More Taxpayer-Funded Propaganda

If you live in Skeena-Bulkley Valley, you’ve no doubt received the latest report from MP Nathan Cullen (Spring Report ’08), highlighting his service and accomplishments for the region. I hope you got one because you did pay for it. This piece of shameless partisan literature comes out four times each year and gives the sitting MP of whatever political stripe an opportunity to get his message into every household with a mailing address and costs him and his party nothing. While it purports to be an information package (and indeed it does contain some useful resource links) it has “NDP” emblazoned on the first three pages, is printed in NDP colours, uses the NDP logo and carries an NDP message. It is political propaganda, plain and simple. It is extremely well done, mind you. Nathan and his team are efficient and talented. They recognize the value of this tool and make the most of the opportunity. It is well-written, well laid out and urges interaction from the voter, uh, I mean reader. It mentions what Nathan has done for you, what he can do for you in the future and invites you to contact him. I’m going to speculate that the direct and indirect costs of this brochure in Skeena-Bulkley Valley are in the neighbourhood of $8,000 each time or $32,000 per year. It could be more. This is pure speculation, mind you, based only on past experience with printing and postage. Ah, but Nathan may say, “There is no postage cost for correspondence between an MP and his constituents.” That would be NDP economics philosophy but in the real world, goods and services cost money and costs not paid in any other way come directly from the pocket of the long-suffering taxpayer. It’s not enough that the NDP receives direct deposits from the taxpayer each and every year to conduct expensive election campaigns. (Ottawa shells out about $30 million each year to the big four parties with members in the House.) On top of that, four times each year I am obliged to help pay the costs of this self-serving brochure which sounds so noble and leaves all the important things unsaid. So, according to the brochure, what did Nathan do? He spent taxpayers’ money---every time he says he “got” or “ensured” federal spending, he means that taxpayers paid for a project. Don’t get me wrong, some of these are good things. But government is about a lot more than doling out money and wringing it out of the taxpayer’s hide. Government’s primary role really should be to protect people, ensure their freedom and security and maintain a level playing field where they can prosper and succeed. He promoted Al Gore’s version of reality. Nathan has busied himself making sure that every schoolchild has seen “An Inconvenient Truth”, Al Gore’s masterful misrepresentation of “climate change”. (The phrase “global warming” has already gone out of style because that pesky climate just doesn’t keep following Al’s creative predictions. With little real temperature change since 2001 and now the regrowth of Arctic ice, “climate change” has become a less risky concept. After all, that’s what climates do---change.) He visited people around the electoral district. Well I guess…In Skeena-Bulkley Valley, what comes with the territory is---territory! It’s good that during slow periods in Ottawa, Nathan can gas up at taxpayer expense and visit the people who put him in office. The details lacking in Nathan’s Spring Report are “What did he NOT do?” For one, he FAILED to defend life. It was so simple. C-484 was designed with him in mind. He could have voted to protect the Unborn Victims of Crime. But he and his colleagues got jittery about recognizing the unborn person and sided with the violent attackers of women instead. He FAILED to defend traditional marriage. When Stephen Harper put forward his pathetically weak motion, asking whether the House “wished to revisit the issue of same-sex marriage”, Nathan predictably said “No”. He FAILED to defend democracy and freedom of speech. Since 2005, I’ve been waiting for Nathan to speak one word in defense of courageous truth-speakers like Ron Gray and Chris Kempling who are being attacked on phony “human rights” grounds. All is quiet because Nathan and his supporters oppose the truthful messages that Ron and Chris are speaking. And when the Supreme Court violates the Constitution (1995 Egan case), nary a peep! He FAILED to defend taxpayers. How you spend taxpayers’ money is a moral issue. Every MP should be calling for government spending restraint and the paydown of national debt. Our massive interest payments today rob our children of resources for tomorrow. He FAILED to defend the Constitution, which asserts “the supremacy of God”. If every MP would seek to write legislation consistent with our mandate to submit to divine order in our homes, businesses and government, Canada would know the blessing of God to a degree we’ve not yet seen! So when the NDP or any other party puts out a brochure full of carefully selected items to win your hearts and then bills you for it through taxes---what do you do? The only thing you can do…first pay your taxes (“Render unto Caesar…”) and then go to work promoting the CHP---the ONLY pro-life, pro-family federal party and the ONLY one that supports the “supremacy of God” clause in Canada’s Constitution. Our freedoms are vanishing fast and they’re using YOUR money to promote a godless, self-centred, atheistic society for your children. Let’s hold them accountable for what they do and what they FAIL to do! By Rod Taylor March 21, 2008