Treasury Board President Tony Clement and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird will testify at the House Public Accounts Committee on Nov. 2 over accusations that Mr. Clement personally presided over the distribution of a $50-million G8 Legacy fund, moving requests for projects directly into his Parry Sound-Muskoka, Ont., riding through his political office in Huntsville.Mr. Baird's office and Mr. Clement's office confirmed their attendance.
News of a planned appearance is undoubtedly welcome, but Liberal MP Gerry Byrne (Humber-St. Barbe-Baie Verte, Nfld.), vice-chair of the House Public Accounts Committee, said he and other opposition MPs are concerned that Mr. Baird (Ottawa-West-Nepean, Ont.) will answer for Mr. Clement in committee, as he has done in the House of Commons for months.
“I find it unusual that Minister Baird would be accompanying another minister of the Crown to answer questions on his portfolio. It’s just totally unusual and quite frankly, against the norms and conventions of Parliament about ministerial accountability,” Mr. Byrne said. “It would be unacceptable if it was Minister Clement who simply answered the government members’ questions while Minister Baird answered all the opposition members’ questions. I think that’s what will play out Wednesday.”
Mr. Clement has sat silent in the House for weeks on the matter of the G8 legacy funding scandal. Opposition questions during QP have continuously been fielded by anyone but Mr. Clement—Mr. Baird, or his Foreign Affairs Parliamentary Secretary, MP Deepak Obhrai (Calgary East, Alta.) have responded to the majority of questions for Mr. Clement in a repetitive, partisan fashion. Last week, Pierre Poilievre (Nepean-Carleton, Ont.), Parliamentary secretary to the Transport minister, also took a turn.
“I think it’s totally inappropriate that he, the Treasury Board Minister, not answer questions directed to him. I think it makes a mockery of Parliament and an insult to Canadians. He was the one involved—he’s the one to whom the questions are asked,” said Liberal Treasury Board critic MP John McCallum (Markham-Unionville, Ont.) in an interview with The Hill Times.
On Sept. 28, Mr. Clement made a rare comment on the accusations against him with regard to the use and selection process for the G8 Legacy Fund. In a brief statement to reporters following the Conservative caucus’ weekly meeting, Mr. Clement denied any wrongdoing and said he would soon come before committee to face his critics.
The G8 Summit was held in Huntsville, Ont., in Mr. Clement’s riding, in June 2010. The government announced a $50-million infrastructure fund related to G8 projects that local municipalities and townships could submit proposals to. A draft auditor general’s report on the fund was leaked during the spring election which said the government “misinformed” Parliament into approving the fund. The Conservatives denied that’s what the report said, and Mr. Baird, then-Government House Leader, who was the infrastructure minister during the G8, said, “The report has changed considerably.”
After the election, however, when the auditor general’s report was tabled in June in Parliament, the report found that the Conservative government passed the G8 Legacy fund off as part of an $83-million investment for another program to reduce border congestion when they asked Parliament to approve the spending. “This categorization did not clearly or transparently identify the nature of the approval being sought for G8 infrastructure,” the report said.
Since the June report’s release, news of confidential meetings between Mr. Clement and local officials, email conversations between Mr. Clement and Huntsville, Ont., Mayor Claude Doughty and—most recently—email correspondence referring to discussions between Vern Freelander (a Toronto-based media consultation who was recommended by Mr. Clement for a position helping Mayor Doughty champion a $16.3-million project proposal) and Environment Minister Peter Kent (Thornhill, Ont.), have contributed to the ever-darkening shadow looming over the government’s handling of the G8 Legacy fund.
Evidence of these emails and meetings—obtained through the use of municipal and provincial freedom-of-information legislation, an option not open to the AG—were obtained by the NDP and by Postmedia News, and suggest that Mr. Clement and Mayor Doughty hand-picked projects for his riding. Documents obtained by The Star and released on Oct. 24 about Mr. Freelander further suggest that project selection and funding approval decisions were leap-frogged directly to the Conservative Cabinet.
Mr. Byrne said he thinks the government hasn’t directly announced Mr. Baird and Mr. Clement’s Nov. 2 committee appearance because they want to keep the issue off the public radar and prevent the opposition from preparing “solid questions” in advance.
Public Accounts Committee member NDP MP Guy Caron (Rimouski-Neigette-Témiscouata-Les Basques, Que.) said he’s concerned about the government trying to block some witnesses—such as public servants or representatives of involved municipalities—from being included in the committees witness list because of their majority.
Origin
Source: Hill Times
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