Reid Denounces Stronach’s Million-Dollar Tour

Ottawa – MP Scott Reid, the Conservative Party Critic for Democratic Reform,denounced Belinda Stonach’s upcoming million-dollar tour of Canada.

Stronach, the new Minister for Democratic Renewal, announced this week that she will be travelling the country in the fall on a million-dollar budget to engage young Canadians in a discussion of voter apathy and disengagement.

“First the Prime Minister can’t figure out which minister is supposed to be responsible for the Democratic Deficit. Now, he’s letting one of them criss-cross the country on the taxpayer’s coin to chat about voter apathy,” Reid stated. “Politicians wasting taxpayers’ dollars on tours like this is precisely the sort of thing that causes people to turn away from politics in the first place.”

The Minister has not revealed what tangible results are expected from this tour. Her advocacy of lowering the voting age to 16 came to an abrupt halt when she became the minister responsible for Democratic Renewal. Minister Stronach has not yet clarified whether she has dropped this policy position, which is at odds with the position held by Mauril Belanger, the Minister for Democratic Reform.

“This is a pretty expensive exercise, for a Minister for Democratic Renewal who was not permitted by Paul Martin to answer a single question in Question Period regarding the democracy portfolio,” Reid noted. “Why not save Canadian taxpayers a million dollars by admitting that it makes no sense to have two ministers responsible for a single portfolio, and returning Ms. Stronach’s nominal responsibilities to Minister Belanger, who seems to have a better capacity to control his departmental expenses?”

“I’m not sure that it takes a million-dollar pan-Canadian tour to determine that people are less likely to bother voting when the person they elected as a Conservative MP winds up serving as a Liberal Minister,” Reid concluded. “And I have to wonder whether people will feel comfortable expressing their frustration with Canada’s lack of democracy to a minister whose personal actions are a virtual metaphor for the ‘Democratic Deficit’ in action.”

For more information or to speak with Mr. Reid
Please call (613) 257-8130 or (613) 947-2277.

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