Tories designed G8 legacy fund to avoid oversight, Opposition alleges
Posted August 15, 2011 11:08 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
New Democrats say the Conservative government set up a slush fund for last year’s G8 meetings in a way designed to avoid scrutiny by the auditor general.
They say documents obtained under Ontario’s provincial freedom of information laws show Minister Tony Clement personally monitored the G8 legacy fund through his local constituency office to hide it from oversight.
The NDP also allege that federal civil servants sat in on meetings regarding how the $50 million was to be spent, then told the auditor general they knew nothing about the fund.
The auditor released a report earlier this year finding there was no paper trail to explain how and why the 32 projects granted funding were selected.
The auditor also found the $50 million fund was approved by parliament for border security, not local beautification projects hundreds of kilometres from the border.
The NDP says the documents show the projects were hand-picked by Clement after consultation with area mayors, who submitted applications using a form designed by his constituency office.
The legacy fund was supposed to help Clement’s riding prepare for hosting the G8 summit last June and was spent on projects including gazebos, parks, public toilets and other beautification projects, many of which were hours away from the summit site in Huntsville, Ont.
