General

Too big to fit in the mail

Tories under fire for politicizing infrastructure program with oversized novelty cheques

When it comes to doling out federal money to local communities, size matters—cheque size, that is. According to the Toronto Star, Tory MPs and cabinet ministers have taken to turning up at infrastructure spending announcements armed with “huge blue cheques emblazoned with the maple leaf logo of the Canadian government, the signature of a benevolent MP and, in some cases, Conservative sloganeering.” Opposition critics, not surprisingly, are unimpressed. “It is utterly in keeping with the partisan style in which the infrastructure program has been conducted,” Gerard Kennedy fumed to the Star. But as far as anyone can tell, there’s no rule that prohibits the government from slapping its logo on fake cheques: Treasury Board spokesman confirms that there is “nothing in the current rules ‘that would prohibit the use of a prop cheque’ containing the Canada logo or Conservative slogans.”

Toronto Star

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