May 27, 2010
Dear Ms. Fraser,
I am writing you today because of the media coverage you were given last night. Either you don’t understand, or you are scared.
In 2006, I was in Ottawa to attend the meeting of the Broadcasting Arbitrator, to discuss the allocation of minutes of advertising at election time. I will never forget this meeting.
Myself and the woman I was with needed to get a late dinner at the Lord Elgin Hotel, after our flight came in. We noticed that there were no prices on the menu.
We asked how much the items cost.
The waitress answered us, “Oh, don’t worry – the Government pays for everything! Have a bottle of wine brought to your room – enjoy yourselves...have fun!”
I looked at her and said, “I respect this woman who is with me. We are here to work. There won’t be any wine and no fooling around. Respect your country and change yourself now. Your boss should know about this.”
The following day, there was a vote taken at the Broadcaster’s Meeting – regarding equal media time for all parties at election time. The result was that 10 parties voted in favour of equal time and 5 parties wanted a different formula. The arbitrator had the final decision and decided to go with the status quo – staying with the unequal allocation of time, where the larger parties received the most time – 99 minutes – and the smaller parties received the smaller amounts of media time – 6 minutes. The arbitrator said there would be no notes shared from the meeting ... that they would be shredded.
This same arbitrator said, three times, that even though there was a legal cap on advertising spending at election time, “If you have enough money, you can buy whatever amount of advertising you want.”
He is a top lawyer for Elections Canada.
I spoke at the meeting – opposing the whole thing.
This same man said to me, “You are strong – you have a voice like thunder ... we want to see you here soon...you have to come work with us.”
I answered him, “Without a penny we will win – with love and Spirit – not with money!”
Maybe you didn’t know this before, Ms. Fraser. No one can silence me about this.
People pay taxes. Be good and clean for them.
This is why people don’t believe in Canada anymore. They are laughing at the poor. We see that it is impossible to win unless you are rich. There is no balance in Canada.
We have to remember that the taxpayers are the boss. – not the leaders. The leaders and the MPs need to humble themselves.
You may not have known this before, Ms. Fraser, but you have no excuses now.
I believe in you.
Best regards
Roger Poisson,
Leader, PPP
With the Spirit
