Paul Martin is announcing aid for the cattle industry this morning - to the tune of nearly a billion dollars, with a considerable part of that going to the actual cattlemen. [note to urban media types - not "cattle farmers"]
The best news to come out of Adscam yet.
Last week it was federal Finance Minister, Ralph Goodale, taking a look at the transfer payment situation and declaring Saskatchewan has been - gosh darn golly gee! shortchanged after all! - a hundred million on the way, and more to come. Heh.
Got to love the irony of that - Paul Martin is fighting for his political life - in Picture Butte, Alberta, while the premier of the same province is in Washington representing Canadian interests to the US on getting the borders open.
A cynic would probably accuse Martin of trying to buy voters in the west for an upcoming election. A realist would probably think the Liberals were planning the $1 billion to buy off the opposition. Anyone reading the sponsorship scandals knows the Libs cant' be trusted dispensing money to anyone without taking the requisite bribe and transaction fees of 10-15%.
Here's something else to put it in perspective - only 1/3 of the aid announced last year has actually gone out. And there's an election coming up.
We'll see...
beebop