Peggy Armstrong Minden Times:
If you haven't heard that Lindsay is holding an Olympic Torch Celebration on Dec. 16, Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MP Barry Devolin wants you to know you're invited. The MP will be mailing a flyer to approximately 50,000 residents in the riding as soon as possible, a spokesman in his office confirmed to The LIndsay Post. The mailing comes not long after it was revealed that Devolin has spent $80,406 so far this year on flyers. He ranks eighth in Parliament for spending on mailings. Mailings are part of the House of Commons service, the spokesman said. There is no spending limit and the cost is picked up by taxpayers. Devolin's spokesman said they don't know the cost of mailing the Olympic torch invitations to residents. He said they were asked by the city's Olympic Torch Celebration committee to do it. "They didn't have the advertising budget," he explained.
In an online Lindsay Post poll this month, 95 per cent of respondents said Devolin should not have spent over $80,400 on mail out flyers. The invitation encourages people to join Devolin at the celebration in Lindsay. It includes a reproduction of one of the posters the city has been using to promote the event that says the celebration is scheduled to begin in Lindsay at 10 a.m. The torch relay will first go through Omemee at 10:30 a.m., which is not mentioned in the invitation or on the poster. Tuesday Devolin's office issued a press release stating that $15,000 in federal funds is being allocated to the Kawartha Lakes Olympic Torch Relay celebrations. "I am very pleased that the federal government is providing assistance to Kawartha Lakes to host the celebrations of the arrival of the Vancouver 2010 Olypic Torch," said Devolin in the press release. "This contribution will assist the Kawartha Lakes Torch Relay committee in making the arrival ... a grand celebration."
No comments:
Post a Comment