Another Canadian Politician Raising Money From The Companies She Regulates

from the no-conflict,-no-interest dept

Mon, Nov 13th 2006 4:15pm — Mike Masnick

While conflicts of interest between politicians and lobbyists from the companies they're supposed to regulate are so common in the US that they barely get any attention, up in Canada it's apparently not quite as common. Still, however, given the fuss over Sam Bulte's attempt to raise a bunch of money from the entertainment industry she was supposed to regulate just days before the election -- eventually leading to her losing the election -- you would think that other politicians would be a little more careful. Not so. Michael Geist, who helped shine the line on Bulte's questionable activities is now doing the same for Bev Oda, the Canadian Heritage Minister who has held fundraisers for the entertainment industry she's supposed to regulate. As with Bulte, it certainly seems like a bit of a conflict when all the people giving her money for her campaign are on one side of the debate, and there's really no one who can represent the users' standpoint. As Geist notes, none of this was done illegally. It's all within the letter of the law -- but it does raise serious questions about the impartiality of Oda, and whether or not the system really is fair.

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dorpus, 13 Nov 2006 @ 4:20pm

One of those countries
Last year, Canadian voters were infuriated that a cabinet-level minister took out his employees to a $30 pizza dinner in downtown Toronto on taxpayer money, and it received extensive media coverage. They are one of those countries that fixate on small stuff and miss the bigger picture.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Nov 2006 @ 4:33pm

Re: One of those countries
That sounds like a huge improvement over what we have here in the us. We gloss over the small stuff, and think the bigger picture is beyond our scope.

I'd much rather live in a country that holds its elected officials accountable.
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dorpus, 13 Nov 2006 @ 4:43pm

Re: Re: One of those countries
So you want to live in a country where politicians score points with voters by bashing America, then kowtow to American interests behind closed doors? The media plays the same game, bashing America and glossing over Canada's domestic problems.
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Joe Smith, 13 Nov 2006 @ 5:17pm

perspectives
You want to remember that the dollars involved in Canadian politics are trivial compared to the US. In the last Federal election I think the national parties collectively spent about $30 Million Canadian. Each candidate was limited to something like $75,000. In most ridings only two candidates were in contention and most did not spend to the limit so the total local spending would have been about 300 ridings times $150,000 = $45 Million.

In other words,the total cost of a national election (and all of the fundraising and opportunities for influence peddling associated with it) was about equal to the amount raised and spent in a single high profile Senate seat in the US.

The Heritage Department in Canada is a joke anyway - its main purpose is to try to find ways to force Canadians to not watch American TV channels, not watch American movies and not listen to American music - at all of which it has failed miserably.
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dorpus, 13 Nov 2006 @ 10:27pm

Re: perspectives
That's because Canada's federal legislature has no real power -- Canada is a "confederacy" with a token federal government. The confederacy was designed by politicians from the American South in the wake of the Civil War, and approved by Lincoln. Incidentally, seats in Canada's federal legislature can be purchased for $70,000 each, for people who don't want to bother being elected.
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Backroads, 14 Nov 2006 @ 4:09am

Pizza
Actually it was a $300 pizza and the jerk deserved all the bad media coverage he could get. The entire Liberal party were hogs at the trough for so long it was unbelievable. The right wing finally got their act together enough to kick them out (barely) and now the biggest controversy is how much our Prime Minister loves to kiss George B's butt.
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