Media Release for August 1, 2007

NDP Candidate Says Liberals Should Return Slush Fund Money

RENFREW, August 1: Felicite Stairs, NDP candidate for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke in this fall’s provincial election, says the Ontario Auditor-General’s report in July shows the provincial Liberals are behaving just like their scandal-ridden federal partners.

“They’re using taxpayer dollars to reward their friends. It’s another Sponsorship Scandal,” she said.

The Auditor-General reported that the Liberals’ cultural grants appear to be out of control, functioning like a slush fund for the Liberal Party. “They’re handing out hundreds of thousands of tax dollars to Liberal-affiliated groups in Toronto, while most cultural organizations in the province are being denied any chance to apply for support funding.” Stairs said.

“It’s bad for Renfrew County in two ways — it once again favours the big money in Toronto, and it takes money away from areas like ours which desperately need development funds.” She pointed to grants like a quick $200,000 grant to a group formed overnight by prominent Toronto Liberals, and another for $250,000 to an organization that no one in the community appears to have heard of — except a Liberal MPP who pushed for the grant over long-established community groups.

The Auditor-General has reported that the Liberal grant program had no application process, no award criteria, no proper reporting system, and no accountability. Stairs reminded voters that the federal Liberals did the same thing with their Sponsorship program. “The Liberals shovelled millions of dollars meant to foster Canadian unity into the pockets of their friends and supporters in Quebec. And just as in Ottawa, the provincial Liberals are trying to cover up this misuse of public money for partisan political purposes. Dalton McGuinty has constantly tried to block any investigation into this ‘slush-fund’ scandal. He blocked a Parliamentary inquiry. And he refuses to answer questions about it.

“It’s typical Liberal arrogance — and it shows that the Liberals hold the Ontario taxpayer in contempt. If McGuinty were to be fair about it, he’d get all the misappropriated money back. But he won’t. Obviously it’s more important to reward friends of the Liberal Party than serve the legitimate cultural and development needs of Ontario,” said Stairs.

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