Another day, another Volpe scandal

Surely, you thought, nothing else can go wrong for Joe Volpe's Liberal leadership campaign. Well, you thought wrong:

Joe Volpe has been accused of using taxpayer money to fund his campaign for the Liberal leadership. The allegation comes after he was fined by the party for an earlier breach.

The Career Foundation, a non-profit charity funded by Ottawa, rounded up clients to work for the Eglinton-Lawrence MP prior to the recent "Super Weekend" delegate vote. In early October, it issued cheques totalling $2,687.50 to seven clients.

Volpe spokesperson Corey Hobbs says the campaign always intended to pay: "There was a clear and legal plan in place that we would be paying these people for their services ... There is an invoice that is being processed right now."

Three managers at the charity, in Volpe's riding and formerly within his purview as a federal cabinet minister, formally complained to executive director Colin Morrison about the assignment.

[...]

Evans argues Volpe should have been aware of problems in hiring from a federally funded, non-profit agency. "Volpe has to know this was wrong. He was the Minister of Service Canada. He knows non-profits can't get involved in politics like this. He can hardly plead ignorance."

Evans, a career counsellor since 1998, once worked in municipal, provincial and federal political offices, including for Liberal leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy, then an MPP. She also worked for St. Paul's MP Carolyn Bennett, who dropped out of the race last month to support Bob Rae, former NDP premier of Ontario. She has one month remaining on a six-month probationary period at the foundation.

Good news for Kim Campbell, Stockwell Day and John Turner: no longer can either of them can be accused of running the most hilariously incompetent political campaign in Canadian history.

Damian P.

Posted by damian at October 15, 2006 11:24 AM