Encouraging Debate:

Send us your questions about the policy and current issues that matter to you and we will do our best to answer you. Post a YouTube video in response to our channel or send an email to TeamMHF@gmail.com.

Also check out the articles to the right suggested by Martha.

Articles on Prorogation.

Globe and Mail Editorial - Dec 30, 2009

Andrew Coyne - What's at stake Dec 31, 2009

Errol Mendes - Prorogation redux Jan 5, 2010

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• Asset Sales

  In the Conservative government’s November 2008 fall economic update, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced that the government would be undertaking a ‘strategic review’ of its assets with a view to disposing of a significant number of them. Buried in the economic update, however, was the fact that the government was not conducting a review of assets, but committing to sell $10 billion of assets to the private sector over the course of 4 years.

  Why is this troubling?

  First, the government has committed to sell something (or some things) for a specific amount of money –but hasn’t determined what it actually owns or how much the things it owns are actually worth. How can the government commit to sell assets for a specific amount of money over a finite time period without knowing (1) what assets it actually has and can put up for sale, or (2) the value of whatever it will be selling? It doesn’t take a financial expert to determine that something isn’t right here!

  Second, a government trying to sell assets in the middle of a recession generally means that it’s trying to pad its books to mask troubling financial figures. A recession is no time to even contemplate selling assets because, generally, recessions mean asset values are depressed (read, there is no way the government will actually be able to sell any of its assets for what those assets are actually worth)! Flaherty has done this before, as Ontario’s Finance Minister in the 1990s –he short changed Ontario tax payers when he presided over the sale of Highway 407 for a fraction of its real value.

  Finally, in order to hit the $10 billion dollar figure that the government has already booked in its fiscal framework, there are only very few assets that it could possibly sell. The problem is that the government has no idea what it will sell –or even, what it can sell. All it knows is that it will be selling something. We cannot stand idly by as the government debates the sale of essential services like Canada Post and the CBC.

  (see also clips from QP on YouTube)

• Political Publicity

  In this video Martha talks about her view on attack ads and political publicity.

   

• The Parliamentary Budget Officer

  See Martha's letter of May 8, 2009 to the Library Committee in support of Kevin Page and the role of the Parliamentary Budget Office

  Over and again, Kevin Page and the Parliamentary Budget Office have done outstanding work with regard to the government's finances. Unfortunately for the Harper government, the PBO work has repeatedly shown Harper and Flaherty to be misleading the Canadian public or downright wrong. The Harper government response? Deny the required funding for the PBO.

  It is wrong, and dangerous, to try to silence people whose job it is to say the truth. One can draw only one conclusion: that the Harper government, by trying to deny a voice to those whose job it is to speak truth not only to power but also to the public, is trying to hide the truth from Canadians.

  What are Stephen Harper and Jim Flaherty trying to hide? What are they so afraid of? We--all Canadians--have a right to the truth about the country's finances, not just partisan campaign slogans.

• Press Release: Harper government wasting millions of tax dollars on partisan ads

  OTTAWA – The Harper Conservatives are spending tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on politicized advertising campaigns in the midst of a recession, Liberal MPs Martha Hall Findlay and Pablo Rodriguez said today.

  “The Harper Conservatives increased spending on advertising by over 100 per cent in just their first year in office,” said Liberal Public Works and Government Services Critic Martha Hall Findlay. “Spending more and more to promote themselves is fiscally irresponsible and the partisan benefits are an abuse of taxpayers’ money.”

  “Rather than wasting taxpayers’ money to promote themselves, the government could be addressing urgent public awareness matters like H1N1 preparedness.”

  The Harper government spent a whopping $86.9 million for the 2006-07 fiscal year – more than double the $41 million the previous Liberal government spent a year earlier. This is despite having a $74.4 million cap on advertising spending put in place by the Liberal government specifically to limit this kind of advertising abuse.

  The Conservatives have yet to release actual expenditures for 2007-08 or 2008-09, despite repeated requests from the Liberal Opposition. Treasury Board disclosures show that spending has exceeded $70 million annually in those years. Since the 2009 budget was tabled, the Harper government has requested an additional $44 million through the supplemental estimates for government-wide advertising, with half of these funds geared to promoting the government’s budget.

  Liberal Culture Critic MP Pablo Rodriguez called on the government to let Canadians know just how much public money they are spending to aid the fortunes of the Conservative Party.

  “We know the exact 2007-08 numbers have been ready for release for months now, but have been sitting on the desk of Public Works Minister Christian Paradis, waiting for his sign-off,” said Mr. Rodriguez. “Not only is this delay and secrecy unacceptable, but Canadians will be rightly upset about the amount of taxpayer money this government is wasting on self-promotion. They deserve to know the details of how their money is being spent.”

  The MPs filed an access to information request demanding that the government immediately release the actual advertising expenditures for 2007-08 and 2008-09, including the names of the companies contracted to design and produce each campaign and the criteria used for their selection.

• Conservative abuse of millions of dollars of gov't advertising for partisan benefit.

  For months we have been asking the government how much money is being spent on government advertising and have received no answer.

  Martha has written a letter to the Treasury Board regarding the Partisan Nature of Government of Canada Advertising and is now asking for your help!

  In a blog posted October 13, 2009 Martha wrote:

  "WE NEED YOUR HELP. The Conservative government is using tax-payer-paid advertising and other gov't assets to promote itself, and to mislead Canadians about what's really going on with their so-called economic plan. They are using taxpayers' money to promote themselves. They are quite simply trying to buy us, and eventually our votes, with our own money---millions and millions of our own dollars...

  ...We are gathering all of the additional examples we can, so please comment below with any examples you have seen online including website links, or send us a hard copy to 368 Confederation Building, Ottawa ON K1A 0A6 (no postage required) or by fax to: 613.992.1158."

  Read the full blog post here.

  For more on the subject read Martha’s questions to the government in Question Period.

• Prorogation

  I am an elected Member of Parliament, but Stephen Harper is trying to prevent me from doing my job. It should NOT be his choice.
  
  The people of Willowdale did not elect me as their Member of Parliament so that I could stay home.
  
  My message to Stephen Harper: I'm going to do MY job, despite his best efforts to prevent me from doing it. LIBERALS ARE WORKING.
  
  This is not Stephen Harper's government. It is OUR government, government for ALL Canadians, as represented by their Members of Parliament in the House of Commons. Canada is NOT Stephen Harper's personal fiefdom to control as he wishes--no matter how much he would like that control.
  
  And let's be clear---this has nothing to do with the Olympics, or "working on the budget". Pure and simple, Stephen Harper is running away. He's running from some very tough questions. Questions that we were asking about:

  1. real job numbers, not just what Stephen Harper "promised"; details on results of the "stimulus" plan that Stephen Harper was refusing to provide;
  2. why Stephen Harper has repeatedly fired some civil servants for disagreeing with him and eliminated funding to others who have been critical of his government (including, incidentally, the elimination of funding to those whose offices were actually created by Stephen Harper); and
  3. Stephen Harpers' refusal to disclose information about the Afghan detainees and torture.

  Stephen Harper has been refusing to answer any of these questions. He is abusing parliamentary procedure by proroguing to ‘cut and run’.

  My question to Stephen Harper, and the question all Canadians should be asking him, is WHAT IS HE TRYING TO HIDE?

  For the second time in only a year, Stephen Harper has prorogued Parliament. For the second time in only a year, his only reason for doing so has been to run away from controversy---and Stephen Harper is hoping that Canadians won't notice. We can't let that happen: I call on all Willowdaleans--indeed all Canadians--to say "No".

  The first time Harper prorogued Parliament, only a year ago, was to avoid a vote of non-confidence. A majority of MPs in the House of Commons had made this loss of confidence in him known; we were about to vote (that IS our responsibility). But Stephen Harper prorogued Parliament, preventing our vote and effectively running away to save his own skin.

  This time, Stephen Harper is running away from the questions and inquiries about torture in Afghanistan. Why? Because the more we questioned, the more evidence there was that the Harper government has been covering up the truth, and the more the government blocked access to information. What were they hiding? To get at the truth, a majority of the House of Commons passed a motion demanding the production of documents, which the government kept denying access to, relating to the alleged torture of Afghan detainees (a very serious issue, a breach of international law). Harper's reaction? To openly flaunt the will of Parliament---"If you really want the documents, then sue us" was the reaction.

  Parliament spoke, with the voice of a majority of MPs, representing a majority of Canadians. We should NOT have to sue the government to compel it to comply with the will of Parliament. And Stephen Harper should not be allowed to close down Parliament when it suits his purposes. It is not HIS government---it is the government of Canadians.

  MY JOB AS THE MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR WILLOWDALE:

  The people of Willowdale elected me as their MP to represent them, and their interests, in the House of Commons---in the debates over pending legislation, in the votes, and in the committee work that we do (in my case, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates and the Standing Committee on Finance).

  My job in Opposition is NOT just to "oppose"--my job is to help ensure that this country is governed according to the democratic principles that are fundamental to our society. Principles that Stephen Harper is pulling apart, to suit his own purposes.

  I want to stress that I represent ALL of the people in Willowdale, regardless of whether they actually voted for me or for someone else. THAT's democracy. But we ARE in a minority government, and Mr. Harper keeps forgetting that. A large majority of people in Willowdale did NOT vote Conservative; a majority of Canadians across the country did NOT vote Conservative. By doing so, Canadians were asking us, as Opposition MPs, to help keep this government to account---to ensure honesty, transparency, accountability and fair play.

  Stephen Harper campaigned on these principles, but he is now doing everything he can to take them away. He is preventing us from fulfilling our responsibilities to Canadians.