G8 emails show Conservative double standard on spending and ethics
OTTAWA—The NDP revealed more confidential emails about last year’s $50-million G8 spending spree in Muskoka and accused the Conservatives of adopting an ethical double standard when it comes to using taxpayers’ money.
“Conservatives seem to think a different set of rules applies to them,” said NDP MP Charlie Angus after releasing documents his party obtained from the town of Huntsville. Angus said the emails indicate Conservative MP Tony Clement had little use for the normal government checks and balances on spending when Ottawa was dispersing millions of dollars into the Muskoka region in advance of the 2010 G8 summit in Huntsville.
The NDP said one of the emails suggests Clement (then federal industry minister) concurred with a local Huntsville official that federal bureaucrats at Infrastructure Canada were getting in the way by conducting a review of planned G8 spending.
The local official wrote to Clement, saying “this is totally unacceptable — I am sure you agree,” according to the email. Clement responded right away, saying, “I agree. I’m working on it.”
The New Democrats have accused the Conservatives of setting up a “parallel” funding process deliberately organized to skirt normal government oversights when Ottawa handed out the G8 legacy fund in Clement’s Parry Sound-Muskoka riding last year. Clement is now Treasury Board President.
“We see that all normal checks and balances were removed,” Angus told reporters on Monday. “It’s as if he was driving around Muskoka giving the money out of the back of his car,” he said.
Clement has denied any wrongdoing in connection the dispersal of the $50-million fund but the Conservatives have acknowledged that the federal auditor general was right to conclude in June that the funding process lacked transparency and accountability.
In his report, interim auditor general John Wiersema painted a disturbing picture of Clement and several confidantes hand picking the G8 legacy projects — with no bureaucratic oversight or paperwork — that ultimately got $45.7 million in federal funding.
The auditor general also found that the Conservatives misled Parliament by passing off the G8 legacy fund as part of an $83-million investment to reduce border congestion when they sought Parliament’s approval for funding.
The emails — the second batch released by Angus — were obtained from the Town of Huntsville by the NDP using municipal freedom of information legislation. They show that Clement had a cosy relationship with Muskoka-area mayors in the run-up to the G8 summit, held at Huntsville’s Deerhurst resort. They show that he was involved in setting up the local committees that ultimately picked the projects to get federal funding. He was even trying to smooth the ruffled feathers of some local leaders who felt they were being treated as “second-class” mayors in the process.
However, Angus conceded Monday that the NDP could be stymied in their attempts to see further formal probes of the G8 spending. His request to have the Commons’ ethics committee examine the spending is expected to be turned down by Conservative MPs who hold the majority on the committee.
He said the collection of emails obtained by the NDP will be turned over to the police but was unable to say what if any laws may have been broken in the G8 spending “boondoggle.”
Canada News: G8 emails show Conservative double standard on spending and ethics
OTTAWA—The NDP revealed more confidential emails about last year’s $50-million G8 spending spree in Muskoka and accused the Conservatives of adopting an ethical double standard when it comes to using taxpayers’ money.
“Conservatives seem to think a different set of rules applies to them,” said NDP MP Charlie Angus after releasing documents his party obtained from the town of Huntsville. Angus said the emails indicate Conservative MP Tony Clement had little use for the normal government checks and balances on spending when Ottawa was dispersing millions of dollars into the Muskoka region in advance of the 2010 G8 summit in Huntsville.
The NDP said one of the emails suggests Clement (then federal industry minister) concurred with a local Huntsville official that federal bureaucrats at Infrastructure Canada were getting in the way by conducting a review of planned G8 spending.
The local official wrote to Clement, saying “this is totally unacceptable — I am sure you agree,” according to the email. Clement responded right away, saying, “I agree. I’m working on it.”
The New Democrats have accused the Conservatives of setting up a “parallel” funding process deliberately organized to skirt normal government oversights when Ottawa handed out the G8 legacy fund in Clement’s Parry Sound-Muskoka riding last year. Clement is now Treasury Board President.
“We see that all normal checks and balances were removed,” Angus told reporters on Monday. “It’s as if he was driving around Muskoka giving the money out of the back of his car,” he said.
Clement has denied any wrongdoing in connection the dispersal of the $50-million fund but the Conservatives have acknowledged that the federal auditor general was right to conclude in June that the funding process lacked transparency and accountability.
In his report, interim auditor general John Wiersema painted a disturbing picture of Clement and several confidantes hand picking the G8 legacy projects — with no bureaucratic oversight or paperwork — that ultimately got $45.7 million in federal funding.
The auditor general also found that the Conservatives misled Parliament by passing off the G8 legacy fund as part of an $83-million investment to reduce border congestion when they sought Parliament’s approval for funding.
The emails — the second batch released by Angus — were obtained from the Town of Huntsville by the NDP using municipal freedom of information legislation. They show that Clement had a cosy relationship with Muskoka-area mayors in the run-up to the G8 summit, held at Huntsville’s Deerhurst resort. They show that he was involved in setting up the local committees that ultimately picked the projects to get federal funding. He was even trying to smooth the ruffled feathers of some local leaders who felt they were being treated as “second-class” mayors in the process.
However, Angus conceded Monday that the NDP could be stymied in their attempts to see further formal probes of the G8 spending. His request to have the Commons’ ethics committee examine the spending is expected to be turned down by Conservative MPs who hold the majority on the committee.
He said the collection of emails obtained by the NDP will be turned over to the police but was unable to say what if any laws may have been broken in the G8 spending “boondoggle.”
Canada News: G8 emails show Conservative double standard on spending and ethics
