During the election campaign, the government explained that the lack of a paper trail for the G8 funding in Tony Clement's riding was the consequence of necessary speed. Things needed to be done quickly, so the necessary checks in the system had to be discarded.
But The Toronto Star reports this morning that plans to funnel G8 funds to Clement's stomping ground began as early as 2008:
Municipal records from Gravenhurst and Bracebridge show that as far back as 2008 Clement and his local Conservative political team in Huntsville began drumming up projects in the Muskoka area that would qualify for G8 legacy funds. Those who had a hand in shepherding the proposals through the approval process were Clement’s constituency team, staff in his ministerial office and government officials under Clement’s authority.
When the Auditor General asked to see documents which tracked the funding, she was told that, “Senior officials were not able to provide us with any information and said their input had not been sought as part of that process.” But documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act indicate that:
federal bureaucrats were actively involved in the file at various points, suggesting that senior government officials were either consciously involved in a cover-up or had been kept in the dark about the activities of employees in Industry Canada, including FedNor, Infrastructure Canada and Foreign Affairs, which housed the Federal Summit Management Office.
There is a reason the government sits on information. When such information sees the light of day, it reveals the Harper Government's utter hypocrisy. Let's not forget how Mr. Harper worked himself into a lather over the Sponsorship Scandal and how he rode that scandal to power.
So much for Conservative virtue.
4 comments:
Whenever you discard checks and due process in the name of 'efficiency' or 'expediency', you're hacking away at the very foundations of western democracy. If you can't be bothered to respect democratic values in small things, then how can you be trusted to respect them in large things?
Everything must be paid for eventually. In the production of physical goods, you pay a bit in safety and maintenance now, or you pay a lot later. Why should our democratic institutions be otherwise?
Absolutely true. The problem is that these folks are like termites, gnawing at the foundation of the house.
If they are ignored, the entire structure will fall -- the victim of neglect.
This and worse was reported about the harpercons in the past.
The trouble is that their whining, hypocritical voting base doesn't care, for all their screeching about accountability.
Of course, any party that wins power in the future can now shout "B-b-but the CONSERVATIVES!" in the same way those jerks still refer to AdScam.
The knee jerk conservative base would vote for a gorilla if a "no taxes" sign were hung around its neck, thwap.
The Conservatives won because they learned how to efficiently manipulate votes in key ridings.
There is a lesson there for all of us. The Liberals and the NDP should take note.
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