Political patronage alive, well

Winnipeg Free Press:

Ottawa -- The ink was barely dry on the election results in 2006 when the newly minted Prime Minister Stephen Harper began to make good on an election promise to make federal appointments less politically motivated.

On April 20, 2006, Harper nominated the first appointments commissioner, who would head a new public agency to oversee the appointment of Canadians to hundreds of national boards, tribunals, review panels, judgeships and so on.

According to the website sixthestate.net, since Harper became prime minister, 1,038 people with Conservative connections have been appointed to various federal roles. In the same time period, 73 people with Liberal ties, four with NDP connections and one each with ties to the Bloc Québécois and the Green party have been given a nod.

One of the latest came June 21 when Marni Larkin, a Manitoba businesswoman with ties to the Conservative party a mile long, was named to the CBC board of directors.

The immediate accusation from critics was she was only named to the board because of who she knows and what political party membership she holds.

Larkin herself told one media outlet she hadn't applied for the position and didn't know who put her name forward as a suggestion. She didn't respond to a request for an interview from the Free Press.

Continue reading here.