While the newest Conservative Senator Larry Smith complains about having to take a pay cut in order to sit in the upper house (he's also opportunistically planning to resign from the seat soon in order to run for the House in West Montreal), here's a great Liberal list of the Twelve Wastes of Christmas.

Remember that as the holidays are near, and instead of you getting to have some more of your tax money in your pocket to buy gifts, or services being provided to those who unfortunately have hard times during the holidays, John Baird and his backroom buddies wasted your tax money on careless vanity projects like these:

http://www.liberal.ca/newsroom/news-release/twelve-wastes-christmas/


“Everyone’s giving out money. We’re spending like it’s Christmas.”
Conservative MP Brad Trost (Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Nov. 9, 2010)
1) A fake lake and pavilion to house it in – Although Lake Ontario was less than a kilometer away from the G20 summit, the Conservatives spent $2 million building a temporary fake Muskoka lake for journalists to lounge beside.

2) Thousands and thousands of glow sticks — Although Public Safety Minister Vic Toews claims he doesn’t know what a glowstick is, he oversaw the purchase of $14,049 worth of them for use over the course of one June weekend.

3) A tiny wooden lighthouse — While the Conservatives were pushing a plan to sell off some of Canada’s iconic lighthouses, such as the one at Peggy’s Cove, they were busy building a fake wooden lighthouse, safely land-locked, deep in Industry Minister Tony Clement’s riding.


4) A puddle of water — This $20,000 puddle of water was briefly an ice sculpture on display at the G20 summit in Toronto.


5) Personalized fortune cookies – Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says he didn’t buy them, but that doesn’t explain his department’s $429.95 receipt for personalized fortune cookies.

6) Steam Boat Tony’s S.S. Bigwin — Tony Clement, wanting to spiff up his riding and impress some visiting international dignitaries, spent $380,000 fixing up a steamboat that launched two months after the dignitaries had left the country.


7) Party like it’s 1999 – Stephen Harper personally authorized the purchase of $7,400 worth of “refreshments” for a meeting thrown at a posh hotel across the street from the Prime Minister’s Office.

8) Expensive speeches – James Moore paid a speech writer $26,825.24 for one month’s work. That’s $500 more than the Prime Minister makes in a month.

9) Expensive press releases — Taxpayers paid a consultant $3,400 to draft and send out two press releases for Via Rail. After Via paid what amounts to about $2.62 for each word the consultant typed, Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro hired him.

10) Buying ad space on explicit sites — The Conservatives pride themselves on overseeing every single aspect of the entire government’s communications strategy. Part of that strategy was advertising the Government of Canada on explicit websites. Reverend Charles McVety called the move “pretty outrageous,” and suggested that the Conservatives shouldn’t be using tax dollars to advertise on websites that “may contain child pornography.”

11) Unexpected moving costs — Bickering inside the Conservative Cabinet and their poor treatment of one of Canada’s strategic allies got the Canadian Forces kicked out of Camp Mirage in the UAE with just 30 days notice. The moving bill is estimated to be $300 million.

12) A monument to commemorate government spending — Mr. Clement, perhaps worried that Canadians might forget that his government has been spending like its Christmas, erected a permanent brass plaque in North Bay to do nothing more than commemorate government spending. A photo to the plaque commemorating the year the Conservatives spent, ‘Spending like it’s Christmas,’ is below.

See the Liberal link for the photos mentioned.