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Bill Kelly: Even in tough times, Canadian political parties feel entitled to an entitlement

Parliament Hill. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

The headline caught my attention: “Liberals, Conservatives say they’ll stop using COVID-19 wage-subsidy program.”

Which begs the question, why were we using taxpayers’ money to prop up the national political parties?

We need to digest this disturbing information.

READ MORE: Liberals, Conservatives say they’ll stop using COVID-19 wage-subsidy program

The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy program, or CEWS, was initiated to help businesses survive the devastating economic side effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and, given the damage the pandemic was causing, the CEWS program was the right thing to do.

But, let’s repeat that: it was to help businesses, not subsidize political parties.

I’d bet that most Canadians didn’t even know that the Liberals, Conservatives, NDP and Green Party all applied for, and received, CEWS payments to compensate their staff.

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WATCH BELOW: (May 25, 2020) Trudeau pressed on political parties’ access to emergency wage subsidy program

Click to play video: 'Coronavirus outbreak: Trudeau pressed on political parties’ access to emergency wage subsidy program'
Coronavirus outbreak: Trudeau pressed on political parties’ access to emergency wage subsidy program

It’s worth noting that all of those political parties continued to receive significant political donations during this time, so it’s not as if the cupboard was bare and there was no money to pay their staffers.

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But why spend that money when they can tap into taxpayers’ money to cover the bills?

It’s pretty obvious that none of those parties hold any moral high ground when it comes to political ethics, which creates a stench of hypocrisy to the finger-pointing that dominates this Parliament.

And, by the way, isn’t it a conflict of interest for political parties to dip into a pot of money that they voted to allocate? Just asking!

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Bill Kelly is the host of the Bill Kelly Show on Global News Radio 900 CHML.

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