The NDP has released an effective new ad that highlights some of Stephen Harper’s “friends” – various criminals, fraudsters and cheaters…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9tHdy-d13w
That’s pretty bad but this ad only highlights the senators (Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin) and other insiders (Nigel Wright) at the top of the Conservative party.
There have also been some recent revelations that show the Conservatives haven’t done very good in picking ethical, trustworthy, fair-minded local candidates either…
- The current Parliamentary Secretary for Multiculturalism (who is a visible minority himself) recently made offensive remarks towards Iranian-Canadians about going back to their own country
- A candidate in the current election was booted after it was revealed that he’d been found guilty of pot possession, something that the Conservative Party is completely against.
- Another candidate who is an actor was discovered to have a “character” he played who made sexual and racist prank phone calls to unsuspecting victims.
- And in one that takes the cake as perhaps the most embarrassing political scandal of all-time, another current Conservative candidate was captured on a secret camera *peeing* in a client’s coffee cup while in the home to do some appliance repair work!
Now, it’s no secret that all parties vet their candidates. This involves the candidates filling out a report of anything that could be embarrassing to themselves or the party if they are allowed to run. The vetting may also include interviews with screeners and various other tests to ensure the candidate lives up to each party’s standards and won’t disrupt the party’s message during the campaign.
And all parties have had situations where candidates have slipped through and caused later embarrassment when their past transgressions were revealed.
But there’s something especially embarrassing about these particular Conservative slip-ups, both given the nature of the offenses (again, who pees in a cup in a customer’s kitchen?) and also because some of these things were easily discoverable (the actor with the YouTube channel, the pot possession guy who claims to have revealed the charge *during* the Conservative’s vetting process and of course, Mr. Pee Pee whose incriminating video was played on a CBC program THREE YEARS AGO!)
A common joke about all of these situations is that the Conservatives are spending more time vetting reporters and others in their audiences than they are their candidates.
But that’s more sad than funny as far as I’m concerned.