Canadian Taxpayers Federation has 5 members — why should we care what they think?
The Canadian Taxpayers' Federation has been around since the late 1980s, selling itself as a populist "citizens advocacy group" looking to cut waste and ensure accountability in government.
They get acres of free coverage in newspapers and on local and national newscasts; their spokespeople regularly get more coverage than elected officials.
Perhaps the CTF gets the coverage it does because it is seen as less biased than politicians — it is seen as advocating for taxpayers against all politicians, on the right and left.
The CTF's media presence is truly remarkable when you consider it has a membership of five people. You read that correctly: five.
This might come as a surprise, but the CTF is not now, nor has it ever been, a grassroots, member-based organization where anyone can pay $10 to sign up (or sign up free) and have a say in how the organization is run.
Instead, it has supporters — about 90,000 of them, who, like followers on Facebook, can like, comment, answer surveys and make donations, but they have no actual say in how the organization is run.
No comments:
Post a Comment