If only Paul Dewar were as concerned about the country's finances and proof of tax leakage

The NDP aren’t my idea of a new democratic party.......more like the newly duped party. They’re happy to rely on Flaherty’s word when it comes to his unproven allegations that income trusts cause tax leakage.

What’s Flaherty's word worth? What are the NDP worth?

Below we read about Paul Dewar becoming the champion of all things “cloaked in secrecy”. His party didn’t seem the least bit interested in 18 pages of blacked out documents as "proof" of alleged tax leakage or why Flaherty demanded they be returned. His party fought tooth and nail to prevent the public hearings on income trusts from occurring.

I guess the NDP are fans of "raiding seniors' nest eggs" to the tune of $35 billion without a shred of proof. Some new democracy they have in mind for Canadians. But they are great defenders of the National Portrait Gallery

I hope some day that the National Portrait Gallery will have the likeness of the NDP's then Finance Critic, Judy Wasylycia-Lies, spending the entire public hearings typing away on her Blackberry, oblivious to all around her. Just like her party. How very emblematic that would be.

Portrait of a scandal in the making
OTTAWA SUN

Fri, July 4, 2008

Portrait of a scandal in the making
By LAURA CZEKAJ, SUN MEDIA


A controversial decision about the future site of the national portrait gallery is in the hands of a committee whose membership is secret.

Ottawa-Centre NDP MP Paul Dewar says it's just another secret in a process that has been "cloaked in secrecy" from the start. He has filed an Access to Information request demanding to know who's on the committee and any documents they might have generated to date.

"We need to know who is on the committee and what are their qualifications," he says.

Library and Archives Canada is not releasing the names of committee members, claiming the integrity of the process must be respected and member identities won't be made public until they have reached a decision.

"This whole process is more or less confidential for the time being so we will just have to wait until the decision is made," says spokeswoman Pauline Portelance.

The committee will be meeting throughout the summer and is expected to render its decision in the fall, when members' identities will be released.

APPEARANCES ONLY

Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton are all in the running for the gallery. Critics question whether forming the committee was just for appearances and that the government's intent all along has been to locate the gallery in Alberta.

In late 2006, there were rumours that the federal government planned to move the galllery to the new EnCana building in downtown Calgary, an energy corporation with close ties to the Tories.

"We are engaged in an active effort to find out who their members are," says Shawn Menard, a member of the grassroots National Friends of the Portrait Gallery.

He says it's important for the public to be aware of who is making such a significant decision on their behalf.

What must also be determined, Dewar says, is how much weight the committee's findings will have on the final decision of the location for the gallery and whether community support will be a factor in the decision.