Cam Stewart on Deepak Obhrai's Wasteful Mail-out Spending

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• published: 03 Oct 2015
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Obhrai revealed as a top spender on wasteful mailings For immediate release Calgary Forest Lawn, Oct 2, 2015 — Cam Stewart, Liberal candidate for Calgary Forest Lawn, said today he is disappointed in his Conservative opponent’s record of wasting public funds. Documents released by the House of Commons this week show that Conservative candidate Deepak Obhrai spent $5,900.00 on “ten-percenter” mailings between April and June of this year. This raises Mr. Obhrai’s total spending on these wasteful and partisan junk mailings to $143,304.37 since 2009. In fact, Mr. Obhrai has racked up the seventeenth-highest total bill for these ten-percenter mailings of any incumbent candidate. “The Harper Conservatives have wasted $750-milllion, and counting, on blatantly self-serving advertising, paid for by Canadian taxpayers,” Mr. Stewart said. “Conservative MPs, including Mr. Obhrai, have wasted a further $14.3-million on junk mail since 2009. The Conservatives have clearly lost the ability to distinguish between their narrow political interests and the public interest.” The Liberal Party of Canada has a plan to end the Conservative waste, including: a ban on the Conservative practice of wasteful and partisan government advertising. Proposed ads will be reviewed by an Advertising Commissioner to ensure they are non-partisan and related to actual government requirements; and the Open Parliament Plan, which will require more detailed parliamentary expense reporting and greater accountability. “The Harper Conservatives have proven, yet again, that they will use and abuse the public purse for partisan ends,” Mr. Stewart said. “Perhaps Stephen Harper was right when he told customers at a donut shop to not let him handle the cash.” -30- Cam@camstewart.ca Note to editors: Annual and quarterly MP expense reports are published by the House of Commons, and are available online at: http://www.parl.gc.ca/about/house/BOIE/boie-expenditures-E.html