Independent Candidate in Abbotsford West, Moe Gill, is calling on the Liberal Party to refund B.C. taxpayers the $11 million being spent on the Times of India Film Awards (Toifa) coming to Vancouver on April 6. The awards showcase honours achievements in the Hindi film industry.
Gill said that taken in context with the recent “ethnogate” scandal, the monies spent on this event is a blatant use of tax dollars to win ethnic votes.
According to Gill, while preaching responsible spending and debt reduction on the one hand, the Liberal Government was quick to hand over funds to bring this awards show to Vancouver before the next election. Such a move can only be viewed as “pandering” funded by tax dollars. While the timing of the event taking place just before the provincial election has been denied as being anything but coincidental.
“As a fan of Bollywood film and the TOIFA Awards, I am dismayed that any taxpayer dollars are being used for this event, let alone right before an election. It is one more slip by the Liberal Party that shows we not only can’t trust them, but that they have extremely bad leadership. Put those two things together and the taxpayer is always the victim. I’m calling on the Liberal Party to do the right thing and return this money to the taxpayers of British Columbia,” said Gill.
Gill also points out that it is just a small part of the spending spree the Liberal Party will undertake while scrambling for votes.
“Finance Minister Mike De Jong is set to announce a construction project, here in his home town of Abbotsford, on a project committed to nearly a decade ago. The timing of this kind of spending is exactly why voters can no longer trust the current Government and will vote for a change in May.”