Madam Speaker, I rise to participate in this debate on wasteful government expenditures. I will be sharing my time with my hon. colleague from Ottawa—Vanier.
It has taken less than four years for the Conservative government to spiral into a pattern of abuse of power, irresponsible spending, wasteful ways, hypocrisy, arrogance, character assassination and defamation.
Today, I would like to discuss the issue of the government's misuse of taxpayers' dollars and argue that the practice of sending ten percenters should be limited to members' own ridings or eliminated altogether. I will be speaking on how the government's wasteful spending has gotten out of control, the damage it continues to cause, and the corrective actions that we as parliamentarians should be taking.
While all Canadians understand that we are going to have to tighten our belts to get out of this $56 billion Conservative-made deficit, the public servants who deliver these important services cannot bear the entire burden. The Conservatives should start by cutting their own wasteful spending, like the hundreds of millions in partisan economic action plan advertising and contracts for high-paid consultants, not by cutting services to the public down to the bare bone.
An easy first step would be to eliminate the mass mailings known as ten percenters outside of an MP's own riding. This would save taxpayers $20 million.
Control of the government's structural deficit must begin at home. Some days ago, my hon. colleague from St. John's South—Mount Pearl released a list of non-essential government spending that has spiked $1.2 billion since 2006 when the Conservatives took power. The list is breathtaking for its arrogance. It states, “In recent years, the biggest spending increases by this government have been in areas that promote the Conservative agenda or dole out contracts to their friends. This waste should be cut first”. It cannot be made more clear than that.
Canadians do not want the government to use taxpayers' funds for self-aggrandizement or self-promotion. They definitely do not want their government to spend tens of millions of dollars of their money on advertising. Canadians want to see results, not commercials or billboards. This shameless self-promotion has to end. The numbers are astronomical since the Conservatives took power in 2006.
Under the Conservatives, spending on transportation and communications has risen by $820 million or 32% since they took power and, by comparison, in the last four years of the previous Liberal government, this category only increased by 2.3%. Spending on management consultants went up by $355 million over the same period. That is an astounding 165% increase.
Public opinion research has also gone up by $5 million, the increase in the size of the cabinet has cost taxpayers an additional $3 million, and spending on the economic action plan advertising campaign has skyrocketed to well over $100 million. The expansion of the communication support services in the Prime Minister's Office cost $1.7 million, and excessive spending on ten percenters has cost well over $20 million.
This non-essential spending spree has cost taxpayers cumulatively $1.2 billion and comes at a time when government is preaching austerity and the tightening of our belts. This is pure hypocrisy, as is using the Canada jet to fly to a photo op in London, Ontario, at a doughnut chain to announce freezes, cutbacks and rollbacks. What is wrong with flying on a commercial airline? It is more hypocrisy.
While the Conservatives expect everyone else to reduce, reuse and recalibrate their spending, they pad their own coffers with an additional 22% or $13 million to boost the Prime Minister's Office. This increase came before they announced a freeze in salaries and budgets. The purpose was to provide support and advice to the Prime Minister. It is purely hypocritical and shameful. Canadians expect and deserve better.
Our motion is clear. I hope every member takes time to reflect upon it, be reminded of our purpose here, what is expected of us, and remember to lead by example.
Ten percenters were designed as a useful tool to communicate with our constituents, but they have eroded into a political propaganda machine that has been abused by the government. Ten percenters have become purely political attack pieces sent to targeted voters in targeted ridings with negative messaging and partisan advertising, abusing the trust of taxpayers, the trust that taxpayers put in their politicians, us as members of Parliament.
Ten percenters were designed to be an effective communication vehicle. Their purpose was to inform constituents of happenings locally or in Ottawa, to create awareness of issues that matter to them, or advance programs in their ridings and communities, town hall meetings, community fairs, art shows, et cetera, but all that has changed. Materials printed used to be screened by the Board of Internal Economy for use of party logos and avert partisanship, but it cannot police them anymore. Today we see logos everywhere. Partisanship is rampant.
During the past year, we have seen it all: vicious, misleading, untrue information distributed across the country; damaging attacks which attack the very character of persons, those of us here, in the form of slander, damage that cannot be easily repaired. I am sure members will remember it well. It is something that the Speaker of the House has had to rule upon when points of privilege were raised. Passionate debates and votes ensued, and apologies followed from Conservative members.
I remind members of some of the examples, such as accusations that Bloc members were supporting pedophiles, how reprehensible, or that Liberals allegedly were anti-Semitic, unpatriotic, or Taliban supporters. What could be further from the truth?
The next time a Conservative member is asked to send out a ten percenter defaming, assaulting or assassinating the character of a peer, I hope he or she thinks twice. These ten percenters now go above and beyond members of Parliament using them as a communications tool. They have become a cesspool for partisan Conservative propaganda, all on the backs of Canadian taxpayers.
Ludicrous, frivolous and vexatious accusations are unacceptable, not to mention costing taxpayers $20 million per year, with more than 10 million ten percenters being sent out per month.
The members who sent out the material apologized, but let us face it, the damage can never be repaired and the Conservatives know it.
I would like to list some of the more egregious abusers of this privilege, but the news is in an article that is readily available. The top 19 out of 20 are Conservative Party members. In fact, 38 of the top 40 are Conservatives, and Conservatives accounted for 62% of all printing costs, even though they only represent 45% of the members of the House, with a large percentage of the list being cabinet ministers. This is clearly an abuse of a privilege.
We are all aware of the limitations of ten percenters. They allow us to mail to 10% of our ridings, and that is an average of 4,000 or 5,000 households depending on the size of the riding. We send the artwork to printing and distribution, and it makes sure that we fall within the guidelines.
The Conservatives have found a way to enhance their allotment. We have reached a point where parliamentarians on the government side have purchased their very own printing presses and paper-folding machines. They keep them in their offices for attack purposes and they share those expenses. Instead of a 10% limit, they mass produce more of those same flyers, fold them and send them out.
Surely, as parliamentarians we must stand up and put a stop to such measures. The Liberal Party was calling for restraint on ten percenters last fall. We requested that ten percenters be limited to a member's own riding, that the practice of ten percenter regrouping be abolished, that the name of the leader of the sending member's party be included in the ten percenter, and that that leader explicitly endorse the content of the product. Why not eliminate them outright and save $20 million?
On this side of the House, we have been advocating the idea of reallocating the $1.2 billion in wasteful spending to high priority areas such as job creation, investment in innovation, R and D, early childhood learning, education or health care, investments in ways that our economy can grow, how jobs can grow, and investing in the jobs and economy of tomorrow.
The Conservatives preach austerity and cost controls, budget cuts and freezes, but why do they not look in the mirror? They are waist deep in waste, and the buck stops with them.
