PRESS RELEASE
March 18, 2011
First Nations pay the price for John Duncan’s lobbying scandal
Comox, B.C – Vancouver Island North Federal Liberal candidate Mike Holland today said Conservative MP and Indian and Northern Affairs minister John Duncan must explain his relationship with Bruce Carson, a former top advisor to Stephen Harper now facing allegations of influence peddling.
Media reports show Carson bragged about his relationships with Stephen Harper and John Duncan, and claimed advance knowledge of Duncan’s appointment as minister. He is alleged to have lobbied Duncan’s ministerial staff on behalf of an Ottawa-area company looking to sell water filtration technology to First Nations reserves. The matter has been referred to the RCMP for possible investigation. A report by APTN linked Carson to Michele McPherson, a 22-year old Ottawa-area escort who also goes by the escort name Leanna VIP. According to the report, McPherson was guaranteed 20 per cent of all gross revenues from sales of water filtration systems to reserves, a deal potentially worth millions.
“John Duncan needs to stop hiding behind his staff and explain his relationship with Bruce Carson, and his level of access to senior government officials and staff in Duncan’s own department,” says Holland.
What Duncan also needs to answer for is over five years of inaction by the Harper Conservatives in ensuring our First Nations communities have what should be a basic necessity for any community in Canada: access to safe, clean, reliable drinking water.
“Access to clean drinking water is a basic human right, yet for far too many First Nations communities in Canada clean drinking water is a luxury. It’s a national shame. Five years ago the Conservatives promised to make First Nations drinking water a priority, and five years later their promises remain unfulfilled,” says Holland. “Duncan needs to get his priorities straight and remember that his constituents aren’t lobbyists and Harper’s Ottawa cronies, but the First Nations communities of Canada and the people of Vancouver Island North.”
Time and time again, Duncan has shown where his priorities lay, and it’s not with Vancouver Island North. On the Point Race replacement, he sided with Harper’s bureaucrats. On halibut allocation, he sided with Harper’s Department of Fisheries. Time and time again, Duncan has sided with the Harper’s Ottawa government over the people of the North Island.
“Ottawa John has proved himself to be just another Harper trained seal, unable or unwilling to put the people of Vancouver Island North first,” says Holland. “Our communities face real problems and we need an MP that will fight for us in Ottawa, not toe the Harper party line.”
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