A former aide to Health Minister George Smitherman is on the board of an Iranian Canadian group that got a government grant for $200,000 in what opposition parties dub a "slush fund" scandal, the Star has learned.So another Liberal apparatchik with direct ties to the McGuinty cabinet secures another couple hundred thousand taxpayer dollars for his particular group.
One-time Smitherman policy adviser Ali Samiian, who left the government in 2005, is a director of the Iranian-Canadian Community Centre that got a cheque from Citizenship and Immigration Minister Mike Colle the following year.
Samiian maintained there was no political favouritism in the grant despite growing opposition concerns over how Colle doled out $32 million to 110 groups – including several others with Liberal ties – over the past two years.But remember... it's all a sort of happy coincidence.
The payout to the Chinese Professionals Association of Canada fuelled opposition anger over how money was distributed under Colle's program without formal application forms or criteria.
Other money went to Bengali and Sikh groups with Liberal ties.
Who, besides gullible ole' Warren, is gonna buy that load of horsefeathers?
Sorta reminds me of, "I won't cut your taxes, but I promise I won't raise them either."
**********
RELATED: Dalton "You can't get there from here" McGuinty
Hey, Dalton... you were elected Premier of Ontario because you claimed you could fix problems... not run away from them.
See... if it was easy, the janitor could do it.
-- TORONTO -- The federal government is in a conflict of interest when it comes to settling aboriginal land claims and must create an independent body to clear the backlog of some 800 claims across the country, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said Tuesday.Boy, Dalt... I sure wish you'd have said something about your problem here... before pissing away a hundred million taxpayer dollars over the last fifteen months, with no tangible results.
“Right now the federal government finds itself in an untenable position — it has to decide whether or not it's going to give up some of its own land. I think that puts them in a very difficult position.”
Technorati Tags: corruption, Liberal Party, same old, same old
