Taxpayers Federation accuses Alberta government of pork-barrel politics.

This is from the CBC. I guess pork-barrel politics is supposed to be a bad thing as the Taxpayer's Federation "accuses" the Alberta government of it. Actually it is one of the few times when we can be guaranteed that the government will use some of our tax money for popular goodies. If it is such a bad thing I guess Stephen Harper won't be pork-barelling. He was head of the Taxpayer Federation before morphing into our prime minister.




Taxpayers federation accuses Alberta government of pork-barrel politics
CTF says government has promised $1.3B in last 11 days
Last Updated: Friday, February 1, 2008 4:00 PM MT
CBC News
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is criticizing the Alberta government for its pre-election spending after releasing figures Friday showing Ed Stelmach's Tories have announced spending of nearly $1.3 billion over the past 11 days.
"Politicians of all stripes tend to pork-barrel right before an election," said Scott Hennig, the group's Alberta director. "But this dollar amount is unprecedented in Alberta."
In the last week and a half, the provincial government has promised new schools, new health facilities and freeway interchanges as it gears up for what is widely expected to be an election call Monday or Tuesday.
Hennig said in the weeks leading up to the 2001 and 2004 provincial elections, spending announcements ranged from $89 million to $136 million.
"It has nothing to do with what's being announced, it's the manner in which this is being announced," said Hennig. "If these things were of such great concern, the government could have either announced them over the last year or could have waited until a budget came out."
The government should adopt fixed dates for elections as a way to discourage politicians from making big announcements in the weeks leading up to an election call, Hennig said.