Dear Stephen: Bev Oda is not fit to be a Minister

Interesting tidbits from Tuesday’s Winnipeg Free Press

Apparently the ability to cut and paste is important to the Stephen Harper Party, however the ability to proofread is sorely lacking…

//"Our government treats taxpayers' money with the upmost (sic) respect and we require that travel on government business be done at the lowest possible cost to taxpayers," Ritz's spokeswoman, Meagan Murdoch, wrote in an email.//

//"Our government treats taxpayers' money with the upmost (sic) respect and we require that travel on government business be done at the lowest possible cost to taxpayers."// Flaherty’s spokeswoman, Mary Ann Dewey-Plante

Even down to the typo.

Same words they used in the House of Commons while defending Bev Oda as well.

You remember Bev not Oda, the Minister who signs has her underlings use “the arm” to sign documents and then toss a not in there when they realize they shouldn’t have signed it after all?  She was found prima facie to be in contempt of Parliament over the lies she used to cover her indiscretion. 

Well Bev was in London England last year and decided the 5 star hotel she was to stay at wasn’t to her taste.  So she upgraded to the Savoy.  Word has it she could get a smoking suite there.

Oh, she needed chauffer driven limousine to get back and forth to the conference she was to attend.  Oddly enough, the meetings were at the hotel where she was originally booked to stay.  I don’t know if she could smoke in the limo.

The room cost us (you and me) about $2300.00 for a 3 day visit.  $665 per night for the Savoy, $287 for the last minute cancellation at the Grange St. Paul’s, and $16 for an OJ at the Savoy. 

Now Bev says she is really sorry and paid back the difference this week, $1353.81 which included the orange juice but not the chauffeur driven limousine.  The car and driver cost us about $3000.00.

Oddly this was shortly after the press found out what she had done.

So Bev, are you sorry you spent taxpayer money recklessly or just that you got caught? 

I’d bet on the latter.

In the real world, if you go to a business meeting and the boss puts you up, if you don’t like the place you can upgrade.  But when the bills come in, you square up then, not eight months later when you get caught.

This apparently is not done in Ottawa under the Stephen Harper Party.  Apparently under Stephen Harper, no one even bothers to look at the bills when they come in.

This is not the first time that Bev Oda has tried to live a champagne lifestyle on the taxpayer’s dime and it has to stop. 

Bev Oda is not fit to be a Minister and Stephen Harper needs to demand her resignation.

The saddest part of this is the fact that the conference she was attending was for donors to an organization that helps fund immunizations for children in the developing world.  Places where people live on $1.00 a day or less.

$4300.00 is almost 12 years income to someone in a developing country.