Another update has been made to the Sixth Estate Patronage List, which tracks Crown appointments (theoretically impartial and non-partisan) given to Conservative Party insiders, retired politicians, and donors. While in opposition, Stephen Harper complained that patronage appointments were immoral and illegitimate in a modern democracy. Once in power, he has executed a stunning volte-face. The Patronage List now stands at a total of 805 names, with roughly 40% of new external appointments since the May 2011 election going to apparent Conservatives.
Probably the most egregious entry on the list this week is Rumina Velshi, the mother of Conservative staffer and recent Ethical Oil front man Alykhan Velshi, who is apparently qualified to sit on the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. However, since that’s already made the news, I thought that an equally revealing trend to highlight would be the steadily accumulating detritus from the 2011 election: Conservative candidates which the public rejected at the ballot box, but whom we are now paying anyways thanks to the generosity of the Harper regime.
Right now this Losers List stands at 24 people, which means that in just one year since the 2011 election, around one in six of the Conservatives who went down to defeat on election night is already living off the public dole anyways:
Original Article
Source: sixth Estate
Probably the most egregious entry on the list this week is Rumina Velshi, the mother of Conservative staffer and recent Ethical Oil front man Alykhan Velshi, who is apparently qualified to sit on the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. However, since that’s already made the news, I thought that an equally revealing trend to highlight would be the steadily accumulating detritus from the 2011 election: Conservative candidates which the public rejected at the ballot box, but whom we are now paying anyways thanks to the generosity of the Harper regime.
Right now this Losers List stands at 24 people, which means that in just one year since the 2011 election, around one in six of the Conservatives who went down to defeat on election night is already living off the public dole anyways:
- Jean-Philippe Bachand (Richmond-Arthabaska) — Employment Insurance Act Board of Referees
- Richard Bélisle (Longueuil-Pierre Boucher) — National Parole Board
- Jean-Pierre Blackburn (Jonquière-Alma) — Ambassador to UNESCO
- Sylvie Boucher (Beauport-Limoilou) – Caucus Liaison Assistant for Minister Leona Aglukkaq
- Nancy Brassard-Fortin (Hull-Aylmer) — Assistant to Parliamentary Secretary Jacques Gourde
- Cecil Clarke (Sydney-Victoria) — “Consultant” to the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
- Matthew Conway (Notre Dame de Grâce-Lachine) — Quebec desk officer for Heritage Minister James Moore
- Jean-Guy Dagenais (Saint Hyacinthe-Bagot) — Senator
- Neil Drabkin (Westmount-Ville Marie) — Chief of Staff to the Natural Resources Minister
- Bernard Généreux (Montmagny-L’Islet-Kamouraska-Rivière du Loup) – Appointed to the Quebec Port Authority
- Marie-Claude Godue (Berthier-Maskinongé) — Appointed to the Employment Insurance Board of Referees in 2012.
- Rudy Husny (Outremont) — Press Secretary to Minister Ed Fast
- Aaron Hynes (Bonavista-Gander-Grand Falls-Windsor) — Policy Advisor to Minister Peter Penashue
- Pierre Lafontaine (Jeanne Le Ber) — Employment Insurance Act Board of Referees
- Mélisa Leclerc (Shefford) — Chief of Staff to Minister of State Bernard Valcourt
- Sandy Lee (Western Arctic) — NWT policy advisor to Minister Leona Aglukkaq
- Fabian Manning (Avalon) — Senator
- Ann Matejicka (Winnipeg North) — Chief of Staff to Minister Diane Finley
- Jean-Philippe Payment (Terrebonne-Blainville) – Appointed to the Employment Insurance Board of Referees in 2012.
- Elie Salibi (Ottawa South) — Assistant to Parliamentary Secretary Dean Del Mastro
- Larry Smith (Lac Saint Louis) — Senator
- Josée Verner (Louis Saint Laurent) — Senator
- Leanne Villella (Welland) – Employment Insurance Board of Referees
- Saulie Zajdel (Mount Royal) — Government “consultant” on Montreal communities
Original Article
Source: sixth Estate
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