Fake Lake for the G 20 summit- 2 million $

[mabudon]

Tories defend $2M fake lake being built for summit - thestar.com

It's a fitting metaphor for the way the Harper government operates, I think.

This is definitely one of the most ridiculous things I have ever read. From what I understand from the article, the idiotic construct is to be used as a nice Canada-y background for reporters. I simply can't fathom the logic behind this- if we are trying to showcase our country, why not use some part of, I don't know, say TORONTO as background- you know, the place where the thing is taking place??

I don't understand how that ersatz setup- which looks like crap even in the artists rendering, which means the real thing will look even more cheap and hokey- will help to show our country in a positive light any more than a pre-existing blue-screen with a chroma-key of some nice footage from cottage country would have.

The real kicker is that the World Cup will be happening at the same time as the summit, meaning that the news coverage world-wide will be reduced to soundbites and 30-second spots, which makes justifying two million dollars spent on this ridiculous turkey even more difficult in my mind.
Thoughts??

 

[CDNBear]

I couldn't agree more.

 

[karrie]

here here.

 

[TenPenny]

Total waste of money - but isn't there an article in today's Globe and Mail that the lake is only $57,000?

No matter what, it's a waste of money, and the decision to host the summits in downtown Toronto was incredibly silly.

 

[petros]

Total waste of money - but isn't there an article in today's Globe and Mail that the lake is only $57,000?

The only thing you can build for $57K these days is a lagoon.

 

[karrie]

CBC News - Politics - G8/G20 summit fake lake to cost $57K

 

[lone wolf]

Does anyone else find it a tad hypocritical that the subject of these meetings is supposed to be economic restraint? Harper just keeps giving examples of what NOT to do ... but not at HIS expense.

 

[darkbeaver]

These people are not leaders, they're camp *****s.

 

[mabudon]

Thanks for the correction and sorry for spreading incorrect information, I caught the story several hours ago and hadn't seen any updates, I wouldn't be surprised if the link I posted will reflect the updated information soon. Reading the Globe article tho, it sounds like a pretty tawdry "complex" either way...

The overall cost of (so far) 1.2 billion dollars (there is a lot of talk of the price ending up at possibly double that by the time all is said and done, but that is just speculation) for a three day event is insane no matter what it is being spent on, tho.

 

[VanIsle]

We have 1000's of lakes all across Canada - beautiful lakes, and a fake one has to be built? Shameful.

 

[CDNBear]

Total waste of money - but isn't there an article in today's Globe and Mail that the lake is only $57,000?

D'oh!!!

lol.

We have 1000's of lakes all across Canada - beautiful lakes, and a fake one has to be built? Shameful.

Agreed, hell there's a great big lake in Tdot already, lol.

 

[petros]

The overall cost of (so far) 1.2 billion dollars (there is a lot of talk of the price ending up at possibly double that by the time all is said and done, but that is just speculation) for a three day event is insane no matter what it is being spent on, tho.

The majority of that is going for security. Who the hell did that hire for that chunk of change? The X-Men?

 

[coldstream]

An amazing waste of money. For a bunch of windbag politicians to ham it up on a world soap box. Absolutely nothing is accomplished at these events... nothing. Bureaucrats will have hammered out some high sounding but innocuous agreement of principles prior to the first photo op, which no real obligations, which could have been done as well by email, or diplomatic pouch.

 

[YukonJack]

Total waste of tax-payers' money.

But, then, so is the Gun Registry, costing 10 times more, with no visible results.

 

[mabudon]

The gun registry is probably best kept in a different thread, thanks!!

 

[DurkaDurka]

Lake Ontario is a couple hundred meters from the fake "lake", the whole situation would be laughable if we were not paying for this.

The majority of that is going for security. Who the hell did that hire for that chunk of change? The X-Men?

One of the companies contracted to provide security isn't even licensed to operate in Ontario.

G8/G20 security firm not licensed to work in Ontario - thestar.com

I have 2 days off to watch all this ridiculousness when it comes to town, can't wait. lol

 

[mabudon]

Yeah I just caught that story too, I wasn't sure if it fit in this topic, but seriously there is probably going to be a long list of insane expenditures- perhaps I should request a thread title change to something more general??

I really enjoyed reading about the unlicensed security firm. In the article, it points out that

"Security industry members say licensing is a rigorous process that normally takes six to eight months"

But since there's a need for it, the process will be fast-tracked, which makes me wonder- what is it about this whole process that makes it take 6-8 months? If it can be fast-tracked and pared down to a single month, why isn't the system set up so that one month is all it takes?

If it should take 6+ months to be "done right", then "fast-tracking" should NOT be an option

 

[darkbeaver]

Any G20 decisions certainly won't be worth the money. There's nothing they want to do but carve up the remainder.

 

[AnnaG]

Politicians wasting money? Nah. Can't happen.

 

[JLM]

Tories defend $2M fake lake being built for summit - thestar.com

It's a fitting metaphor for the way the Harper government operates, I think.

This is definitely one of the most ridiculous things I have ever read. From what I understand from the article, the idiotic construct is to be used as a nice Canada-y background for reporters. I simply can't fathom the logic behind this- if we are trying to showcase our country, why not use some part of, I don't know, say TORONTO as background- you know, the place where the thing is taking place??

I don't understand how that ersatz setup- which looks like crap even in the artists rendering, which means the real thing will look even more cheap and hokey- will help to show our country in a positive light any more than a pre-existing blue-screen with a chroma-key of some nice footage from cottage country would have.

The real kicker is that the World Cup will be happening at the same time as the summit, meaning that the news coverage world-wide will be reduced to soundbites and 30-second spots, which makes justifying two million dollars spent on this ridiculous turkey even more difficult in my mind.
Thoughts??

It's getting to the point that a person doesn't know what the hell to believe- on this morning news the pool was $2 million, on the news this afternoon it's $57,000 - a slight descrepancy- the news people's descrepancies are getting to be almost as big as the politician's descrepancies............................:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol: