The New Democrats launched another allegation at battered Treasury Board head Tony Clement Monday, saying the party uncovered what it calls “new and troubling” evidence of misused funds.
According to the NDP, Industry Canada and the Treasury Board shifted around hundreds of millions of dollars under the title ‘Grants to the Institute for Theoretical Physics’ from 2009 to 2011.
“The entire statutory spending limit for the Institute was $50 million over five years — ten million dollars a year,” Treasury Board critic Alexandre Boulerice wrote in a letter to Clement. “But in the 09-10 reporting alone, this budget line exceeded $127 million, 1,270 per cent of its annual limit — almost three times the entire amount approved by Parliament.”
The NDP want Clement, who was espousing fiscal prudence at a speech in Toronto Monday morning, to explain the apparent error.
The Perimiter Institute for Theoretical Physics was started in 1999 by Research in Motion founder Mike Lazaridis, and currently boasts 80 full time researchers.
The 2007 budget set aside $50 million for the institute, stating it “has demonstrated outstanding scientific merit,” and praised it for becoming “a leader for Canadian research in the emerging field of quantum physics and a model for science education and outreach.”
Monday’s allegations are sure to become fresh fodder for the Opposition in question period. Already this session, the NDP has hammered away at Clement every day for what they allege was the funneling of government money from the border infrastructure fund to pay for G8 legacy projects in his riding.
For weeks, Clement has refrained from speaking directly to the accusations in the House. Instead, foreign affairs minister John Baird, who was infrastructure and transport minister at the time, has answered, much to the chagrin of the opposition.
“I am sure you agree that these sorts of problems, where money that is approved by Parliament is then diverted into other spending priorities must be addressed and that proper accounting procedures will become standard protocol,” Boulerice wrote Monday. “Canadians deserve no less.”
Origin
Source: iPolitico
According to the NDP, Industry Canada and the Treasury Board shifted around hundreds of millions of dollars under the title ‘Grants to the Institute for Theoretical Physics’ from 2009 to 2011.
“The entire statutory spending limit for the Institute was $50 million over five years — ten million dollars a year,” Treasury Board critic Alexandre Boulerice wrote in a letter to Clement. “But in the 09-10 reporting alone, this budget line exceeded $127 million, 1,270 per cent of its annual limit — almost three times the entire amount approved by Parliament.”
The NDP want Clement, who was espousing fiscal prudence at a speech in Toronto Monday morning, to explain the apparent error.
The Perimiter Institute for Theoretical Physics was started in 1999 by Research in Motion founder Mike Lazaridis, and currently boasts 80 full time researchers.
The 2007 budget set aside $50 million for the institute, stating it “has demonstrated outstanding scientific merit,” and praised it for becoming “a leader for Canadian research in the emerging field of quantum physics and a model for science education and outreach.”
Monday’s allegations are sure to become fresh fodder for the Opposition in question period. Already this session, the NDP has hammered away at Clement every day for what they allege was the funneling of government money from the border infrastructure fund to pay for G8 legacy projects in his riding.
For weeks, Clement has refrained from speaking directly to the accusations in the House. Instead, foreign affairs minister John Baird, who was infrastructure and transport minister at the time, has answered, much to the chagrin of the opposition.
“I am sure you agree that these sorts of problems, where money that is approved by Parliament is then diverted into other spending priorities must be addressed and that proper accounting procedures will become standard protocol,” Boulerice wrote Monday. “Canadians deserve no less.”
Origin
Source: iPolitico
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