Is This Liberal Mailout A Slap In The Face To Those Who Serve?

[Jarnhamar]

I get home for lunch break and there is mail for me. I open it up and see what looks like a chest rig with a Canadian leaf on it.
OH NO YOU DONT'! My wife screams and assaults me to try and get the piece of paper back. She thinks it's some kind of army gear pamphlet and probably remembers the last $600 I put into a chest rig.

Turns out it's some kinda backpackers backpack. Then I read the block writing beside it.

WE USED TO WEAR IT ABROAD WITH PRIDE.

What?
I open it up and it's Mr Alan Tonks MP telling me how Harper and the Conservatives just don't care bla bla bla.

First of all, there are quite a few of us who DO wear our flag with pride while abroad, prick.
Second of all, isn't the environment something you should worry about? You're sending out all that paper just so people can check in the box
Who can "restore" Canada, Michael Ignatieff or Stephen Harper.
(They actually mention 'action on the environment)

I'm not lying, there are actually two boxes you can check and mail back.  It's like an elementry note.
Do you like me? Circle yes or no.

"Liberals believe that Canada needs a government that understands the world, and will make us proud again".
I don't know about anyone else but I'm sure as hell proud of being Canadian.

 

[gcclarke]

Now now, he didn't send that out "just so people can check in the box." He doesn't actually care if people check the box or not. I really doubt that he's even going to bother tracking percentages of those that come back to him with Harper vice Ignatieff checked.

The reason he sent it out was to foster the impression in people's minds that Canada is on the wrong track, ie the Conservative Party is messing things up, and that the Liberal Party under the leadership of Mr. Ignatieff would be capable of fixing the "problems".

A reasonable strategy during the leadup to what may very well turn out to be another election, although I personally rather doubt that it'll work.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

What are the chances of scanning a copy so we can all circle Harper and send it back?

Full size, both sides, scan, change to a JPEG and post it here. I'll make and send a dozen

Just checked his site to see if there was one there. Nope. But he does look like he belongs in a Monty Python sketch.

 

[George Wallace]

Hey!  It is keeping the Recycling business in profits.  >

 

[gcclarke]

Now that I think about it, this particular strategy also does a pretyt good job of completely discounting any of the other opposition parties as viable alternatives. Sneaky! Because, let's face it, it's not the Conservatives that are keeping the Liberals from power, it's the NDP.

 

[gaspasser]

Nope. But he does look like he belongs in a Monty Python sketch.

Recce...you owe me a new monitor!!! 

He could be from the Ministry of Funny Walks and Silly Faces!!!        :rofl:

It does seem that the Libs are trying another backstab at the PCs.  :2c: I think if they push a federal election in the fall during the time of troubled economics, they'll only be digging their hole deeper.
:2c:

 

[mariomike]

I worked for Alan Tonks for ten years. He was our last Metro Chairman and gave me my gold watch.

 

[Jarnhamar]

I still have it. I'll track down a scanner and upload it. Normally I don't care about politics but he really pissed me off. I wonder how much traveling abroad he's done.

 

[jp86]

FWIW, I have recently received (at least three times) Conservative Party mailouts with a Harper/Ignatieff/Layton 'ballot' to be mailed in.

 

[George Wallace]

FWIW, all political parties and Members of Parliament are doing it.

 

[mariomike]

I wonder how much traveling abroad he's done.

Alan Tonks worked for a Canadian aid agency in Jamaica.
I don't know how much pleasure travel he and his family have done outside of Canada.

 

[Jarnhamar]

FWIW, I have recently received (at least three times) Conservative Party mailouts with a Harper/Ignatieff/Layton 'ballot' to be mailed in.

And what did they say? Did they suggest Canadians are no longer proud to be Canadian too?

 

[uptheglens]

I just got the same sort of bumpf from my local Liberal candidate in my mailbox today. If it's a postage-paid pamphlet, try doing what I'm going to do (provided it doesn't break post office rules.... I have yet to find out): Tape the damned thing to a nice 8" or 12" concrete block, so that way the damn party has to pay the outstanding balance for an overweight package..... Doing this is entirely legal in the UK (it's a favoured way of dealing with junk mail), so I'm pinning my hopes on it being legal here. BTW, this is happening to ALL the parties who send post-paid junk mail my way.

 

[Franko]

Got the same POS propaganda in the mail yesterday from the "Honourable" Hedy Fry.

Who is this MP and where is their riding? Sure as hell not around here in NB.

This crap really pissed me off...along with the fact that the majority of Canadians (AFAIK) don't want another election at all. Hasn't it only been a year if that?

In one way I hope if finally gives the PCs a firm majority so we can get on with our lives.

Regards

 

[Old Sweat]

MPs get a list of forces electors in their riding from DND via Election Canada and are thus able to include them on mailings. When you first joined, you completed something called a statement of ordinary residence, which establishes your federal riding for elections purposes. (This normally is your address prior to onlistment.) If an election is called, you probably will become all too familiar with the process of allowing the troops the opportunity to vote, while ensuring the secrecy of their ballot.

It is also possible Ms Fry is in error.

Edit. DPK, I am slow, but almost swift enough to figure out that you know all the above. How Ms Fry, a Vancouver Liberal MP, got the address of a good Moncton lad escapes me.

2nd Edit. The lovely and talented Ms Fry appears to be comunicating with the masses in order to show that real Canadians are afraid/ashamed to wear the Canadian flag outside the country. See: http://www.canadaeast.com/news/article/788923

 

[aesop081]

2nd Edit. The lovely and talented Ms Fry appears to be comunicating with the masses in order to show that real Canadians are afraid/ashamed to wear the Canadian flag outside the country. See: http://www.canadaeast.com/news/article/788923

She should go back to worrying about the burning crosses on the lawns of Prince George.

 

[jeffb]

I used to work in politics... The return cards are used to identify supporters. If you check "Stephen Harper" and send it back to your Conservative MP, they'll track that. In fact, you'll probably go on a list called the "ID'd supporters list" or something like that. Come election time, they go to that list and contact you to encourage you to vote. It's part of an election campaign called ID/GOTV or Identifying and Getting out the Vote. Getting out the vote can, and is, the difference between winning and loosing in key ridings.

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Well, looks like the media has the story now..............


http://www.ottawasun.com/news/canada/2009/09/11/10848781-sun.html

Grits under fire for offending Canadian soldiers
By KATHLEEN HARRIS, National Bureau Chief, Sun Media

Last Updated: 11th September 2009, 8:18pm

OTTAWA — The Liberal party is under fire for offending Canadian soldiers with a flyer depicting a tattered Maple Leaf on a rucksack with the words “We used to wear it abroad with pride.”
The partisan pamphlets — known as “10-percenters” — were greeted with outrage as they arrived in mailboxes in the Maritimes this week, including the New Brunswick riding where CFB Gagetown has sent members to fight and die in Afghanistan wearing the Canadian flag.

“It’s very upsetting,” said Tracy Marcotullio, whose husband is now on his third tour in Kandahar. “We just lost two more guys, and this is a real slap in the face to those seriously risking their lives every day.”
The batch of mail-outs went out under the name of Liberal MP Hedy Fry. Marcotullio demanded an immediate apology and said any flyers that have not yet gone out should be “burned.”

Jody Carr, Progressive Conservative MLA for Oromocto, which is home to CFB Gagetown, said his office has been bombarded with angry calls and e-mails. He called the flyer “offensive” and “disgusting.”
“Words can’t really describe how we feel about it,” he said. “Canadians all over the world are proud to wear the flag because of how well-respected Canada is — especially the military, which is providing the ultimate service, wearing our flag preserving and protecting what we stand for.”

Oromocto Conservative MP Keith Ashfield called it “abominable.”
“I’m very disappointed that anyone would try to degrade the importance of our flag and the symbol of our nation and our sovereignty,” he said. “This has no place, quite frankly, in our political system. That Liberals are trying to erode pride that Canadians have in the country is really objectionable.”

But Liberals insist the flyer is being taken out of context and that it was not meant as a slight against the military.
“We are extremely proud of the work of our fine men and women in the Canadian Forces,” said spokesman Michael O’Shaunessy. “Instead, it represents what we are hearing from everyday Canadians from coast to coast to coast: that under Stephen Harper, Canada is becoming a diminished light and force in the world.”

Fry agreed the pamphlet is being misconstrued, and said the intention was to show that Canada’s once-enviable position as a champion for human rights and the environment has diminished under Harper’s rule.
But Lindsay Taylor-Kroeker, whose husband has served in Afghanistan, sees it as a suggestion Canadians should hang their heads in shame — and that is “in poor taste” and “anti-Canadian.”

“It’s Maple Leaf Forever — not Maple Leaf when you’re Conservative or Liberal or NDP,” she said. “The state of political affairs does not dictate the care you have for your nation.”

kathleen.harris@sunmedia.ca

 

[Edward Campbell]

Here, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from the CTV News website, is another story, this time including an image of the flyer:

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090913/fry_soldiers_090913/20090913?hub=TopStories

Liberal flyer offends military, MacKay says

Sun. Sep. 13 2009

CTV.ca News Staff

The Liberal Party is drawing criticism over flyers mailed in New Brunswick that some in the military have deemed "offensive."

The flyer, sent from Vancouver Centre MP Hedy Fry, depicts a tattered Canadian flag and what could be taken to be a soldier's ruck sack, alongside the statement: "We used to wear it with pride."

Tracy Marcotullio of Oromocto, N.B. says that she finds the message troubling. Her husband, Dave, is on his third tour of duty in Afghanistan.

"I don't know what their intention was, I don't know what they were trying to portray with that image and those words . . . but what it says to me and a lot of other people is that our soldiers should not be proud to wear the Canadian flag and in turn their uniform," she told CTV Atlantic.

Marcotullio has demanded an apology.

"There needs to be an explanation... there needs to be an apology to our soldiers," she said.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay also weighed in on the issue over the weekend.

"The families, in particular, of soldiers who are deployed, hearing that kind of comment, that's a stick in the eye to soldiers, service men and women and their families," he said in Antigonish, N.S.

Fry has spoken out on the controversy and said she apologizes if anyone misinterpreted her message to feel it was derogatory to the military.

She says the military are the ones who "continue to do us proud while the Harper government has let us down."

The flyer was mailed out in the Oromocto area as so-called "10-per-centers," which are pamphlets sent by a sitting MP but paid for by the government.

She added that the pamphlet did not come from her office, but was approved by the Liberal party, and legally had to be sent with an MP's name, and it just happened to be her named used.

Fry told CTV News she was surprised by the reaction to the pamphlet.

"I have no idea what it has to do with the military, nothing it in looks like the military" she said. "It's a backpack kids use when they go touring in Europe."

"There used to be this truth that people from other countries used to buy a Canadian flag and sew it onto their backpack because that flag represented so many things that people in other parts of the world respected."

Fry said that under the Harper government, people from other countries have lost respect for Canada's principles.

The Tories will play this for all it’s worth for as long as they can.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Got the same POS propaganda in the mail yesterday from the "Honourable" Hedy Fry.  Who is this MP and where is their riding? Sure as hell not around here in NB.

Kinda closer to the OTHER coast, in fact. 

How Ms Fry, a Vancouver Liberal MP, got the address of a good Moncton lad escapes me.

I don't think this is an error, but a decision made by at least the Conservative and Liberal party machines.
1)  Kenora Conservative MP's mailings have been sent to NDP Timmins-James Bay riding homes.,
2)  I've already chucked my mailing here from some Liberal MP whose name I didn't even recognize as an Ontario MP, and I've lived in the same city all my life.  This is also the first election of any kind I've seen where MPs' printed materials seem to be bounding all over the country.

This crap really pissed me off...along with the fact that the majority of Canadians (AFAIK) don't want another election at all. Hasn't it only been a year if that?

Eleven months as of Monday 14 Sept.