While Phil was busy sending "sexy" flags out...

... the isotope crisis reached Brantford.

According to a report from the past week, Dr. Christopher O'Brien, president of the Ontario Association of Nuclear Medicine, says 75 people at his hospital in Brantford are waiting for scans that require isotopes. "These patients will eventually get their tests done; we just don't know when. It's serious in the sense that I don't know if I'm missing cancer on patients who are waiting to get the tests," said O'Brien. Some Ontario hospitals have coped with the shortage by cancelling non-urgent tests. But now the shortage is so acute that some are faced with postponing procedures. O'Brien describes the situation at his hospital as precarious. Phil McColeman MP for Brant who has yet to bring any local issues to Ottawa like he promised; did not mention this or land claims during this legislative session, he only made false claims this year. Luckily one Member of Parliament from British Columbia did raise this issue, Dr. Keith Martin, whose Constituency Office is 4300 km/ 41 hour drive away from the Brantford General Hospital! On Thursday, June 11 he rose in the House of Commons to ask:

Hon. Keith Martin (Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, Lib.):

Mr. Speaker, the minister talks about thallium as an option. We have learned today that the supply of thallium is running out. At Brantford General Hospital, 75 patients right now are waiting for the tests that they need.

I want to ask the minister a simple question. What is her plan and when is she going to release the plan to enable Canadians to have access to isotopes and the thallium that they need for the tests that they require to save their lives?

Where was Phil on this? If a Member of Parliament from across the country is a better advocate of local issues than our current Member of Parliament for Brant, one has to ask what the hell is Phil doing in Ottawa??? The kind of questions Phil asked this year are enough for an end-of-session post...

Here's a good comparison of a productive Member of Parliament and...Phil:

Minister Finley makes sure the trained seal on her left is clapping in unison...

Phil puts the FLAG in flagrant disrespect!

MP's flag decal violates official national protocol

I am writing with regards to the flagrant disrespect of the Canadian flag that is being shown by our elected federal representative, Mr. McColeman. Not only is this no more than a feeble attempt at commercializing our flag and Canada Day, it certainly does violate normally accepted protocol for the use of the national flag of Canada. According to Canadian Heritage Dignity of the Flag, "nothing should be pinned to or sewn on the National Flag of Canada" and "The National Flag of Canada should not be signed or marked in any way." Mr. McColeman may find ways to interpret the printing of his website along the border of the flag as being acceptable, but I, along with many other individuals, find it reprehensible.

Furthermore, I believe that Mr. McColeman and the Conservative Party may have violated the intended privacy of the National Register of Electors, since: "Under the law, the voters list is shared with registered political parties and members of the House of Commons each year, as well as with candidates during an electoral event. The information shared consists only of electors' names and addresses. By law, parties and members of the House of Commons may use this information for communicating with electors, such as in soliciting contributions and recruiting members. Improper use of the information contained in a voters list is an offence." Although Mr. McColeman may be "communicating with electors" I believe that the manner in which he has used this list is inappropriate. And, obviously, he did not bother to "scrub" the list to eliminate duplicate individuals in a household, so he has therefore wasted more of his advertising budget (which still comes from the taxpayers' coffers I am sure).

As for me, we proudly fly a Canadian flag on our front porch. We don't need some paper commercial image which breaks flag protocol and proper ethical use of private citizens' information. Mr. McColeman and his cronies don't need to count me in their sham poll; we recognize Canada and our Flag proudly every day of the year.

Gary Ferris Brantford

and

Real surprise for our MP will come in next election

I couldn't agree more with Lloyd St. Amand about the advertising package we, as constituents, received from Mr. McColeman.

As soon as I saw that our MP had the audacity to put his email address on the bottom of a flag, the entire package went to the trash. As did the one mailed to my deceased mother.
Mr. McColeman is surprised at people's reaction to this. Not half as surprised as he will be during the next election when we remember how he chose to waste taxpayers' money.

A suggestion, Mr. McColeman, would be to use some of your monies to update your files.

Elizabeth V. Smith Brantford

Phil decorates the Canadian flag...

Brant MP makes 'no apologies' for flag decals
When a two-year old decides to write on the walls with a marker or crayons, it is completely innocent and cute even. When a Member of Parliament decides to use taxpayers' money and the Canadian flag as advertising space, it is completely ridiculous and disrespectful: Lawyer Lloyd St. Amand called The Expositor on Monday to express concern over the recent mailout of 76,000 Canadian flag decals by Phil McColeman; the flags, paid for out of McColeman's member's advertising budget, carry in red letters on the bottom McColeman's web address - www.philmccolemanmp.ca. Phil responded "That's what the budget's intended for. I'm actually quite flabbergasted that people are criticizing this."
Phil you're not flabbergasted, you're an idiot! Heritage Canada has a page on their website on "flag etiquette" for morons like Phil. He should read it as soon as possible, after reimbursing taxpayers, apologizing to his constituents and a time-out like the two-year old who writes on the wall. After mailing out coupons to his constituents, I would have thought Phil would have learned by now...
On another note I was reading about incremental conservatism by Professor Tom Flanagan, a former Conservative campaign manager. I think I know what incremental conservatism is...

This must be what Phil's promised funding is being used for...

This is what MP for Brant, Phil McColeman and Aboriginal Affairs Ministers Chuck Strahl do with the money that was reannounced for the Water Treatment Plant... while residents of Oshweken have to boil their water, their Member of Parliament is hard at work.

Judging by all the infrastructure projects that have been announced and not given a penny, this must be what the Conservaive government finds as a stimulus...

Phil McColeman, most spoonfed MP in the history of Western Democracy?

Since it has been revealed that Phil McColeman has used Conservative talking points in letters to the editors under other peoples' names and also to deal with his concerned constituents, this should come as no surprise: for Constituency week Consevative MPs have been sent home with scripted talking points for their constituents and local media. You can obtain a copy, HERE, without having to get elected as a Conservative MP like Phil.

This is beyond pathetic, Phil has not come up with one original thought since being elected. He has even snapped his fingers and requested a project from city hall, Monday's issue carried the story of Phil McColeman inviting city council to put together a high-profile project as soon as possible that could be ready to go just as soon as funding is approved from a federal program.

The fact that Phil has to be managed like a child would be embarassing if Mr. McColeman had any shame left. All the letters to the editor from December and January concerned with Mr. McColeman's lack of spine and original thought process was merited and has been validated.

The "Dummies Guide to Politics for Dumb Conservative MPs" covers various topics like the global econmic downturn, the Conservatives' economic action plan, the gun registry, crime reform, swine flu and the success of the Liberal Party of Canada under the leadership of Michael Ignatieff.

In anticipation of Phil's predictable nature and his upcoming badmouthing of Mr. Ignatieff, I suspect that Phil has never read a book by any of Foreign Policy Magazine's top 100 Intellectuals, a group that includes Mr. Ignatieff . I think Phil should challenge himself and come up with one original criticism, or he can solicit advice from high school kids, http://www.philmccolemanmp.ca/EN/8500/87709 , maybe the young adults will give Mr. Ignatieff a more original insult than "Mr. Smartypants"...

I could not count Phil among the 300 least micromanaged MPs in Ottawa.

If you're happy to be sitting in the front row CLAP YOUR HANDS!

On Wednesday, May 6th our Member of Parliament from Brant had the chance to keep one of the front seats in the House of Commons warm, he had a chance to sit next to his main man, Chucky S!
From what I could see, Chuck could not get a word in due to the loud, excessive clapping when anyone said a word on Phil's part...
I truly doubt that they discussed land claims or the standstill in Caledonia.
Phil showed off quite a number of different claps, such as: the Sonic Boom Clap, the rapid clap and interpretive dancing with his hands (for a minute I thought he was trying to use sign language like the lady in the upper right corner). Is this REALLY why we sent a member of the government side to Ottawa from Brant? Enjoy, the picture gallery goes really good with the music from the Youtube video.
If we average out his $155 000 salary by the claps he has probably done this parliamentary session, Mr. McColeman is working for less than the Ontario minimum wage during the 45 minutes that is Question Period...

Phil McColeman, Ghostwriter

When Phil McColeman came under fire for taking credit for a Liberal funding promise, he could have clarified the issue. He could have written a letter to the editor, or clarified on his misleading website that it was not his Conservatives who initially made the promise.

But no, Phil is clearly above partisan squabbles (when he wants to be, of course). Instead, he sends out his supporters with talking points, posing as normal citizens. Check out this recent letter to the editor:

MP's response bore resemblance to letter

Recently, I wrote a letter exposing that MP Phil McColeman took credit for a Liberal promise to build a new water treatment plant in Oshweken. Then Karen George wrote a response defending the Conservatives, listing several stats to help her case, which The Expositor published as well.

McColeman's office also e-mailed me a response on the issue, and this e-mail was nearly identical to Ms. George's letter. Thus, it is evident that the Conservatives are using so-called "citizen" letters to the editor to spread talking points put out by the Conservative Research Bureau.

If Phil McColeman has something to say in response to accusations levelled at him, he should come out and say it himself, perhaps in The Expositor's editorial section. But sending out "citizens" to write letters on his behalf is misleading and underhanded behaviour, and disrespectful to his constituents and your readers.

Josh Bradford, Brantford

Talk about getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar! The original Ghostwriter helped kids solve crimes; Brant's ghostwriter just spreads political misinformation.