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robert silver

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and his infrastructure critic, MP Gerard Kennedy, leave a farmer's field in Burlington, Ont., after a press conference on Sept. 24, 2009.Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press

Michael Ignatieff and Gerard Kennedy released a report today that demonstrates the full extent to which Stephen Harper has turned the government's stimulus infrastructure spending into a political slush-fund. InfraScam (see, we can name a scandal without resorting to "gate") harks back to the worst kind of old-school pork barrel politics.

Conservative candidate Gordon Landon gets to play the role of whistle blower in this political tale, admitting his riding wasn't seeing money because it has a Liberal MP. I'm sure Landon was out of the loop, drunk at the time, once had a teacher who was a Liberal and therefore was never one of "us" and all other types of excuses that we will be fed in the days to come as the Conservatives try to distance themselves from his disclosure. The reality? He made the mistake of telling the truth as disclosed by the Liberals today. (Landon really does look and sound like a trustworthy fella if perhaps in need of a visit to Tom's Place for a new suit or two.)



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Susan Delancourt compares the Harper InfraScam to the sponsorship scandal. Is this Stephen Harper's sponsorship scandal? Does it fall short of being Stephen Harper's sponsorship scandal?

I have no doubt Tim will tell me why the Conservative Party is not engaged in their own sponsorship scandal. I hope he repeats that defence over and over again - heck, maybe we can get Stephen Harper to repeat that phrase too. Come on Tim, just say it "the Conservative Party is not engaged in its own sponsorship scandal. InfraScam is scandalous but it falls far short of sponsorship." Just once?

Here's an idea: maybe Harper should come out this afternoon and declare that he is as angry as Ignatieff and Kennedy that his party has been engaged in InfraScam and appoint a retired judge to investigate (after travelling the country declaring to all who will listen just how angry he is about InfraScam).

Aaron Wherry points out, over at the site trying to save our democracy, that this is the first - or at least best - example of the Liberals doing opposition politics right since they lost the 2006 election.

Unlike so many mock scandals of the last three years, this one has legs because it actually matters. Harper was supposed to be creating jobs for Canadians through infrastructure projects. Instead he was playing politics with taxpayer money.

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