Clement defends G8 spending - Politics Treasury Board President Tony Clement rejected the latest accusations against him related to the G8 legacy fund on Wednesday and said he will soon appear at a parliamentary committee to face his critics. Clement made a brief statement to reporters after Wednesday morning's Conservative caucus meeting but did not answer any questions, nor did he rise in question period when queries were directed to him by opposition MPs. His comments to reporters were the first he had made on the NDP's accusation that he interfered in a spending review of G8 expense claims filed by the town of Huntsville in his riding where the meeting was held in June 2010. The NDP released a series of emails on Monday between Clement and Huntsville Mayor Claude Doughty that opposition MPs say show Clement acted inappropriately and was willing to bend the rules. Clement said parliamentarians will have the right to ask any additional questions of him at the committee. "We'll be there to answer, I'll be there to answer.
Actualit? ? la Une NDP: Tony Clement Created G8 Slush Fund OTTAWA - A $50-million legacy fund for last year's G8 summit was run out of the local constituency office of federal minister Tony Clement, documents show — a process that allowed the Harper government to avoid scrutiny by the auditor general. The NDP discovered the paper trail by doing an end run around the federal government and using Ontario freedom of information laws to get municipal records. The hundreds of pages of documents reveal Clement's MP office in Parry Sound, Ont., soliciting legacy project submissions more than 18 months before the June 2010 international summit in Huntsville, Ont. And despite documentary evidence that federal civil servants sat in on many of the project meetings, no records were available to the auditor general when Sheila Fraser looked into the G8 spending late last year. "There is no paper trail behind the selection of the 32 (funded) projects. Clement has since been moved to Treasury Board, where he is in charge of overseeing government spending cuts.
Home Canada News: Tim Harper: The silent Mr. Clement 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. One side of the House is holding up its end of the bargain with Canadian voters. The Conservatives go to ground, and voters deserve better. Clement nodded in silent agreement. Harper, when he deigns to respond on the matter, uses the same argument. “We know very well that he can twitter.
'Slush fund' coverup alleged Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION By: Amy Minsky and Elizabeth Thompson Posted: 08/16/2011 1:00 AM | Comments: OTTAWA -- Three senior bureaucrats were actively involved in selecting projects in a Conservative minister's riding that received nearly $50 million in G8 funding, new documents suggest, flying in the face of the auditor general's June report that said no public servants were involved. "The information in the documents contradicts the information the auditor general received," NDP MP Charlie Angus said Monday after releasing documents the party received through freedom-of-information requests. Angus said he was shocked and concerned to see that "key staff" covered up their involvement in distributing the money to dozens of projects in Treasury Board president Tony Clement's Ontario riding before the G8 Summit. A spokesman for the auditor general said the office has no intention to reopen the file despite the new documents. The auditor general can only access federal departments.
Update: Report on G8 spending won’t be released, Auditor General says The Conservatives defended themselves Monday against allegations an Auditor General investigation had found the government misinformed Parliament on nearly $50-million in funding for projects related to last year’s G8 summit in a Tory Cabinet minister’s Ontario riding. The Jan. 13 draft of the report by Auditor General Sheila Fraser examines the $1.2-billion in government spending on the G8 summit in Huntsville and the G20 summit in Toronto in June 2010. It alleges that the Conservatives’ handling of its G8 Legacy Infrastructure Fund, which paid for roadwork, construction and beautification projects around Industry Minister Tony Clement’s Parry Sound-Muskoka riding, raised “legal questions” about how the government spends public money. The Tories quickly moved Monday to stamp out the controversy, calling on Ms. His request for the final report echoed similar calls from Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, who said: “These are shocking revelations.” Ms. The draft report found that Mr. Mr.
Auditor general slams G8 spending The wording has been softened but the auditor general’s verdict remains much the same: the Harper government kept Parliament in the dark about a $50-million G8 fund that sprayed money on dubious projects in a cabinet minister’s riding. The final report on the G8 legacy infrastructure fund concludes that the government “did not clearly or transparently” identify how the money was going to be spent when it sought parliamentary approval for the funding. Moreover, the report criticizes the utter lack of documentation to explain how and why 32 infrastructure projects in the Parry Sound-Muskoka region in Ontario were selected to receive the government largesse. And in a separate chapter, the auditor general says spending on operations and security for the G8 and G20 meetings in Ontario was presented piecemeal to Parliament instead of in a package, leaving MPs poorly informed about total costs. “Supporting documentation is important for transparency and accountability.”
Clement sees irony of gag order on spending cuts, vows transparency Tony Clement recognizes the irony. The Treasury Board President’s favourite speech of late is a proclamation of the virtues of open and transparent government. Yet this week his own department issued what appears to be a government-wide gag order that would keep the details of spending cuts secret months after Budget 2012 is released. Mr. Clement said he is investigating the reason for the order, promising to make sure the cuts are fully disclosed. “What I can assure you is, first of all, that memo didn’t come from me,” Mr. He acknowledged that his open government message would be at odds with a clampdown on information about spending cuts. “If that were the case, I would be crushed by the irony, but that is not the case,” he said. The dustup over the memo highlights concern that even though the Conservative government is just weeks away from launching an austerity program that will see billions of dollars chopped from Ottawa’s annual budget, the full details may be hard to come by. Mr.
Auditor blasts lack of transparency in doling out generous G8 funds The Conservatives hid their true intentions from Parliament when they funneled $50-million in discretionary spending in the riding of Treasury Board President Tony Clement and shielded the spending from normal checks and balances. In her final report to Parliament, Auditor-General Sheila Fraser comes down hard on the so-called G8 Legacy Infrastructure Fund, saying the “government was not being transparent about its purpose” as its obtained approval for the funding. The controversial program was 10 times more generous than similar initiatives tied to previous summits of world leaders in Alberta and Quebec. While $50-million in federal funds were disbursed in Mr. Mr. Ms. In a statement, he expressed his disapproval at the government’s handling of the G8 Legacy Infrastructure Fund, which the opposition has branded to be a pork-barreling scheme. “I am very concerned that documentation was not available within the federal government to explain how or why these 32 projects were selected,” Mr.