Only a Liberal could gouge charities for hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees, then get praised by his colleagues for "raising the bar of transparency" (c/o Dominic LeBlanc) when he's called out profiting so much from non-profit organizations. Since becoming a Member of Parliament, he has charged $277,000 for 17 speaking engagements (including $20K from the Canadian Mental Health Association), but being the benevolent man his is, he's offering all of them a refund. Then you read through the comment section of this story on the CBC website, where he is heaped with even more adoration while the charity that originally asked for it's money back is under attack. How dare they ask for a refund! Justin is totally worth it!
Shortly after he was anointed as the new Liberal leader, the Conservatives released a new "attack ad" that featured a Justin Trudeau "strip tease", only to look silly when it was disclosed that he did so at a charity auction. Now one has to wonder if he was charging an appearance fee at that charity auction. Now that we know that he doesn't just attend these events out of the goodness in his heart, that he needs to get paid a hefty sum of money to help raise money for charity. What a great man....
It should also be noted that he did not offer refunds to these charities after he became Liberal leader; only after he came under attack for charging so much money to charities did he become so charitable himself. Is that really "raising the bar"? When I read this story, it really feels like the bar has rather been lowered.
The "progressives" will distort the story to suit their agenda. Trud'oh can do no wrong in the eyes of "progressives" whether he's right or wrong is irrelevant to them, with "progressives" there is no right and wrong, just "progressivism". Justine uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Trudope is the chosen one of the "progressive" cause, because of that fact he will always be given a certain amount of leeway that no other politician would receive. Justine doesn't see anything wrong with gauging charities to enrich himself because he's Justine uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Trudope, the chosen one, and neither do his fans, including the media. Justine is a legend in his own tiny mind, he is arrogant beyond comprehension and as stupid as it comes, he probably believes that he is the victim here, and in fact stated yesterday that he is held to a higher standard than others, which he accepts, because he is a Trudumb... not to much of an elitist snob there eh? For Justines fans it's the same, Justine is the victim. Whether or not it is wrong for a sitting politician to demand and collect huge amounts of money from charities, public sector unions and taxpayer funded schools doesn't matter in this case, because it's Trudumb thats doing it, now if this was a Conservative we all know how that would viewed.
ReplyDeleteI disagree the money paid by the Grace Foundation should be returned because the event at which Trudeau spoke didn't draw a sufficient number of people. A contract is a contract, regardless of whether the event was profitable for the Foundation or not.
ReplyDeleteBut is that the point of this controversy? IMO, absolutely not. The point is that Justin Trudeau was on the road on his speaking tour, earning extra income, while at the same time he was truant, not showing up for work in his actual place of employment, the House of Commons, yet still receiving his generous MP's salary.
Even former Liberal cabinet minister & leadership hopeful Martin Cauchon pointed that out, how inappropriate it was to double-dip in such a manner. In a Feb. 27, 2013 National Post article by Joan Bryden titled "Martin Cauchon joins last-minute gang up on frontrunner Justin Trudeau as Liberal leadership race heats up" Martin Cauchon is quoted:
"Liberal leadership hopeful Martin Cauchon is questioning front-runner Justin Trudeau's judgment in continuing to collect public speaking fees while serving as an MP. ... ... arguing that speaking to charities and other non-profit entities like school boards should be part of an MP's regular duties.
... And he called on Trudeau to reimburse the money. ...
He noted that Trudeau missed some votes in the House of Commons while he was delivering paid speeches, "so there's a question of double dipping there" as well."
Please note the date of that NP article: Feb. 27, 2013, before the Senate living expense claims had become a full-blown controversy. So those who, like Kady O'Malley, are now implying that the questions being raised are part of a Conservative conspiracy to discredit Trudeau are full of it. Or is Martin Cauchon part of that conspiracy too?
P.S.: the CBC's Kady O'Malley thus far 'declined' to publish the above comment over at her blog. I wonder why?
-- Gabby in QC
Excellent comment. One of the biggest mistakes Ignatieff made as leader was being the most absent MP in the House of Commons. Layton sucker punched him over that point in the debates, which helped sink the Liberals in the election; especially considering the big stink they made about proroguing parliament for a few weeks during the Olympics. Iggy showed up to work when Parliament wasn't in session, then was absent when it was.
DeleteI guess Justin did not learn from that mistake.
I hope the Conservatives emphasize the total number of absences rather than the "poor vulnerable" foundations losing out on the deal.
DeleteI also think stricter rules about MPs' attendance should be implemented.
• Miss a certain number of sitting days for personal reasons (except real sick leave or compassionate leave) and you incur a heavy fine.
• During leadership races -- like the two recent ones for the NDP & the Liberal Party -- many MPs also absented themselves from the House for their own personal reasons, for self promotion and self advancement, yet I would be willing to bet they were still drawing their MPs' salary. Why? The opposition put up a stink about Senator Larry Smith in 2011, accusing him of using his senator's salary to run for the House of Commons, despite the fact he said he would step down from his Senate seat once the election was called. Yet MPs running for the leadership faced no criticism for their months' long absences.
• Finally, the opposition should stop making believe the PM is in the House by addressing their so-called questions and their accusations at him. Anyone who watches QP knows he's seldom present on Mondays and Fridays and that he's often absent on account of international summits & conferences, like this week's G8. So opposition MPs should stop their contrived outrage, glowering towards the PM's empty seat.
-- Gabby in QC
The previous comment is in reply to The Iceman @ June 18, 2013 at 11:30 AM
Delete-- Gabby in QC
The word you're looking for is 'gouging' not 'gauging'. "In the early stages of the fight I gauged my opponent's abilities before gouging out his eyes."
ReplyDeleteAnd so you don't think I posted just to be critical, Trudeau is lower than lizard shit in a tire track.
Thank you, though technically I never used the word "gauging"... ;)
DeleteYou are correct good sir. Thank you for correcting my correction.
DeleteWho could have thought that the cloak of anonymity would be used to spread civil discourse (and piss-poor alliteration) throughout the blogosphere?
So now the PMO is using taxpayer dollars for partisan purposes in order to keep stories like this in the media?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.simcoe.com/news-story/3843643-pm-s-office-sends-details-of-trudeau-s-talk-at-georgian/
and, surprise, director of the Fundy Bay Conservative riding association sits on the board of Grace Foundation.
Deletehttp://www.theprovince.com/news/Charity+that+demanded+refund+from+Justin+Trudeau+ties+federal+Tories/8538623/story.html
Maybe the media should do its job instead of protecting his highness.
ReplyDeleteTrudeau also charged speaking fees to The Charity of Hope, The United Way, Children of Hope and First nations Water Conference(to name a few)....Mark Holland the defeated liberal is on the board as an adviser for The Charity of Hope...guess he arranged everything for Trudeau to get his Liberal cash$$$$$$$.How many LIBERALS are on the above boards...The First nations anyone?
ReplyDeleteTo repeat myself, I don't think the hiring of Trudeau to make speeches in those Liberal venues was anything more than a TRANSPARENT attempt to circumvent the political donation laws.
DeleteTake a look at the organizations involved, liberal thru and thru.The Grace Foundation got burned and figured their hero would give his fee back,which would have been "nice" of him.
But in the real world, "nice" doesn't count for much.
Trudeau at first refused to refund his fees,and rightly so. He did HIS job, and should be paid for it. I wouldn't hire Trudeau or any politician I can think of, with the exception of Nigel Farrage or Ron Paul, to speak at my org's yearly fundraiser, and especially NOT for 20,000 bucks!
Now a real "can of worms" has been opened,and we're seeing that Trudeau isn't alone in speechifying for money. Senators Romeo Dallaire( the guy who prevented a massacre in Rwanda),Larry Smith,Jacques Demers, Pam Wallin,Mike Duffy,all yak for pay, like buskers in a more sophisticated venue.
As long as they don't do it when their House is in session,I see no problem.
On a personal note; my preference for a speaker would be someone who has given much back to the Country or his community, not a media celebrity or political shining star.But the whores of Ottawa and their fans stick together,then stick it to US to pay their freight. (Although I would pay Christy Clark handsomely for a lap dance!)
We have a lady out here who has run the Food Bank in a small community for twenty years, strictly as a volunteer, has never taken a cent of remuneration. Locals say she has done an excellent job.
In a nearby city,the head of the local food bank is paid a salary of roughly 65,000 bucks per year,and has a free car to run around in.
Guess which one received the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal recently.
Only quebec could gouge the cons for 17 billion in transfer payments. BTW that's up from 12 billion under lib rule! Must be a French thing I guess?
ReplyDeletein a country that is presumed to be a free country and a capitalist one at that, trudeau making money for his speeches is quite acceptable. I dislike his socialist politics but I don't care how much someone is prepared to pay him for speaking.
ReplyDelete