robert_viera

I received a ten-percenter today from my MP, Patrick Brown, claiming that rolling back this year's corporate tax cut would raise taxes on 'ma and pa' shops: Corporations that qualify for the small business deduction pay a net federal tax rate of 11%, and are not affected by this corporate tax cut: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/bsnss/tpcs/crprtns/rts-eng.html

My MP, Patrick Brown, doesn't seem to be too interested in attending Thursday afternoon committee meetings, having sent someone else in his place at 2 of the last 3 Thursday afternoon meetings of the Health Committee. According to his Twitter blog, he was on a plane back to the riding chatting up CBC's Ron Maclean at the time of the first meeting, and attended a gala at a local racetrack on the evening of the second meeting. Apparently, Brown and Maclean discussed 'Hockey Night in Barrie', which is a fund-raiser for the local hospital that started out in 2004 as a hockey game between hospital staff and hockey celebrities, but which Brown has managed to usurp and turn into a partisan political event. I recently received a taxpayer-funded newsletter from Brown which consisted almost entirely of photos, including 29 photos from last year's 'Hockey Night in Barrie', which took place more than 6 months ago and was widely covered by the media.

It looks like OpenParliament has decided that my MP is the American chairman of the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission: From the Niagara Fall's Bridge Commission's web site:

Federal Tax Revenue - Income Tax: 2007-2008: Personal $113,062,564,000.00 Corporate $40,627,679,000.00 2008-2009: Personal $116,024,280,000.00 Corporate $29,475,891,000.00 2009-2010: Personal $103,947,000,000.00 Corporate $30,361,000,000.00 Source: Public Accounts of Canada

I received a reply from OpenParliament.ca to my email on December 21 and was assured that the articles were removed.

First, allow me to say that I think the web site OpenParliament.ca is a great resource, however, a recent experience has me questioning how reliable the information on this site is. I use the site to follow media coverage of my local MP, Patrick Brown. Recently the site posted links to three articles about a group of lawyers offering to represent injured veterans at no cost. One of the lawyers mentioned in the articles is named Patrick Brown. These links were posted on the OpenParliament.ca page for Barrie MP Patrick Brown. While the Barrie MP is a non-practicing lawyer, he is not the lawyer referred to in the articles. I sent an email to the site's owner, but have received no response and the articles remain on the OpenParliament.ca page for the Barrie MP.

From the article I linked to above: Source: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/gun-tracing-regulations-delayed-for-third-time-by-harper-government--111348704.html This thread is about firearms marking regulations, not the gun registry.

Gun tracing regulations delayed for third time by Harper government http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/gun-tracing-regulations-delayed-for-third-time-by-harper-government--111348704.html

That vote was about the gun registry. This thread is about regulations which would require gun importers to mark legally imported guns so that police can distinguish them from illegally-smuggled guns. The marking regulations allow police to trace firearms used in crimes more quickly.

It seems that idiots don't read either. This thread is not about the gun registry.

They've done it again: This time they've put off the regulations for another two years! The Conservatives try to portray themselves as the party of law-and-order, but they've shamefully delayed these regulations that police support in order to please the gun lobby. And that's not all ... You can't be tough-on-crime when you put the interests of the gun lobby ahead of public safety.

MP Patrick Brown's assistant seems to view Remembrance Day as an opportunity to sleep in: Source: http://twitter.com/tab_nav/status/2526123132981248

What about this? Source: http://northerndevelopment.bc.ca/news/71/18/Northern-BC-Communities-Electrified-Over-Federal-130-Million-Investment-in-the-Northwest-Transmission-Line Source: http://www.actionplan.gc.ca/eng/feature.asp?featureId=4 ... or this? The population of the Yukon is about 35,000. That works out to more than $2,000 per person.

So you don't have any evidence to support your theory that this might be a frame job? Doesn't sound like you're on the side of evidence to me. Instead of questioning the evidence that's been found so far, why don't you produce some evidence to support your theory?

How do you know they're not? The registration for promptpolitical.com lists Mr. Henley as the registrant. The Afterburner Cup website contained a message at the bottom of each page that said it was copyright '[email protected]'. The Afterburner Cup's website is advertised on MP Brian Storseth's website. I think you're really stretching to come up with a conspiracy theory to explain what's happened. The simplest explanation is usually the correct one.

The website for the Afterburner Cup (www.afterburnercup.ca) also seems to have been taken down. It has been replaced with the same 'COMING SOON' message.

Interesting development ... the website at www.promptpolitical.com has been taken down and replaced with a 'COMING SOON' page.

If Thompson's communication was only for Conservative Party members, it definitely should have been paid for by the Conservative Party, not the taxpayer.

If it's an MP's job to help businesses get government grants, and it's the MP's assistant's job to assist the MP, is there not a conflict if the assistant is operating a business that offers services which overlap with his job as an MP's assistant? Is the assistant charging for a service he would otherwise perform for no charge as an MP's assistant?

My MP, Patrick Brown, was not at his constituency office at the time of the veterans' protest either. His excuse: A prior commitment. What was the prior commitment? A hockey game to raise funds for a private school in Alberta.

Having read in the local paper that a protest by veterans was planned at my local MP's constituency office this morning, I decided to check his twitter blog to see if he had said anything about the issue of compensation for injured veterans: No, and it looks like he's out of town, in fact, in another province, at the time of the protest. It's funny how my MP, Patrick Brown, seems to find the time to show up at every photo opportunity, but when there's a protest, he's conveniently out of town. I did a search for the term 'Afterburner Cup' and found it's website. According to the website, the 'Afterburner Cup' is a charity hockey game in support of the Art Smith Aviation Academy. (According to the Canada Revenue Agency, the Art Smith Aviation Academy and The Military Families Support Society are not registered charities). When hundreds of his constituents protested against prorogation in January, Patrick Brown was away at another charity hockey game in Peterborough, Ontario. While I was at the website for the Afterburner Cup, I noticed this line at the bottom of each page: So I went to the website www.promptpolitical.com and found out a little about 'Prompt Political Communications Corp': With my curiosity piqued, I did a WHOIS search to see who owned the promptpolitical.com domain name: According to the federal government's electronic directory, Matthew Henley is Member's Assistant to MP Brian Storseth. The address and phone number listed for Mr. Henley in the domain name registration are the same as those listed on the Contact page at promptpolitical.com (... except is says 'Apartment 309' rather than 'Suite 309'). I don't know whether it's against any of the rules, but it doesn't seem right for an MP's assistant to be moonlighting offering to help businesses get government grants. While searching I also came across a webpage titled 'QUEBEC CITY 2003 HOMEPAGE!' which seems to be a photo album of the apparently drunken antics of young Mr. Henley and his friends and includes the following captions: With Remembrance Day approaching, I wonder what veteran's would think of some of the people working for our government.

2009-2010 Training: Top 15 $1,000.00 Albrecht, Harold $1,000.00 Stoffer, Peter $1,069.09 Rota, Anthony $1,485.00 Malo, Luc $1,485.00 McGuinty, David $1,500.00 Lukiwski, Tom $1,659.99 Ablonczy, Hon. Diane $1,885.00 Savoie, Denise $3,150.00 Fletcher, Hon. Steven $3,300.00 Silva, Mario $3,875.74 Weston, John $4,207.12 Dorion, Jean $4,455.00 Bains, Hon. Navdeep $5,000.00 Gallant, Cheryl $6,162.00 Hoeppner, Candice

2009-2010 Materials and supplies: Top 15 $19,854.95 Dhalla, Ruby $19,891.23 Mark, Inky $20,379.06 Dechert, Bob $20,980.24 Davies, Don $21,238.14 Flaherty, Hon. Jim $21,802.72 Généreux, Bernard $22,413.09 Sgro, Hon. Judy $22,579.36 Maloway, Jim $22,666.88 Goodyear, Hon. Gary $22,864.10 Chow, Olivia $23,534.30 Saxton, Andrew $23,865.90 Charlton, Chris $24,556.92 Marston, Wayne $24,726.18 D'Amours, Jean-Claude $25,641.69 Gravelle, Claude

2009-2010 Postage and courier services: Top 15 $6,911.78 Weston, John $7,167.33 Brown, Patrick $7,286.43 Devolin, Barry $7,477.71 Mark, Inky $7,602.00 Goodyear, Hon. Gary $7,679.28 Kamp, Randy $7,834.07 Hawn, Laurie $7,863.18 Kent, Hon. Peter $8,038.31 Duncan, John $8,188.92 Lauzon, Guy $8,574.27 Benoit, Leon $8,965.81 Jean, Brian $9,879.45 Hill, Hon. Jay $11,730.64 Uppal, Tim $12,486.13 Richardson, Lee

2009-2010 Repairs and maintenance: Top 15 $5,907.52 Hoeppner, Candice $5,955.23 Hiebert, Russ $6,110.88 Albrecht, Harold $6,173.46 Prentice, Hon. Jim $6,384.44 Carrie, Colin $6,697.50 Dhalla, Ruby $9,580.79 Devolin, Barry $10,558.79 Freeman, Carole $11,662.71 Dufour, Nicolas $11,678.85 Moore, Hon. James $12,420.80 Faille, Meili $13,603.95 Bernier, Hon. Maxime $17,135.09 Gaudet, Roger $18,190.82 McLeod, Cathy $29,179.08 Mayes, Colin