On the other hand…

June 27, 2013 · 0 Comments

(Re: Politics as Usual: Political Ethics. June 19)

On the subject of breaching ethics codes, Alison Collins-Mrakas stated in her column that “Laying a charge isn’t the same as being found guilty of a charge. Yet, in political circles, all that matters is laying the charge – loudly and publicly – knowing full well that the allegation alone is often enough to do significant reputational damage.”
I whole heartedly agree with this statement, and I wonder why Ms. Collins-Mrakas does not recognize her own propensity to commit this abuse of ethics. In this same column, she begins by referring to the alleged connection of the Toronto Mayor with the drug and gun raids in Toronto and the RCMP investigation of Senator Duffy and the former Chief of Staff of the PMO as looming crises.
Why would she not choose examples that are based on facts such as Justin Trudeau charging thousands of dollars to charities [for speaking engagements] while earning approximately $160,000 annually as an MP with one of the worst records of voting attendance in the legislature and one of just three MPs – all of them Liberals – to report extra income from speaking engagements in the last five years?
Liberal Senator Mac Harb has recently been ordered to repay more than $230,000 in expenses he claimed to the Senate during the past eight years. Or how about the scandal plagued Wynne government with their history of e-Health, Ornge, and over half a billion spent to ditch two gas plants they had originally approved, to name just a few?
I would like to see “Politics as Usual” show a more balanced, unbiased and ethical approach to reporting on politics.

Shelley Wister
Aurora