The price of doing democracy

In the 2006 federal election, Tony Clement won his won his Parry Sound-Muskoka riding by a mere 28 votes.

In 2008, following election endorsements from local mayors on his G8 slush fund tailgate committee which he used to misdirect public funds intended for border infrastructure to gazebos and flower pots in his riding, he increased that vote margin to almost 11,000.

Fun with math : $50-million divided by the 21,831 that voted for him in 2008 = $2,290 per vote.

h/t DAMMIT JANET
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Steve's G8 Slush Fund

[updated below]

When the G8 leaders stayed for one night at the Deerhurst Resort as part of the G8/G20 $1.2-billion bunfest, their one-night stay probably didn't afford them the opportunity to fully appreciate all the benefits of the G8 Legacy Infrastructure Slush Fund spent in Industry Minister Tony Clement's riding.

"32 projects that received funding, many of which appear to have no connection to the needs of the G8 summit, chosen by Industry Minister Tony Clement, the mayor of Hunstville, and the general manager of Deerhurst Resort"

And "reducing congestion" at the border by putting up gazebos 50k away is a neat trick

The (Jan. 13th) draft report says that in November 2009, the government tabled supplementary spending estimates which requested $83 million for a Border Infrastructure Fund aimed at reducing congestion at border crossings. But the government did not reveal that it intended to devote $50 million of that money to a G8 legacy fund, even though Huntsville is nowhere near the Canada-U.S. border.

Also ... Auditor general Sheila Fraser is not pleased the Cons misquoted her about the G8 slush fund the day Parliament dissolved last month. Their dissenting opinion to the committee report to the House read :

All witnesses brought forwarded testimony demonstrating strong endorsement of the government's unprecedented transparency to summit costs. [lols]

The Auditor General, Sheila Fraser commented in this regard the following: "We found that the processes and controls around that were very good, and that the monies were spent as they were intended to be spent."

Well actually :

Fraser said the quote had nothing to do with the summits. Instead, the Conservatives falsely recycled an old comment she made on security spending by a previous Liberal government after the 9/11 terrorist attacks a decade ago. (emphasis mine)

Ouch.

Oh well, at least we still have all those nice Economic Action Plan signs.

Tuesday Update : More shenanigans. It would seem the dissenting Con report from the committee hearings into the G8/20 bunfest expenses that misquoted AG Sheila Fraser also managed to misquote Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page as well :

"The document suggests Mr. Page gave security costs for the summits a passing grade after they were held, when in fact the quotation the Conservatives attribute to him was plucked from a report on government estimates he prepared before the meetings."

Yeah. Steve the Economist wants this election to be all about the economy and the Cons' supposed record for solid fiscal management. Yet their best rebuttal to a committee report critical of that record at the G8/20 is to appropriate a ten year old positive assessment that was actually about the Libs and a quote the PBO issued before the summits even began. .