Leaving the poor out in the cold - again...

Less than 1% of $1.9-billion social-housing fund spent so far

Less than 1 per cent of a $1.9-billion federal fund for social housing has actually been spent – more than a year after it was announced by the Harper government in the midst of the 2008 election campaign.

[...]

The figures released by Human Resources Minister Diane Finley show the three other funds are also moving slowly.

Only 4.6 per cent of a $1-billion fund to renovate existing social housing units has been spent, while 1.9 per cent of a $400-million fund for low-income seniors' housing is out the door. Only 0.1 per cent of a $75-million construction fund to house people with disabilities has been spent.

The percentages of money actually spent are dramatically lower than the 80- to 90-per-cent figures cited in government-funded Economic Action Plan ads that use terms like “already being implemented.”

Well, that last line is quite the dramatic understatement, isn't it?

These clowns are supposed to be held accountable by the Liberals and their useless report cards. But they know that, even if they get an F, the Libs are too scared to call an election.

So, who loses in the end - again? Certainly not all of those opposition MPs who have nice, cozy places to go home to.

Not to worry though, I'm sure Checky will be on his way soon.

Diane Finley Lies About Child Poverty Rates

Faced with opposition questions during QP today about the abhorrent fact that child poverty is still a major problem in Canada, minister for HR and Skills Development, Diane Finley, stated that the child poverty rate is half of what it was under the Liberals.

Wrong.

OTTAWA — Some 637,000 Canadian children are still living in low-income families, 20 years after Ed Broadbent and other federal politicians unanimously agreed to end child poverty, according to a new report.

The rate of child and family poverty has gone down only slightly over the past 20 years, to 9.5 per cent in 2007 from 11.9 per cent in 1989 — a "national disgrace, " the former NDP leader says.

The 2009 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Canada, released by the national awareness group Campaign 2000, says the most recent figure is 637,000 Canadian children who live in a family where a majority of money is spent on necessities such as food, clothing and shelter.

Despite what anti-poverty advocates call an unprecedented period of growth since 1998, Canada has failed to make advances to alleviate a problem which affects one in 10 children in this country.

It seems Ms Finley needs to develop her math skills.
 

Quote du Jour: Let Them Eat Gruel

A blast from the past:

"In terms of the unemployed, of which we have over a million-and-a-half, don't feel particularly bad for many of these people. They don't feel bad about it themselves, as long as they're receiving generous social assistance and unemployment insurance."

- Conservative leader Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.

Fast forward to 2009:

“Our goal is to help people get back to work, and get back to work quickly in jobs that will last,” [Diane] Finley [Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development] said in an interview with Canwest News Service. “We do not want to make it lucrative for them to stay home and get paid for it, not when we still have significant skill shortages in many parts of the country.”

Compassionate conservatism at its finest.

Related:
Economy takes 3.4% dive
 

More Conservatives Behaving Badly

Another week, another installment of Conservatives Behaving Badly.

Thousands stripped of citizenship, CBC investigation finds:

The number of Canadians who have lost their citizenship through obscure sections of the 1947 Citizenship Act is far greater than the federal government has admitted, CBC News has learned.
[...]
While Citizenship and Immigration Minister Diane Finley says her department is only dealing with 450 cases of so-called "Lost Canadians," new documents obtained late last week by CBC News show that her department has stripped citizenship from nearly 4,000 Canadians in just seven years.
[...]
During Question Period Monday, Finley maintained the 450 number when criticized by Liberal MP Andrew Telegdi that she was "downplaying the issue," adding her department, which established a special hotline with dedicated agents, has already granted citizenship to 33 of those people.

I've long said Finley should be turfed. Who needs facts when you have lies?

Canada last in ECE spending:

Canada ranks "dead last" among developed nations in its spending on early childhood education – despite overwhelming evidence of how crucial the first six years of life are, says a new study by the country's foremost expert in the field.
[...]
The federal Liberals had promised money for child-care initiatives to the tune of $5 billion, but that was cancelled when the Tories took power.

And they replaced it with useless band-aids. Good job, tories!

OPP probe former MP's link to charge of 'inducement':

Ontario Provincial Police have launched an investigation into allegations that a senior federal Conservative played a role offering an inducement to a mayoral candidate in Ottawa.

Former MP John Reynolds is named in a sworn affidavit from Terry Kilrea, who was a candidate for mayor in Ottawa's 2006 election.

Kilrea dropped out of the race in August last year.

He has claimed Mayor Larry O'Brien offered to pay his campaign expenses if he dropped out.

According to the affidavit, O'Brien also asked what would happen if Kilrea were offered a job on the National Parole Board.

The same affidavit names John Reynolds as the man who could make that happen.

Reynolds, who also recently registered to be a lobbyist denies everything. We'll see how this shakes out.

Reynolds said last year, and repeated yesterday, he will never approach Harper on behalf of a client. But he said his move to act as a registered lobbyist for the groups doesn't violate his promise, since he's not being paid.
[...]
...Duff Conacher of the ethics watchdog group Democracy Watch, said Reynolds's move still violates the Conservative promise while in opposition to end the "revolving door" of powerful political insiders who begin lobbying their former colleagues once they leave government.

Abandoned Documents Expose Conservatives’ Lack of Accountability:

The Conservative government’s blatant disregard for the privacy of their own employees raises serious questions about their competence to protect the privacy of all Canadians, the Liberal Opposition said today as they handed over boxes of confidential personnel files the Conservatives left behind in Opposition offices.

"Today we're returning five years worth of personal performance appraisals of Conservative staffers that this government negligently left behind," said Liberal MP Mark Holland.

"These are confidential documents on their own staff. Such gross ineptitude makes me very nervous about how this government handles other issues of a private nature," he added.

Personnel records are not the only confidential documents left behind by the Conservative Party. Last week, a series of documents were discovered indicating Pubic Safety Minister Stockwell Day and former Canadian Alliance officials paid off a fellow Alliance MP to make way for Mr. Day’s election in 2000.

Mr. Holland indicated that other documents left behind may contain information in the public interest. The Liberal Opposition is currently examining these documents and will turn them over to the RCMP and other relevant officials if further evidence of criminality or breach of ethics rules is found.

I guess the tories just couldn't afford movers. That's how I'd spin it if I was them.

Oh and there's much, much more...