Canadian Taxpayers Federation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation or CTF, is a Canadian non-governmental organization that offers critiques and monitors the spending by the Government of Canada and the various governments of the provinces.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is a federally incorporated, non-profit and non-partisan, advocacy organization dedicated to lower taxes, less waste and accountable government. The CTF was founded in Saskatchewan in 1990 when the Association of Saskatchewan Taxpayers and the Resolution One Association of Alberta joined forces to create a national taxpayers' organization.
The CTF maintains a federal office in Ottawa and offices in the five provincial capitals of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. In addition, the CTF has a Centre for Aboriginal Policy Change in Calgary dedicated to monitor, research and provide alternatives to current aboriginal policy and court decisions. Provincial offices and the Centre conduct research and advocacy activities specific to their provinces or issues in addition to acting as regional organizers of Canada-wide initiatives.
CTF offices field hundreds of media interviews each month, hold press conferences and issue regular news releases, commentaries and publications to advocate the common interest of taxpayers. The CTF’s flagship publication, The Taxpayer magazine, is published six times a year. An issues and action update called TaxAction is produced each month. CTF offices also send out weekly Let’s Talk Taxes commentaries to more than 800 media outlets and personalities nationally.
CTF representatives speak at functions, make presentations to government, meet with politicians, and organize petition drives, events and campaigns to mobilize citizens to effect public policy change.
All CTF staff and board directors are prohibited from holding a membership in any political party. The CTF is independent of any institutional affiliations. Contributions to the CTF are not tax deductible.
Contents |
[edit] Links to conservative parties
While the group is officially non-partisan, it has extensive links to conservative parties in Canada. Conservative politicians with roots in the Taxpayers Federation include Jason Kenney, who had previously been the federation's CEO. Former Alberta director John Carpay was a Reform candidate in the riding of Burnaby-Kingsway in the 1993 federal election [1]. Walter Robinson, CTF federal director from 1998 to 2004, left the position to run as a Conservative in the 2004 election in Ottawa-Orléans.
As of 2006, all of the federation's provincial directors had roots in conservative parties. Ontario director Tasha Kheiriddin was once president of the Progressive Conservative Youth Federation and later a ministerial aide in the government of Ontario Progressive Conservative premier Mike Harris. Saskatchewan director David MacLean was a staffer for Ralph Klein's Progressive Conservative government in Alberta. Adrienne Batra of the Manitoba office worked as a staff person for the right-wing Saskatchewan Party in Saskatchewan, while Alberta director Scott Hennig worked in the Alberta Progressive Conservative Government Members’ Research Branch. Sara MacIntyre, the federation's BC director, worked as a researcher in the Conservative leader's office in Ottawa.
[edit] Teddy Awards controversy
On March 1st 2006 the CTF released details of their 8th annual "Teddy Waste Awards", which are intended to draw attention to wasteful government spending. The awards - which are timed just after and meant to parody the Academy Awards - usually receive significant media attention in Canada.
The winner in the Provincial category was the Manitoba government, which had been nominated as "Trans-Manitoba" for "Special Achievement in Cosmetic Makeover and Budget Misallocation". The Award accused the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority of spending money on unnecessary cosmetic surgery ($981,000 for 218 tummy tucks and fat-reducing surgeries, and $10,900 for 31 vials of Botox).
The Teddy Award story was widely covered in the Canadian media on March 1, 2006. The following day the Winnipeg Free Press printed a follow-up story ("Foolish funding? Not a bit, MDs say") with information from Manitoba doctors indicating that the expenditures were for needed medical treatments. The tummy tucks were for patients with chronic stomach infection and the botox was used to treat spastic muscle disorders such as multiple sclerosis. Other conditions that require the treatments cited by the CTF as wasteful include cerebral palsy, cancer, and burns. Adrienne Batra, the Manitoba director of the CTF, was quoted in the Free Press follow-up story as saying "These types of services do not fall within public expectations".
On March 9, 2006 the Canadian Taxpayers Federation released a withdrawal of the Teddie Waste Award to the government of Manitoba.[1] The withdrawal cited a December 4, 2005 story in the Winnipeg Sun for implying that the botox and tummy tucks were for cosmetic purposes. No mention was made of any attempt at independent verification by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
Original stories from the Winnipeg Free Press are not available online.
[edit] References
- ^ Troy Lanigan. "RE: Notice of Withdrawal for Teddy Awarded March 1, 2006", March 9, 2006.
