meant to go to your own constituents. That is what the 10% refers to. You can send the information to 10 percent of your constitutents.

You can also send the same amount of information to another riding, which the Conservatives have pretty much perfected. It's a sad statement on this Harper government that people now think that the purpose of 10 percenters is to target opposition ridings.

[Wascally Wabbit]

I think these "cheques" have legs.
Peter12 uses the same type of misdirection that Minister Van Loan uses in Question Period. Don't answer the real question - throw out an insult!
Really - I think the Opposition generally MUST go negative with this - David McGuinty's presentation of all these photos - on a day when Minister Nicholson has refused to consider updating Access to Information and Privacy Laws for government - should be put together with the words - Harper Hypocrites - How can you trust them any more?

[Sarann]

The ten percenters are supposed to be used to communicate with people in the MP's own riding. They are not supposed to be used for free electioneering. I have received 10 from conservative MPs from mostly in the east of the country and one from my MP who is an NDP. Ihave received none from liberals. The one from my MP is the only ethically sent one. If Mr.Harper didn't know about this I have a bridge you might like to buy. I watch politics carefully and I have caught him in lots of lies.

[John Turner]

WOW. I need to thank everyone for telling me that the cheque was not real and the MP and the Conservative Party were not giving the money to the hockey rink or highway or whatever. Are you people such losers that this is a big deal in your pathetic little lives? Who in their right mind even looks at the pictures of 4 foot cheques beside any politician and does not think "PHOTO OP"? Except a loser.

[A. James]

I got 7 pieces of bull, here called ten percenters, from Reform -- ooops, I mean Conservative MPs from the Western provinces before the last election, when my rep was a liberal (Andy Scott). Guess what? Now that our MP is a Tory, I only get this crap from him.

[rob]

I live in a Liberal riding.I receive no pamphlets ,or any other form of propoganda.The government insists they are doling out things fairly to all ridings.Nothing Conservative comes to my Liberal riding.Canadians do not want an election and want to keep this government?I wonder where that comes from?I guess canadians like the damage caused to our society by the lies of Mulroney and Harris.Canadians will wake up in a nightmare -again-and wonder how they got there, again,because they refuse -again -to hold a conservative government accountable for their lies.