• Taxpayers criticize Liberal MPs for attacks on the Auditor General
  
• Shooting the messenger smacks of desperation, oldest trick in the book
  
• CTF offers free course (AG101: Understanding the Basics) to Liberal MPs

OTTAWA: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) has reacted to verbal attacks this week by Ontario Liberal MP Dan McTeague and New Brunswick Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc directed at Auditor General Sheila Fraser after she released a scathing report on three questionable contracts awarded to GroupAction Marketing of Montreal.

MPs Should Apologize to "Servant of Parliament"
"The Auditor General is an independent servant of Parliament. To assert that she is either incompetent, biased or on a witch-hunt is to show the greatest contempt for Parliament," said CTF federal director Walter Robinson. "Worse still, these assertions are blatantly false and untrue. All of Ms. Fraser's reports have been thorough, objective and have respected the intent and spirit of the enabling legislation that gave birth to the office of the Auditor General. Mssrs. McTeague and LeBlanc owe her an immediate apology."

The Oldest Trick in the Book
"The first rule of political mudslinging is to shoot the messenger when you can't defeat the message, and this is what Mssrs. McTeague and Leblanc have clearly done," added Robinson. "But then again we have a government that pressured public servants to brake just about every rule in the book, so it is not that surprising that they have now reverted to the oldest and dirtiest trick in the political book. It only serves to highlight their desperation in this growing scandal."

CTF Offers Free Course to Backbench Liberal MPs
"This unwarranted attack on the AG reveals the troubling fact these two MPs - and perhaps more of their colleagues - simply don't have a clue about the mandate, structure or processes employed by the office of the Auditor General," stated Robinson.

"To help, the CTF is willing to offer a free course for Liberal MPs: AG101 - Understanding the Basics. It is an informative and interactive multimedia driven half-day session covering the complexities of value-for-money auditing, performance-based reporting, and the basic requirements of the Financial Administration Act," concluded Robinson. "Indeed, this type of lifelong learning by backbench MPs would fit right in with the government's innovation agenda."