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OTTAWA - The Harper government is plastering signs promoting its economic action plan on federal buildings that are receiving what Liberals say is routine maintenance.
Liberal MP Wayne Easter says a huge "propaganda" sign has been posted outside an RCMP building in Charlottetown, where "internal door hardware" - otherwise known as door knobs - is being installed.
"That seems to me like it should be regular maintenance," Easter told a news conference Monday.
"Do you think this is stimulus, putting a door knob in an RCMP building in this country? (Prime Minister) Stephen Harper calls this stimulus?" he said, holding up a door knob for emphasis.
"For every (time) he screws a light bulb in a building, he'll probably have a sign out in front of it and it's your money."
Liberals contend the door knobs are further proof that the Conservatives are using taxpayer-funded stimulus programs to promote their partisan interests - a theme they pounded away at using various examples throughout question period Monday.
But a spokesman for Harper defended spending stimulus funds on things like door knobs.
"There were years of deferred maintenance waiting to be done on federal buildings across Canada," said Andrew MacDougall.
"This maintenance work might not be glamorous enough for Mr. Easter and the Liberal party, but it is work that can be done right now which means that stimulus is being put into the Canadian economy now, when it's needed."
In the House of Commons, Transport and Infrastructure Minister John Baird was deployed to deflect the opposition barrage.
He tried to turn the tables by waving photocopied pictures of Liberal MPs, including Easter, purportedly signing government cheques - just as Liberals have accused dozens of Tories of doing in a bid to take partisan credit for government stimulus funding.
Liberals have filed complaints with Parliament's ethics commissioner against 55 Tory MPs who have presented personalized cheques or used the Conservative party logo while announcing government funding.
Baird's office later produced the photos. Like those circulated last week by the Prime Minister's Office, only one actually showed a picture of a Liberal MP presenting a mock cheque with his signature on it; none were emblazoned with a party logo.
The 1998 photo of Easter was actually taken from a newspaper and shows the MP handing over a cheque to a P.E.I. businessman. The cheque is too small to read but Easter said it was an actual government cheque signed by the Receiver General for Canada.
He accused Baird of "basically being dishonest to Canadians" by trying to equate a legitimate cheque presentation with the Tory practice.
Harper last week acknowledged that cheques with party logos are inappropriate. But he's defended the practice of MP's signing mock cheques, arguing that they deserve to take credit for winning funding for their ridings.
Still, several Tory MPs have admitted they're not comfortable with presenting personalized cheques. On Monday, junior cabinet minister Peter Kent called the practice "improper ... because it's not my money, it's the people of Canada's."
Liberals also pounced Monday on a report that the government spent $108,000 to stage a carefully scripted town-hall style meeting to unveil its second progress report on the economic action plan.
The June event in Cambridge, Ont. - dubbed a "Conservative party infomercial" by Liberals - replaced a simple tabling of the report in Parliament at little or no cost.
Liberal MP David McGuinty called the show a "sham without the wow."
"The partisan abuse which is going on around Canada is now completely out of control in that it represents the single largest propaganda effort in Canadian political history," he said.
However, Baird pointed out that half the cost of the event involved printing the report. And he noted it was the Liberal party that demanded quarterly progress reports in the first place.
As to travelling to Cambridge for the June report and to Saint John, N.B., for the September report, Baird said: "We do not apologize for being accountable to Canadian taxpayers. We do not apologize for having our prime minister speak to Canadians in every corner of the country."
Easter said federal officials have told him that more than $800,000 has been allocated for repair and restoration of federal buildings and facilities across Prince Edward Island - each of which features large signs advertising the action plan.
The projects include installation of a boiler room door in one building, an air-exchange system in another and elevator upgrades in a third.
They also include moving an iron fence at one site and modifying walkways, ramps and washroom doors to make another building more accessible.
The Tories have moved to dilute some of the more obvious signs of partisanship from the government's promotional campaign for the economic action plan.
The plan's website was initially salted with over 40 photos of the prime minister and included a link to a video of Harper playing the piano and crooning a Beatles tune at a recent National Arts Centre gala.
After media reports, many of the Harper photos were removed and the link to the video disappeared over the weekend.
Easter took that as "an admission of guilt of abusing taxpayers' money."
