Daveberta mentioned it first, but the PC party beat Bill Graham to carping about it so far as I know:



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 8, 2006

Toronto, ON – "The Kremlin", as the Prime Ministers Office is becoming called, must assume responsibility for the Government of Canada website, http://www.gc.ca/main_e.html , becoming a public relations tool for the Harper government.

From the “turning a new leaf” right down to the budget – it’s clear that this site is dedicated not to providing access to
services but to ensuring that anyone looking for services gets a Conservative Party commercial. The headline "Prime Minister Harper and Premier Charest sign historic agreement establishing a formal role for Québec in UNESCO" is found not only on the "gc.ca" site but also Conservative Party site, http://www.conservative.ca/EN/2444/ , and the personal site of Conservative Leader Harper, http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?id=1151 .

Not only the headline story but the Five Priorities are featured on all three, all of which are in process as opposed to being Government of Canada Services. This site is no longer providing information to Canadians as to what the Government of Canada has available for them - rather it is what the Harper Government wants them to have.

To visit the three sites is to see the purely political replicated on the governmental . To view the attached pdf file is to see that, not content with the one page messaging of the Conservative Party of Canada positions, they are insinuated into other Government of Canada webpages as well.

These websites being available at tax payers expense remove the need for an adscam for monetary resources. Their provision of a means of controlled messaging diminish the role of the media and the desire or need to forge a positive relationship.

“It’s disgraceful” stated Progressive Canadian Party Leader Tracy Parsons. “This is the use of taxpayer funds to promote a political party. Taxpayers are already paying $1.75. Now they are paying advertising costs.”

Jim Love, Progressive Canadian Party President, in releasing the pdf presentation of the new Government website and the PC Party reaction to it stated . “It’s clear that this site is dedicated not to providing access to services but to ensuring that anyone looking for services gets a Conservative Party commercial.” said Love. “We urge the public to complain loudly to the Government and demand a return of a non-partisan website

The Progressive Canadian (PC) Party is a registered Federal Political Party comprised of progressive-conservative minded Canadians rebuilding from the roots of the former Progressive Conservative Party. For more information on the PC Party, it’s policies, structure or general information, go to www.progressivecanadian.org or call 866-812-6972.

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For more information or to request an interview, please contact:

Jim Love, President
Progressive Canadian Party
(647) 403-5519
jim.love@pcparty.org

For the government of Canada website to actually be a government website it would not announce policy not yet approved, but rather policies already approved and services available. I for one have a problem with a government that campaigns on the public dime, all the while lambasting the previous government for the same sin.

But then a party that brazenly baits people to cross the floor, while attacking the previous government for keeping a floor crosser on the front benches; a party that talks about accountability in government and a director of public prosecutions, but won't hold Brian Mulroney to task on new allegations that he purjured himself by Karl Heinz Schreiber; a party that attacked the Liberals for fighting campaigns with money that wasn't theirs, yet has been monumentally slow in returning the 72 thousand dollars that they owe David Orchard in donations and deposits (plus interest, courts normally prescribe 3%/annum if memory serves,) is in absolutely no position to lecture anybody about ethical political conduct with the possible exception of Jack Layton.

Once again, we here at ISMHWRSD would like to say: Told you so.