Clement agrees to field questions over controversial G8 spending spree

OTTAWA—Treasury Board President Tony Clement, who has been criticized and derided for days for his refusal to answer questions in the Commons about a G8 spending spree in his riding, says he has decided to field queries from Members of Parliament at a parliamentary committee.

Clement, the MP for Parry Sound-Muskoka and a former Ontario cabinet minister in the Mike Harris years, emerged from Conservative caucus Wednesday to make the announcement in a brief statement to the media.

“We have arranged for myself and others including (Foreign Affairs Minister John) Baird, who had his responsibilities in the program, (Infrastructure) Minister (Denis) LeBel and others to appear before the public accounts committee in the weeks ahead,” he said.

As a result, “parliamentarians will have a full right to ask any additional questions they may have,” Clement added.

Clement then turned and left, refusing to answer reporters’ shouted questions about why he has never stood in the Commons chamber to explain his role in the disbursal of nearly $50 million in G8 Legacy Fund spending in his riding last year.

Demands for more information from Clement increased earlier this week when opposition MPs seized on newly released documents to accuse the Harper government of covering up the details of how millions of dollars were allocated G8 summit in Muskoka.

The confidential documents unveiled by the NDP renewed charges that then auditor general Sheila Fraser was misled about how $50 million in taxpayers’ money was disbursed.

“Canadians look to the auditor general to protect their interests,” said New Democrat MP Charlie Angus. But “we have a government that appears to have misled the auditor general and thinks they can get away with it.”

Angus said the emails indicate Clement ignored the normal government checks and balances on spending when Ottawa was disbursing millions to the Muskoka region at the time of the summit in Huntsville.

MPs have baited and tried to make fun of Clement in the daily Commons question period, where he has often sat quietly while other ministers answered questions about the G8 fund that he spearheaded for more than a year in the run-up to the G8 meeting.

Clement has denied any wrongdoing in connection to the $50 million fund. The Conservatives agree, however, that the federal auditor general was right to conclude in June that the funding process lacked transparency and accountability.

Origin
Source: Toronto Star