NDP postcard using government resources for partisan activity
Re: Using government resources for political activities.
It must be election time. I just received my government sponsored “vote identifying cards” in the mail (the NDP’s taxpayer funded no-postage required postcard asking if you support 500 000 new affordable units — that is, do you support the NDP).
For those who are unaware of political strategy, parties spend vast amounts of time (and money) identifying those people who are likely to vote for them. They then hound those people to get out to vote on voter day (called “get out the vote”). Technically, it’s illegal for third parties to do this work on behalf of political parties and it’s certainly illegal to use government resources to do so. That said, it is virtually impossible for Elections Canada to prove parties are using this information.
That said, I do not disagree with the need for more affordable housing (my above comment is just expressing my annoyance at the use of taxpayer funds to run partisan political activity), but there needs to be a robust reality based debate on the topic. So far governments have spent increasing sums of taxpayer money to only make the matter worse. There is no voice given to besieged landlords and no relief given to those who construct free market rentals.
Martin Barker
Duncan
