Lying To The Public

Politicians lie. We actually have come to expect it. However, when our own government starts lying to Commons committees established to ensure reasonable oversight over what our government is doing, they are well beyond the realm of "expected deceit".

Yet, that is obviously what is being done with the Commons Defense Committee trip to Afghanistan. They are to be kept safely ensconced in the Kandahar base that the NATO troops are working out of, with nice fluffy, safe powerpoint presentations being the primary information to be provided. No, they won't be shown the ugly, dirty side of this guerilla war. In fact the worst they might experience is a bad case of powerpoint poisoning.

Our army's presence in Afghanistan is costing taxpayers millions, if not billions of dollars. Do we not have a right to know that those dollars are being spent in a reasonable and constructive fashion? Does the Harper government honestly believe that such a transparent attempt to sugar coat the reality will get the buyin of a public made all the more cynical of politicians motives by the very scandal that brought them to power in the first place? Do they really think that we believe a powerpoint presentation is an honest view of what is going on?

The first thought that went through my mind when I heard about this outlandish farce of a trip (costing some $150,000 of our money!), is that it is nothing more than a "feel good" propaganda campaign on the part of Harper's conservatives. A sad attempt to mislead Canadians (at our own expense), and attempt to foster some "goodwill" towards a government whose sole policy seems to be marching in lockstep with BushCo.

Last election, Conservative campaign signs read "Conservative - Demand Better" - and I'm demanding better than this government's short sighted, dishonest propaganda campaigns!