Conservatives 'disregard accountability' in G8 fund probe: opposition Read it on Global News: Global News | Conservatives 'disregard accountability' in G8 fund probe: opposition

OTTAWA -- The Conservatives have "disregarded any real accountability" in their study into the G8 legacy fund -- the $50 million purse earmarked for border enforcement, but used almost exclusively to fund beautification projects in a Conservative minister's riding, Opposition MPs are saying.

The report, tabled Wednesday afternoon in the House of Commons, is the result of more than four months of drafting, meeting and questioning witnesses -- including two ministers at the heart of the controversy.

Despite the months spent on the report, New Democrats say it "contains fundamental flaws and disregards any real accountability."

The Liberals, meanwhile, said the government is "attempting to whitewash this affair."

Chief among the flaws of the study -- something not mentioned in the report -- is that the Conservatives refused to invite anyone from the Office of the Auditor General to testify, said Malcolm Allen, and NDP MP who sits on the public accounts committee.

The G8 legacy: Just the smoothest home-reno project ever?

As a homeowner, it strikes me as odd that all 32 of the G8 Legacy Infrastructure Fund projects built in Tony Clement's riding came in, according to him, either on or under budget.

In home-renovation terms, that would be extraordinary project management, the kind that would certainly explain why Mr. Clement is now the President of the Treasury Board, overseeing all of Canada's spending.

There were, apparently, no hidden sinkholes stumbled upon when the new sidewalks went in and no discovery that one of the parts for the antique riverboat restoration couldn't be picked up at the local marine shop but instead had to be custom-ordered from Spain. No labour shortages raised hiring costs, I guess, although one might expect that to occur when nearly $50-million worth of construction happens quickly.

Unless I consciously over-budgeted for every home repair, that would never happen to me. And I'm pretty good at handling home repairs. I do some of them myself, and I work well with repair people.

This is mostly because I know which way my joists run: Whenever I have anyone around to mend something, they always listen while I explain the issue, then squint quizzically off into the middle distance as though considering the problem, then say, “Which way do your floor joists run?”

Municipal emails contradict Clement on G8 funds, NDP says

OTTAWA—The NDP says Conservative minister Tony Clement’s office edited an official parliamentary transcript, in an effort to hide a trail of documents showing he directed how $50 million in G8 funds should be spent in his riding.

MPs Charlie Angus and Alexandre Boulerice said municipal documents obtained by the NDP through provincial freedom-of-information legislation show Clement’s office had a direct hand in deciding which projects ended up getting about $45 million, contrary to testimony he gave a parliamentary committee.

Clement testified he played only a “coordinating role” and did not review the wish-list of 33 projects from mayors in his Muskoka riding. Clement said the list was whittled down from 242 by the mayors, and his office merely sent them to then-infrastructure minister John Baird. Clement insisted Wednesday in the Commons it was Baird who decided where the money would be spent.

But Angus, the NDP ethics critic, said: “This is simply not true.”

Moreover, Angus charged that Clement appeared to have changed the official parliamentary record, known as Hansard, to withdraw a verbal undertaking he made to the committee to provide all relevant documents. Clement rose after question period on a point of privilege to deny he or anyone in his office had made changes, and asked the Speaker to investigate to learn who did.

NDP accuses Tony Clement of doctoring Hansard

OTTAWA — In their latest attack against Tony Clement's handling of G8 infrastructure funds, the NDP is accusing the minister of doctoring the public record of a committee hearing at which he promised to fork over documents.

The Opposition unveiled Wednesday both the unedited and edited versions of a Hansard transcript of a Nov. 2 Commons committee meeting.

Asked twice during the meeting by New Democrat MP Charlie Angus whether he would table the 242 completed project forms, Clement said "sure" each time, according to the unedited record.

The word "sure," however, is missing from the edited version, Angus said Wednesday.

He noted MPs are allowed to correct facts and mispronunciations in their own statements but "it's a stretch to take an affirmative and make it blank."

Tony Clement G8 Fund: New Documents Contradict Clement, Suggest He Carved Up $50-Million Fund

OTTAWA - The NDP has obtained more documents which appear to contradict Tony Clement's insistence that he was not involved in carving up a $50-million fund to spruce up his riding before last year's G8 summit.

The Treasury Board president told a Commons committee he simply played a "co-ordinating role," forwarding the wish lists of mayors in his Ontario cottage country riding to John Baird, infrastructure minister at the time, who decided which projects would get funding.

But municipal documents obtained by the NDP through provincial freedom-of-information legislation tell a different story.

New Democrat MP Charlie Angus says they show Clement gave "false and misleading" testimony to the public accounts committee earlier this month and is not fit to be in cabinet, much less in charge of the nation's treasury.

"Mr. Clement has become toxic, dead weight to this government," Angus told a news conference Wednesday.

G8 spending includes $1,650 to remove bed, $3,500 to move light fixtures

Canadian taxpayers forked out almost $2-million — including more than $1,600 to remove a bed — to spruce up a luxury Muskoka resort for last year's G8 summit.

The renovations included $500 to remove a small light fixture from one room and $3,000 to raise a large chandelier in the main lobby of Deerhurst Resort.

The Harper government picked up the tab, which also included $1,540 to move furniture in rooms used by the German delegation and $1,650 to remove a king-sized bed and headboard from a room used by the French delegation.

The details were obtained by The Canadian Press through an access-to-information request.

Deerhurst was sold to Skyline Hotels and Resorts for $26-million nine months after hosting the June 2010 summit.

A spokesperson for Public Works, which reimbursed Deerhurst for the renovations, said modifications to rooms were “based on the operational requirements identified to us” by the Foreign Affairs department and requested by the various leaders' delegations.

Opposition MPs question ‘Minister of Muskoka’s’ ability to preside over $250-billion

Treasury Board President Tony Clement, who was called before the House Public Accounts Committee last week on accusations he personally presided over the distribution of a $50-million G8 Legacy Fund, moving requests for projects last year directly into his Parry Sound-Muskoka, Ont., riding through his political office in Huntsville, told MPs that in hindsight, the government could have handled the money better. Opposition MPs say they aren’t buying his “dog ate my homework” excuses and are questioning the man—now dubbed “the Maverick Minister From Muskoka”—over his ability to preside over $11-billion in federal government cuts over the next four years.

“The issue here is above and beyond the G8 Legacy Fund. The issue here is Minister Tony Clement has become the minister responsible for the Treasury Board, he’s the minister responsible for the spending of $250-billion a year…his judgment has been called into question through the G8 fund, he did not exercise good judgment,” said Liberal MP and Public Accounts Committee vice-chair Gerry Byrne (Humber-St. Barbe-Baie Verte, Nfld.) in an interview with The Hill Times.

On Nov. 2, Mr. Clement (Parry Sound-Muskoka, Ont.) and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird (Ottawa West-Nepean, Ont.) made a highly-anticipated appearance before the House Public Accounts Committee to answer questions about their alleged mishandling of a federal fund meant to give Hunstville, Ont.—the host location of the 2010 G8 Summit—a facelift, ahead of international dignitaries and attention.

G8 Spending: Tony Clement And John Baird Defend Use Of Infrastructure Money

OTTAWA - Tony Clement sought Wednesday to put an end to controversy over the $50-million G8 legacy fund, appearing before a parliamentary committee to answer any and all questions from opposition MPs.

But the Treasury Board president's performance shed little new light on the affair and did nothing to quell opposition allegations that the money was little more than a political slush fund for Clement to dispense as he saw fit around his Parry Sound-Muskoka riding.

"I believe that my record is a good record, it's an untainted record. It's a record of probity and honesty," Clement told the committee.

"I try to do my job the best I can for the people who've not only elected me but for the people of Canada and I will continue to do so in my new role as president of the Treasury Board."

Clement was industry minister when the money was being handed out to municipalities in his Ontario riding, which hosted last year's G8 summit. Almost $45 million was ultimately spent on gazebos, park upgrades, public washrooms and beautification projects, often many kilometres away from the actual summit site in Huntsville, Ont.

Stephen Maher: More questions than answers as Clement faces G8 hearing

OTTAWA — Tony Clement failed to publicly account for himself at the public accounts committee on Wednesday, repeatedly telling MPs he didn’t do something that, in fact, he did do: choose the communities in his riding that would receive gazebos under the G8 legacy fund.

Up in beautiful Parry Sound-Muskoka, most people think Clement did a good job bringing federal funding to his riding, and it’s hard to argue with them, in a way.

He did get a bunch of things built, and most of them are likely more useful than a lot of things Ottawa blows money on.

There are rinks where young people can play hockey, gazebos where tourists can shelter from the sun and, just down the road from Clement’s house, a new parking lot at the beautiful beach on Merry Lake.

It’s John Baird who is on the hook for G-8 money games

John Baird says he “topped it up.” Does topping it up really mean Canada’s foreign affairs minister covered it up?

One of the big mysteries in the G-8 legacy fund controversy was how $50-million that was sold to Parliament as part of a border infrastructure fund came to be used for an entirely different purpose. That purpose was 33 projects to spruce up Tony Clement’s Muskoka riding in preparation for hosting last year’s G-8 summit.

Baird, who was infrastructure minister at the time, explained to the Commons’ public accounts committee Wednesday that he was the one responsible, that he used the border fund as a “delivery mechanism” for the Clement projects. He conceded that it wasn’t the way it should have been done.

It was quite an admission. The question is why, in the estimates he tabled, Baird didn’t tell the plain truth – that $50-million was planned for the riding projects. Why misslead parliamentarians into believing the money was for border renovations?

It should be noted that the $50-million was more than just a top-up. It was the bulk. The border fund was only $33-million. Baird’s add-on made it $83-million.

Paperwork for G8 spending 'not perfect,' Clement says

Treasury Board president Tony Clement says the way the G8 legacy fund was handled "was not perfect" and he's learned his lessons, but that he's qualified to be in charge of the public purse.

Clement was forced to defend his reputation and current role in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's cabinet while he testified at the House of Commons public accounts committee Wednesday about the controversial $50-million fund that was used for infrastructure projects in his Parry Sound-Muskoka riding north of Toronto.

"The paperwork for this was not perfect. It should have been better and I take my share of the responsibility for that and certainly I have learned that there are different ways and better ways to provide for these kinds of intake processes and I will commit myself to using those," Clement said.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, the former infrastructure minister whose department was responsible for the G8 Legacy Infrastructure Fund, also appeared at the committee with Clement and they each explained their roles in the fund, and how it unfolded.

Clement, Baird to testify on G8 Legacy fund scandal this week

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.”

‘Rules were broken’ over G8/G20 summit spending: Auditor-General

OTTAWA — The federal Auditor-General ratcheted up his criticism Wednesday of the Harper government’s spending on the G8 and G20 summits, detailing serious concerns about broken rules, potentially misleading expenditure requests and ministers hand-picking projects to receive funding.

Speaking to the House of Commons public accounts committee about his spring report, interim Auditor-General John Wiersema scolded the Conservative government for a “one-of-a-kind” situation unlike anything he has ever seen in his 33 years working in the A-G’s office.

Wiersema repeated many of the concerns first raised in the A-G’s June report, but explained in much greater detail the problems his office uncovered with the government’s management and fiscal oversight of G8 and G20 spending.

The government rushed through spending on the June 2010 G8 and G20 summits without proper documentation or explanation to parliamentarians about how the cash would be spent, he said.

He said government ignored normal protocols when approving infrastructure projects for the G8 summit in the riding of Tory minister Tony Clement — now Treasury Board president — bypassing public servants who generally determine what projects receive funding.

Tony Clement Investigation Won't Go Further: Auditor General

OTTAWA - The federal spending watchdog says the Harper government clearly broke the rules when it set up and doled out a controversial $50-million G8 legacy fund.

Still, interim Auditor General John Wiersema says there's no point in revisiting the matter in another audit.

He says he's satisfied his office was not misled and came to the right conclusions about the fund in a report last spring.

The report concluded the Harper government kept Parliament in the dark when it diverted $50 million from a border infrastructure fund to create the legacy fund.

It also found that public servants were shut out of the process of selecting which projects would get money from the fund, set up to help the Parry Sound-Muskoka region host last year's G8 summit.

Thirty-two beautification projects were approved by John Baird, then infrastructure minister, based strictly on the recommendation of local MP Tony Clement, now Treasury Board president.

Origin
Source: Huffington 

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.

Tim Harper: The silent Mr. Clement

OTTAWA

The long, slow slide of the daily question period into irrelevancy has been well chronicled.

But in its stonewalling over the Tony Clement G8 slush fund, the Conservative government has taken it to new lows and is mocking what was once a pillar of the Parliamentary process.

Clement, a senior minister in the Stephen Harper government, has become a figure of ridicule as he sits silently in his seat each day, like a child banished to the corner for a timeout.

Instead, as new revelations about his handling of a $50 million G8 Legacy Fund are ferreted out and a damning email string becomes required reading in Ottawa, the Conservatives send a designated deflector out each day to shield the neutered minister.

Tories accused of using majority muscle to keep G8 spending, other touchy issues, behind closed-doors House committees

The government plans to use its majority muscle behind the closed doors of  in-camera Commons standing committees to keep controversies like the lavish G8 spending in Treasury Board President Tony Clement’s riding out of the Parliamentary spotlight and kill other inquiries that were underway in the last Parliament, opposition MPs say.

PARLIAMENT HILL—The government plans to use its majority muscle behind the closed doors of in-camera Commons committees to keep controversies like the lavish G8 spending in Treasury Board President Tony Clement’s riding out of the Parliamentary spotlight and kill other inquiries that were underway in the last Parliament, opposition MPs say.

The MPs cite the sudden end during an in camera meeting of the Government Operations and Estimates Committee last week of a motion from Liberal MP John McCallum (Markham-Unionville, Ont.) that proposed an inquiry into nearly $50-million the government spent to spruce up cities and towns in Mr. Clement’s (Parry Sound-Muskoka, Ont.) upscale cottage-country constituency for the 2010 summit of G8 leaders.

The Commons: Tony Clement’s one-man sit-in

The Scene. The Hill was alive this day with the vigour of public protest. On the lawn, several hundred lay siege to the barricades, anxious with objections to a continental oil pipeline. Inside the House, Tony Clement kept vigil on his seat, resolutely unwilling to remove his posterior from it in defiance of the opposition’s tyranny.

Thomas Mulcair’s first question was actually quite simple enough.

“Mr. Speaker, earlier this year the Prime Minister released an important document entitled ‘Accountable Government: A Guide for Ministers and Ministers of State,’ ” the NDP deputy reviewed. “Could the Prime Minister tell us if it is within the guidelines for a minister to run government funding out of his constituency office? Is it within the guidelines to have inaccurate and incomplete information provided to the Auditor General? Also, is it within the guidelines to have ministers interfere in spending reviews?”

Mr. Mulcair was just wondering these things, mind you. He was not necessarily referring to the latest news concerning Tony Clement’s handling of the G8 Legacy Fund, he was just speaking in the theoretical.

Clement's constituency office a 'mail box' for G8 funding applications, says aide

PARLIAMENT HILL—Treasury Board President Tony Clement’s constituency office was acting simply as a “mail box” where municipalities sent applications for money from the $50-million G8 legacy fund and had no part in deciding which towns and villages would get cash to beautify streets and upgrade infrastructure for the summit last year, an aide to Mr. Clement says.

But, The Hill Times confirmed Thursday that two local mayors who took part in closed-door planning for the projects donated to Mr. Clement’s 2008 election campaign and his riding association. The controversy over the legacy fund is now tinged with new allegations involving the election in October that year.

Mr. Clement’s spokesperson denied that Mr. Clement (Parry Sound-Muskoka) contravened any election period guidelines for ministers or MPs when he chaired a private committee of local mayors in September 2008—in the midst of the federal election campaign that year—to begin plans that would eventually lead to the selection of municipalities that would get G8 build-up money as the 2010 summit neared.

Tony Clement Used G8 Legacy Fund To Buy Re-Election

OTTAWA - The NDP is accusing federal Conservative cabinet minister Tony Clement of using a controversial, $50-million G8 legacy fund to buy re-election, prompting a heated denial from the government.

Municipal documents obtained by the New Democrats show Clement met with local mayors and councillors in the midst of the 2008 election campaign. They discussed how to identify projects that could be eligible for the legacy funding.

Twelve days after that meeting, a local news outlet reported that Clement had posted video endorsements from "local townspeople, mayors and council members" on his campaign website.
"It gave him a major advantage over the other candidates," New Democrat MP Charlie Angus said in an interview Thursday.