Pierre Poilievre holds taxpayer-funded photo-op with unelected Conservative candidates

Are these photos blurring the line between public and party business?

At least four unelected Conservative candidates joined Employment Minister Pierre Poilievre on Sunday at an official Government of Canada event held in the children’s section of discount store Giant Tiger (founded by the father of Conservative MP Scott Reid) to promote the government’s Universal Child Care Benefit.

Here’s Poilievre tweet about the taxpayer-funded event with, in the words of The Canadian Press described, “aspiring Conservative candidates as his backdrop.”

That day, 4 million bank accounts & mailboxes receive #UCCB cheques: the biggest single one-time payout in history pic.twitter.com/LdoUqcpRWI

— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) July 12, 2015

Who was there?

Well, Poilievre was there, as well as a 7-foot tall tiger.

Ottawa-Orleans Conservative MP Royal Galipeau was there. That’s understandable – Galipeau actually is an elected official, so he has a legitimate reason to be there.

But photos from the event posted on social media show Ottawa-Nepean’s Conservative candidate Andy Wang was at the announcement too:

Proud to stand with @PierrePoilievre and @AbdulAbdi6 to support Canadian families with the enhanced #UCCB! pic.twitter.com/sPlnPQnYvu

— Andy Wang (@andywang_ca) July 12, 2015

Wang, a former aide to Poilievre, recently came under fire from members of his own party after winning the nomination to represent the riding next door to Poilievre’s own Nepean-Carleton riding.

Joining Wang at Poilievre’s Giant Tiger photo shoot was Conservative candidate Abdul Abdi, who recently won the nomination to run in Ottawa West-Nepean:

Proud 2 stand w @PierrePoilievre as he announced $3 billion inject 2 Canadian economy in one day this month #UCCB pic.twitter.com/6Y4THP9GzM

— Abdul Abdi (@AbdulAbdi6) July 12, 2015

Who else? David Piccini, Conservative candidate for Ottawa-Vanier:

And we also know Ottawa-Centre’s unelected Conservative candidate Damian Konstantinakos was in the house, as well:

My family was proud to stand with @PierrePoilievre as he announced a $3 Billion injection to the Canadian economy #UCCB #ottcentre

— DamianKonstantinakos (@votedamiancpc) July 12, 2015

But despite all these photos of Poilievre, Conservative candidates and Giant Tiger’s mascot now floating around the Internet, those candidates are curiously absent from the official photos Employment and Social Development Canada (that’s Poilievre’s department) posted Monday morning.

Was ESDC trying to avoid repeating the same mistake they made the last time, when the department posted — then deleted –a picture of Conservative candidates attending a taxpayer-funded government event promoting the Universal Child Care Benefit?

^{Photo: ESDC}