As reported in Kamloops This Week (page 12) on February 11, Jack Layton's attempt to secure funding for the Kamloops airport expansion has met with scorn and contempt from Betty Hinton. She brags: "I am a member of the governing party. I'm part of the cabinet (by the way, that's not true; if Betty had just checked Wikipedia, she would know that parliamentary secretaries are not Cabinet members). I have absolutely unfettered access to the ministers ... Mr. Layton has no influence, regardless of what he may feel." So let's get in this into perspective. Betty uses all her supposed influence to try to get the funding ... and, whether she's really trying or not, she fails. Then someone else tries, and she scorns him. Reporter Markus Ermisch reports that, when read Michael Crawford's statement that Layton's letter might "finally get results for Kamloops," Hinton "laughed for five seconds and said, 'that's my answer.'" Maybe it's funny for you, Betty, when you have your Member of Parliament's travel allowance. The rest of us, though, could really use some of those affordable WestJet flights we hear so much about.
Cited article by Markus Ermisch
Published February 11, 2007
© Copyright Kamloops This Week 2007
19 comments:
Knock-knock, hello Betty? Obviously whatever you are doing to help us here in Kamloops get an airport expansion, isn't working! Your ideas on how to secure funding is a pathetic farse. You don't have a clue what you are talking about or what you are doing in Ottawa.
Now, please don't slag anybody for trying to bring some attention to our plight...welcome it and encourage every MP or person in the news to also get on board.
Way to go Jack...hope they'll listen, lord knows we NEED an airport in Kamloops, and we don't care who gets it done!
Glad to see you're knowledge is so vast that you need to site Wikipedia.
The partisan propensity of this site to make a tempest out of a teapot is staggering- this Crawford/Layton thing IS laughable. The fact of the matter is, unlike under the Liberal regime, the Conservative administration has insofar been transparent and accountable with respect to it's funding- unlike the pork doled out hand over fist previously. It's something municipalities across the country are having to deal with.
Kamloops HAS an airport- I agree, I'd love it to be expanded (or moreover, perhaps relocated to a more practical, higher area) but this noble cause is quickly becoming nothing more then a political tool by the enemies of Mrs. Hinton. Crawford, Layton and the NDP are trying to score political points by taking advantage of it, and I think that's incredibly disrespectful to the citizens of Kamloops.
Who cares if this site is "anti-conservative" according to some people, so far all I have read is what is being put in print and getting the facts out. It's about time someone said something against Hinton, she was useless as a member of the opposition and she is useless as a back bencher.
and P.S. citing Wikipedia, is common practice to make sure EVERYONE knows how things work.
1. Expanding the airport will not bring Westjet. Westjet does not need an expanded runway or improved navigational aids. It just doesnt thing there are enough passengers here.
2. Betty Hinton hasnt failed. The process is ongoing. True, she doesnt cough up money on demand but neither did NDP provincials when their government was in power (remember the Cancer Clinic).
3. Crawford/Layton are exploiting a politically sensitive issue for political gain when they know Layton jumping on the bandwagon will add nothing and possibly be a negative.
Hinton's response is so completely over-the-top that you would think she is already convinced she has lost the election before it's even started.
What kind of MP tells her local press that she is a member of the cabinet -- TWICE -- when it is clear as day that she isn't?
Two guesses: one whose arrogance has reached near Liberal-levels, or one who thinks her constituents are utter rubes.
Sorry friends, your partisanship is clouding your minds. Parliamentary secretaries frequently attend cabinet meetings are are sworn to the same level of secrecy as cabinet ministers. To switch to another example, what do you think a junior cabinet minister is in BC? Are they higher or lower than a federal parliamentary secretary?
Parliamentary secretaries like Hinton absolutely DO NOT attend cabinet meetings. She was never sworn into the privy council like ministers are.
The NDP asked a REAL cabinet minister about Hinton's outlandish claims in question period on Monday. The answer they received will not save her from further embarrassment.
Ms. Jean Crowder (Nanaimo-Cowichan, NDP): Mr. Speaker, for the second time in four weeks, the MP for Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo told her local papers that she is a member of cabinet.
This is somewhat confusing as parliamentary secretaries do not sit in cabinet. Ask any child studying Grade 8 social sciences.
Could the Prime Minister explain when his cabinet grew to include the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs?
Hon. Peter Van Loan (Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I am unfamiliar with the reports that the member speaks of, but I would happy to look into.
However, we are very proud of the cabinet and the group of parliamentary secretaries who are doing first rate work for all Canadians, including the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs.
Simple way to solve this. Ask Sen Len Marchan Sr if a Parl. Sec. is a backbencher. That was his first job before he became a full cabinet minister. The answer is NO. He also attended some, but not all cabinet meetings.
Wait a minute. The Privy Council is not the Cabinet! Even Jack Layton is a member of the Privy
Council and he definitely is not part of the Privy Council!
The student who made that comment should get an F from Prof Cook.
sorry...should read "an he is definitely not part of the Cabinet"
Read today's Kamloops Daily News. Hinton got caught and is back- tracking on her wild claims.
Go to the Parliament website at www.parl.gc.ca
click on A to Z index at the top where you do a quick search , click on "B" and then read the definition of Backbencher.
It says:
backbencher
(député de l'arrière-ban)
A Member who is not a Minister of the Crown, a Parliamentary Secretary, a House Leader, a Whip or an Opposition critic.
Distinguish: private Member
If Prof Cook said differently to the News then he should retract and offer Hinton an apology.
Do the right thing....apologize.
She slipped up...Cook slipped up...everyones's even. Give it a rest.
Airport?? Ugh,why not clean up tranquille road.Its such an eye sore and nowhere to park.
lets start a michael craford crybaby/whiner site so a bunch of you crybabies can join that whiner.
couldnt you get someone with half a brain and some spine..like harry lalli another ndp rising star....
keep putting people like that in and you will never get elected...
Hinton and Crawford are both whiners! They should both step aside and let us have some actual choices in electing an official for Kamloops. We need some new ideas!
I hate Canadian politics when it all boils down to 'better to go with the devil you know' when all three candidates look bad you can almost understand why people choose to not vote at all.
Do you have copy writer for so good articles? If so please give me contacts, because this really rocks! :)
I would appreciate more visual materials, to make your blog more attractive, but your writing style really compensates it. But there is always place for improvement
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