Canada PoliticsTory MP asks to be included in the “million-dollar shot” during tour stop in Middle East
There are those cynics among us who think Stephen Harper's trip to Israel is nothing but politics; that the Conservative Party's staunch support for the Jewish state is somehow a covert action to win votes in the Jewish-Canadian community.
There are others that believe Harper's approach to Israel is just and principled.
The real truth, as with most things in politics, is probably somewhere in the middle.
[ Related: Sarah Palin, Aljazeera and the Jerusalem Post weigh-in on Stephen Harper’s Israeli stance ]
A new video, however, — published on YouTube by the Globe and Mail — gives some credence to the cynics' beliefs.
In the video, as explained by the Globe and Mail's Campbell Clark, Conservative MP Mark Adler is asking Harper-aide Jeremy Hunt if he can can be included in a photo, with the prime minister, at the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem.
“Jeremy! Jeremy! Can I get in?” Mr. Adler said.
“No,” Mr. Hunt replied.
“It’s the re-election! This is the million-dollar shot.”
Here's the video:
Adler, as explained by CBC News' Laura Payton, is the member of Parliament of Trenton Ontario which, incidentally, has a large Jewish community — 21,310 of its 113,457 residents are Jewish.
[ Related: Satirists mock Stephen Harper’s trip to Israel ]
Adler, incidentally, is one of 208 individuals as part of Harper's delegation to the middle east.
While not all the travel costs, for all 208 people, will be covered by taxpayers, there is a large contingent of Conservative cabinet ministers and MPs on the trip. Earlier this week, Sun News' David Akin counted six cabinet ministers, eight MPs and two senators.
In light of Adler's comments on the video, the government should be obliged to justify the cost of including 16 sitting legislators in a seven-day tour of the Middle East.
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