Manning’s electronic mail exhibits rising use of public cash for partisan acquire

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This political blooper can be slapstick humorous if it wasn’t so costly.

The very first thing Preston Manning did along with his report on COVID-era response was flip it right into a marketing campaign weapon.

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On the day his huge report went public, he shopped it round to Alberta Conservative MPs as a doable supply of ammunition in opposition to the NDP and Liberals.

The blunderous exception among the many electronic mail recipients was George Chahal, a Calgary Liberal MP, who gleefully handed the message on to the media.

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Manning was paid $253,000 from the general public purse for chairing the Public Well being Emergencies Governance Overview Panel.

Plus bills.

The 5 different panellists, together with former Justice Jack Main and tutorial Jack Mintz, had been modestly paid by comparability, gleaning bills and customary committee remuneration. (That is vaguely outlined however runs as much as a number of hundred {dollars} per day of labor.)

The complete heft of the UCP authorities swung behind the examine. Departments had been ordered to supply data and assist. Route and hyperlinks to the premier’s workplace got here from the highest of the civil service.

This was a giant operation with a lush paycheque for the highest man and loads of surrounding bills.

The panel was supposed to supply a high-level view of how the federal government would react to the subsequent pandemic. A conservative tilt was anticipated, after all.

Manning created and led the Reform social gathering and was Canada’s Official Opposition chief.

The panel outcomes had been crazy in some methods, particularly the decision for extra opinions on science.

We all know that Premier Danielle Smith has promoted various cures previously. Manning gave her a transparent area to formally respect nearly any opinion.

Manning additionally concluded, no shock right here, that the federal government and cupboard ought to have full management over any well being measures imposed throughout a pandemic.

The report is a boat-anchor model of what Smith was saying lengthy earlier than she launched Manning’s panel.

Nonetheless, individuals had a proper to know what was more likely to outcome — a slew of authorized modifications to boost freedom and reject “authoritarian” tendencies.

That’s what I used to be naively considering as I learn the report on Nov. 15; at about the identical time, in all probability, that Manning was sending his electronic mail to the MPs.

When it arrived, courtesy of Chahal, I might hardly imagine my eyes.

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Manning’s first transfer is to weaponize his report as a possible bunker-buster for the subsequent federal election.

“If the response of the Liberal/NDP coalition to the 2020-2023 COVID disaster ought to change into an election subject in 2024, there could also be some materials on this report that may very well be utilized by the CPC,” he wrote.

Candidates might use it to say what ought to have been completed, and what may very well be completed within the subsequent disaster.

“A few of its content material may be helpful in attacking the file of the Liberal/NDP coalition on this space,” wrote Manning.

He goes on to say, “there can be actual benefit in creating a more in-depth sensible relationship in Alberta between the UCP and the CPC.

“They want your assist for a few of their initiatives — comparable to selling and implementing the suggestions of this report — and you might use their lively assist to your re-election in 2024.”

He suggests a joint activity drive to implement these concepts.

They may all sit across the marketing campaign campfire studying his glorious platform doc, bought along with your cash.

It’s all fairly shameless, however not totally totally different from the $7.5 million being spent to advertise an Alberta pension plan, on the similar time one other $1.8 million is lavished on a panel that’s purported to be learning whether or not individuals need it.

Smith had no downside in any respect with Manning’s partisan use of his report (our report). He was free to do his personal communications, she stated.

There was once no less than some reluctance to make use of public cash for such nakedly political functions.

These days seem like gone.

Don Braid’s column seems often within the Herald

X: @DonBraid

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