Not that I'm a big fan of the Canadian Taxpayer's Federation -- I am on their e-mail list mostly for laughs -- but they're absolutely right on this one. Just a few months after the House of Commons decided to kill those annoying mail-outs called 10 percenters, QMI News is reporting that the Senate -- which is now controlled by the Cons -- has voted to start the practice. And since those summoned to "The Other Place" have franking privileges as well, it's at our expense and not subject to normal campaign spending rules.
The only caveat -- that they not attack fellow Senators. Like that's going to mean much. I mean, can you name five Senators off the top of your head? Quite frankly without a search engine I can only name three -- one is a Liberal (Gen. Roméo Dallaire) and the other two are the last of the Progressive Conservatives (Elaine McCoy and Lowell Murray). And that's probably three more than most Canadians could -- which says a lot about why the Senate needs to be elected, properly (with an amendment that passes the seven-fifty rule).
It's bad enough Senators are not subject to the same conflict of interest rules those in the House are -- look at how many sit on so many boards of governors and do not have to abstain on the very issues they have purview over when they come up for vote.
But this goes too far. If Steve and Iggy could agree on anything, it's that we shouldn't get any junk mail at taxpayer's expense.
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