Tories appoint former candidate to CRTC

Tories appoint former candidate to CRTC

by: Alexander Panetta

The Conservative government has appointed a former party candidate to the CRTC – the country's broadcast regulator – raising fresh cries of patronage and hypocrisy.

Marc Patrone was a declared candidate for the Conservatives in Nova Scotia when the federal Liberal government appeared set to fall in May 2005.

But he returned to his job as a legislative journalist in the province before the government finally collapsed at the end of the year.

Heritage Minister Josee Verner announced his appointment as a full-time member of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission on Tuesday in a news release.

She did not mention Patrone's ties to the Conservative party.

Verner said Patrone's experience "will greatly benefit the CRTC."

His experience listed in the press release includes working as a journalist with CTV, Global TV, and serving as a writer-broadcaster with The Canadian Press. He was a summer fill-in at the news agency.

He's also a country singer.

The Liberals immediately slammed the appointment.

"Is Patrone Italian for patronage?" said Michael Savage, who was slated to run against Patrone in 2005.

"I seem to recall that during his days in Nova Scotia he was always very critical of things that looked like patronage, or government favours, or anything like that.

"This at first blush seems to me to be inconsistent with that."

Savage quipped that the job seemed a generous political prize for a candidate who never made it to election day.

"I suspect if he'd stayed in the race till the end he'd probably be in the Senate by now."

It's the latest in a series of alleged patronage appointments by the Conservatives, who have long blasted the Liberals for rewarding friends – and who promised to change things.

The Tories came under fire in Manitoba this week for naming the wife of a prominent party strategist to sit on the board that hears employment insurance claims at a salary of $400 per hearing.

Several other party members and former candidates have been appointed to government posts since the Conservatives came to power.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised before the last election to combat patronage by creating a new appointments commission that would screen federal job candidates.

He abandoned the promise when opposition parties rejected his first choice to lead the commission – Calgary oil-industry executive and Conservative party fundraiser Gwyn Morgan.

View the original here: http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/305015