Harper has just burned a little over half a million of taxpayer dollars on a fishing expedition investigating past Liberal government spending on polls:
An independent investigator hired by the Harper government to look into past Liberal polling practices has wound up shining an unfavourable light on the Tories' penchant for polling.
...
However, opposition critics questioned the value gleaned for the money spent on Paille's report, which cost about $610,000.
However, wasting over a half million on a fishing expedition is far from the greatest irony here.
Daniel Paille notes that the Conservative government commissioned more than two polls per business day in the past year, a figure he calls "quite astounding."
His report shows that the government spent $31.2 million on opinion research in the last year - more than any previous year and almost twice the $18 million spent on average during the Liberal years.
Now, the Minister of Public Works steps forward and sticks his foot in his mouth:
Public Works Minister Michael Fortier pointed out that the report shows previous Liberal governments actually commissioned more opinion research in some years - reaching a peak of 686 projects in 2001-02 - even though they spent less on them.
"It is the spend per poll . . . that has gone up," Fortier said in an interview. "We just need to be smarter in how we buy polls."
Dear Mr. Fortier - let me suggest a simple solution for your overspending on polling: do less of it!
This has been yet another entry in the "More Accountable Government" brought to you by Stephen Harper and his Con$.
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