I think you nailed here Kate. Liberals are just not hardwired to refuse largess...they stare in disbelief when other do....a liberal does not trust anyone who can't be corrupted.

Am I not entitled to my entitlements?

It's about time that SOME elected officials respected the loot that they take from me at gunpoint(if I do not pay my taxes, they will arrest me, with weapons drawn, if necessary). That the libranos are screaming that there must be a "secret agenda" vis-a-vis CPC expenses, just shows how morally bankrupt they truly are. Just wait until the CPC wins a majority, and the gravy train spigot is turned off completely. There are going to be many trough pigs crying then. I can hardly wait.

This is NO suprise. Just more finger pointing, even when they do the right thing. (excuse the pun) Nice post.

you think baird, van loan , del maestro or ol' harpman himself are paying for their own big macs?

go back to sleep.

baird spends more time in hy's steakhouse than he does with laureen harper.

save the virtuous conservative routine...we've all seen what those kinky republicans get up too.

How long will it be before this is spun into the Tories being unsophisticated rubes who don't know their Montrachet from their Mountain Dew?

The problem with that online article is that it's missing the graphic that came with the print edition.

In the print edition there's pictures of 8(? I think 8) people, 4 from the current government, and the equivalent 4 from the previous government. And the graphic breaks down the expenses into "travel" and "hospitality."

What I found interesting was how Susan Smith concluded the Conservatives were on the take because their hospitality expenses were lower. But an interesting thing was that Paul Martin had $0 in travel expenses. When everyone else had some. So by Smith's logic we can also assume Paul Martin was on the take. Right? Right?

Once again a leftard idiot compares the CPC to the Republicans. Last time I checked, Hillary and co were a lot more right wing than PMSH. If that is the only "dirt" you have on Baird, keep it coming. Compared to the criminal libranos, our kids are doing just fine!

"In a case that conjures images of rationing, Harper's communications director Sandra Buckler spent just $7 on refreshments for a meeting of 35 people."

$7 for 35 people! This "conjures images" of that Jewish chap a while back who did a similar trick with loaves and fishes.

I don't expect my MP's to dine on fast food, my MP is a decent fellow, does a good job, and I don't want him poisoning himself with junk food.

I have no problem with a taxpayer funded employee having a good meal, it's the $400 bottles of wine that they often have as a beverage that offends me.

I must ask Sandra Buckler to help me out with my household budget.

I think Jeff just proved my point about liberals being hardwired to accept largess and corruption as being the norm.

jeff davidson you really are a nasty POS.

If you have any proof of your innuendo about Mrs. Harper you better hang on to it. Things are about to get hot for you.

CBCpravda ran an ad in the Herald this morning.

your tax dollars at rest.

Sounds like she served them coffee. Scandalous.

Davidson is a typical Liberal--drive-by smears to change the subject.
My son was a bureaucrat in the Liberal reign. When flying he was allotted first class costs and his meal allowance was phenomenal. He didn't spend 1/10 of what he was allotted--but he could keep the rest. Our tax dollars at work?

'baird spends more time in hy's steakhouse than he does with laureen harper.'

As usual...
no proof, just a cheapshot form the peanut gallery

Personally I find it refreshing that some politicos are actually making a conscious effort not to waste my tax dollars.

'baird spends more time in hy's steakhouse than he does with laureen harper.'

As usual...
no proof, just a cheapshot form the peanut gallery

Personally I find it refreshing that some politicos are actually making a conscious effort not to waste my tax dollars.

Perhaps Ms. Smith is nostalgic for the days when big restaurant and bar tabs begat big envelopes full of cash exchanged under tables?

It looks like she bought a pound of coffee and used a coffee urn and someone actually made the coffee for the meting. The concept of a minuscule effort to save the taxpayers money is something that Liberals could not fathom. The fact that the MSM is printing this information in such a negative manner shows how desperate they are to find fault with the CPC. Lets hope the average taxpaying Canadian is not offended by elected individuals who respect the taxpayers hard earned dollars. Like the old saying goes look after the pennies and the dollars look after themselves. The sense of entitlement that has permeated the entire Government and civil service in this country has to change. This has to come from the top.

After all you should be able to deduct your chewing gum, just like David Dingwall of the Royal Canadian Mint!

Who is carrying your lunch pail Susan?

Yep, Liberals are after all "entitled to their entitlements".

A delightful fiasco! But hey don't spend your $400,000 severance all in one place. Make sure you spread the love!

Isn't Susan Smith the one implicated in Abotech? Not sure.

hey jeffie if we want to here from you we will rattle are zippers.

Perhaps this the underlying source of the Liberals' gall attack:

Assume that petty expense-account pilfering is the white-collar analog to littering, graffiti or vandalism in the civic sphere. It's been well documented that a social acceptance of the last three kinds of 'mischief' is all but an open invitation for more serious crimes to be committed, and social intolerance of the last three tends to cause a drop in the rate of more serious crimes.

Plausible explanation for this cause-and-effect sequence: laxity with respect to upkeep of property tends to signal, to the criminal mind, a corresponding laxity in defending it.

By the same reasoning, laxity with respect to personal expense accounts is a signal of laxity in guarding the public purse.

Trolls are out again I see. Good news about Conservative honesty being mocked as usual.

Here's my question, all you sophisticated socilaist cynics: If all politicians are crooked (even when the accounting department says different), how can higher taxes and more government intervention into daily life be a good thing?

Jeffy, Alby, Jose? Anyone? Bueler...?

I'll go back to sleep now, 'kay?

Jeff Davidson..another example of a leftist who still hasn't got over the conservatives winning the last election..if he ever will..

I'll bet it just huuurts..doesn't it Jeff?

Everyday..

The problem for the libranos is this. The only way they can motivate people to work for them is to promise the pigs a big feeding trough after the election. With the example being set by the CPC, it will be very difficult for the criminals to go back to their old ways. Hence, it will be difficult to recruit more swine, as the trough will not be overflowing with swill as in the old days. Tough slog ahead for the librano swine.

same crap in to with concilors who didn't spend their office budgets. geez, tough to be thrifty in socalist canada.

From a private company, if we are at a lunch, the most senior management representative pick up the tab. That way the approver does not participate in the luncheon. Obviously, PM^2 did not do it that way. That in itself makes their fiscal responsibility highly suspect.

In addition, I try to ensure my sales guys understand the difference between being "a guy" and "THE guy" at social outings. Buying everything for everyone carries a negative connotation for anyone with REAL authority.

The use of alcohol in expense accounts is also verboten. This is because of "lapses in judgement" that can occur as a result - much like jeff_davidsons post.

Adding up claims over a 12-month period, Harper's chief of staff, executive assistant, communications director and press secretary reduced spending on hospitality meals and refreshments ($5,438) to almost one-quarter the annual tab for Martin's staffers ($20,409).

Seems pretty straightforward to me, a 75% reduction in meal tabs picked up by taxpayers. It's easy to see which crowd were pigs at the public trough.

And, with characteristic moronic and ad hominem snark jeff davis makes his appearance. Your best shot at this news item is pretty pathetic, jeffie.

Susan and her ilk had better spend their time thinking about the millions of dollars that were syphoned off into the lieberal party's bank accounts during the sponsorship era and developing strategies to explain why only pennies on the dollar were returned to the government.

When and if citoyen Dion and Iggy force an election, they had best be prepared to address the issue.

From what I've heard about Susan Smith, she is hardly pure as the driven snow fiscally. Pretty amazing - evidence is presented that the Harper government is trying to change this culture of entitlement, that politicans and civil servants serve the public by acting in a fiscally prudent manner. How do some Liberals interpret this; well they must be in someone's pocket.

Imagine this bunch accusing others, without any evidence, (in fact quite the opposite) suggesting others of fiscal impropriety. Maybe they should focus on their own culture of corruption, and pay back the money they misappropriated. Instead we get deniers like Corriveau who still don't get it and actually believe their champagne tastes on the taxpayer provide good value.

Wonders never cease. Hard to see how they will convince electorate they have changed their ways. They seem like the same old tired out party, out of ideas save their own power, refusing to accept they must change before public lets them out of the penalty box.

If they truly did change their culture, and got some decent leadership, they would surely challenge the Tories for power. They won't as long as arrogantly cling to their culture of power and consistently underestimate Mr Harper.

Works for me, though.

I made the mistake of hiring a relative to work for my private company a few years ago. He was a former Liberal deputy minister with a scientific background and I thought had some talent, however what quickly surfaced was the typical Liberal sense of entitlement and greed.
Large unapproved lunches on the company card, perks and low productivity were the norm for him. He felt he had a right to bonuses whether he earned them or not or whether the company could afford them or not.
I finally had to fire him for his ridiculously low productivity and he was furious that I had put an end to what he felt was his right to dip into my pocket at any time.
The anger Jeff shows is typical of a Liberal who is so used to engorging themselves at the trough that they can't fathom the conservative mindset.

"Conservative Government Demonstrates Respect For Taxpayers With Restraint On Expense Budgets"

Only in a country propagandized by a dishonest press corps could a factual headline like that be morphed into a BAD THING.

You remember "hidden agenda"?(of course you do...it's still being used regularly.)

Well now,we seem to have a variation of an old theme....."hidden banquets".

I will immediately be contacting the Sun chain and expressing my disgust at this partisan smear job.

Doesn’t look like Smith skipped too many Puff pastries either.

AS usual, penny, you're out of your depth. Anyone with even a passing familiarity with who's who at the trough would realize that comparisons of Prime Ministerial staffers expense accounts are indicative of nothing, having the significance of a fart in a hurricane, that those getting a free lunch ( both literally and figuratively) at public expense are for the most part conservative supporters, whether it is oil execs writing off their "business" lunches and luxury boxes at the Saddledome or farmers their countless writeoffs for everything under the sun to their billions in subsidies from cradle to grave.

manny...lets have some links and facts,please!

Justthinkin,

Look at:

Look at http://www.powercorporation.com/

woops, sorry, they give away companies to libs not lunches to conservatives.

Who isn't being wined and dined, to run up huge expenses. I think it is the PPG and other media talking heads. Everywhere I worked, (even as a civil servant) it was customary to take our lunch break and buy our own. That is what most people have to do, even politicians.
Peter Mandbridge used to get golf wkends at some big libs place, wonder if those are gone now.
Come on, give jeffy a break. He spends his whole morning reading conservative blogs so he has something to complain about. And we know he has an aptitude to use very coarse language. Must be very difficult to wake up every morning and be so angry all day.

Just thought I'd get my pound of stinking flesh:

Wasn't it a Liberal Solicitor General who forged his mistress's husbands signature, in order to abort HIS fetus? More recently he was an "adviser" to the former PM Martinie.

Stuffed envelopes anyone??

Just a nasty reminder of what kind of self-indulgent un-accountable elitist vermin we had running this country for most of the last seventy years. Don't ever forget this!

manny:

Speaking of writeoffs ...

Wow! I never realized that living high on the taxpayers' dime was such a virtue and being careful with expenses was such a sin or crime.

the crook solicitor general was ......drum roll.....

Francis Fox

forgery as well as impersonation . something you may need a solictor to help you get out of. dont know if there ever were any charges layed on his little fro 'd head.

quite a resume after the criminal activity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Fox

makes you wonder what you have to do to become a liberal senator or the gov. gen.

martin and iggy all over him like a fatboy on a twinkie.