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Public spending is an easy partisan issue, witness the Liberals going to town on the recent G8 summit.
“The Opposition Liberals have stepped up their offensive on the federal government over newly released expenditure reports for this summer’s G8 and G20 summits, labelling its spending on the events an “orgy of excess.”
One could cookie cutter the parties names around and the above statement could be just as easily coming out of a conservative opposition versus a Liberal government (although probably with more wailing about taxing and spending etc).
The reports include details of $80 million spent on food and accommodation, more than $34 million on telecommunications and electronics and almost $17 million for vehicle rentals and transportation.
During Friday’s question period in the House of Commons, Liberal Deputy Leader Ralph Goodale said Canadians are appalled that the government “squandered” their tax dollars on dozens of summit contracts, including $85,000 for snacks and $14,000 for glow sticks.
Costs add up when you are protecting the elite consensus makers from the rabble and democratic input. Tax dollars would have been “squandered” by any government hosting the G8. What is important in this story is the accountability to the people who are paying the bills. If this event was run privately we would have no access to the balance sheet and therefore no say on whether what we did was justified or not.
Public spending is held to a higher standard of accountability than private spending and that is a good feature of purportedly democratic society. Another feature is that we, the public, can have a say on the spending that is taking place. Admittedly, one voice cannot change the will of government, but with organizing and planning the voices of the people can be heard.
Contrast this with private spending in the public sphere which often comes with little accountability or responsibility.
“No final price tag has been given yet for the dual summits in Muskoka and downtown Toronto, but the overall cost has been estimated to be about $1.24 billion, including at least $930 million for security.
The auditor general’s office says a report on the security costs of the G8/G20 summits is scheduled for spring 2011.”
Was spending 1.24 billion worth it? Given the poor economic timing of such a large expenditure probably not, especially not the fake lake.
Our current Canadian Government is funny. It campaigns to be tough on crime while cutting funding to women’s groups and trying to kill the Gun Registry. Another ‘fixture’ in the Conservative platform is a strong sense of fiscal responsibility and wise money management.
Obviously, the best way to show Canadians about sound fiscal management going on under watchful Conservative government is to build a two million dollar fake lake. I am not making this up, we are adding another two million dollars onto the millions we are pissing away on the G8 summit.
“Prime Minister Stephen Harper has defended building a $1.9-million tourism pavilion at the G8/G20 summit media centre in Toronto that includes an artificial indoor pool to simulate Ontario’s cottage country.”
One of the traditional ‘selling points’ about Canada is our abundant natural environment. Apparently, Mother Nature fails in the Conservative play book.
Your Tax Dollars in Action!
So instead, lets build a fake lake.
“His comments[Harper] came as the government scrambled Tuesday to correct the price tag associated with the so-called fake lake at the $1.9-million G8/G20 “Experience Canada” pavilion in Toronto’s Direct Energy Centre.
During Tuesday’s question period in the House of Commons, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff asked how Harper could instruct other countries how they should manage their own funds amid the government’s “astonishing” waste of taxpayers’ money on the summits.
The Liberal leader also questioned how much the public could expect to see at the end of three days of meetings, with topics such as climate change not even on the agenda.
“Canadians wanted leadership, and all they got was a fake lake,” Ignatieff told the House.”
I think Ignatieff is being a little hard on Harper and the government. I mean, for a 3 day meeting experiencing the (simulated) Ontario cottage country 1.9 million dollars is super cheeeep! Only more outrageous things could cost more such as, oh say, actually going to cottage country?
Wait..no no no it can’t be just a lobe shattering grossly negligent abuse of the public purse. It is a marketing opportunity! Steven the Harper-Douche says so!
“In fact, it’s a $2-million marketing project,” Harper said, “We must not miss this opportunity.”
The mock lake inside the centre will actually be a 10-centimetre-deep pool, built at a cost of $57,000, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon told the House. It was initially reported the pool itself cost $1.9 million.
Liberal MP Mark Holland hit back, saying $57,000 is more than the annual income for 40 per cent of Canadian families.”
Amazing! I’m sure the ‘buzz’ generated will pay big dividends to the poor people of Canada, I can just imagine the dollars rolling in!
This government is anything but fiscally conservative when it comes to spending the tax dollars of Canadians.
Extra Bonus!
The Liberal Party does Fake Lakeing on the Thrifty-Side!
“OTTAWA – Creating fake lakes for the amusement of reporters appears to be turning into a cottage industry.
Liberals have installed their own water feature in the garden at the Official Opposition leader’s residence in Ottawa.
And, they’ve done it for just $19.95 _ a fraction of $1.9 million the Harper government is spending to recreate the look of Muskoka cottage country in a Toronto media centre for the G-8 and G-20 summits.
In the middle of Liberal Leader Michel Ignatieff’s yard was a blue plastic children’s wading pool. A cardboard plaque proclaimed it to be “Fake Lake Harper” and warned “No Diving.”
Another sign declared the pond to be a project funded by the federal economic action plan, “supporting Canada’s fake lake industry.”
Obviously some political hay is being made at the Conservative Governments’ expense. I’m okay with that.
“Reporters were invited to lounge on vinyl Muskoka chairs and watch plastic ducks and tiny boats bobbing in the pond, while recorded loon calls played in the background. Life jackets were available for anyone who wanted to venture into the three-inch deep waters.
One boat _ carrying muppet Ernie and his rubber duckie _ was dubbed the “Captain Tony,” after Industry Minister Tony Clement, whose Muskoka riding has been flooded with cash in advance of the G-8 summit.
A remote controlled craft with a plastic action figure glued to its deck was dubbed the “Stuntwell Day” — a reference to Treasury Board president Stockwell Day, who once famously arrived for a press conference wearing a wetsuit and riding a personal watercraft.”
This will end badly for the Conservatives. Probably not as bad as their leader arriving to a press conference on Jetski, but close.
I miss the days when the Conservatives could actually display how batshite crazy they actually are. Thanks to the Harper 'Muzzle on the Crazy' we'll have to be happy with the Fake Lake-Gate scandal.
We'll get to your problems soon, we promise.
For all the hoopla the regular G8 conferences cause what really happens there. It seems one of the more anti-democratic features of the ‘new globalized economy’. According to the CBC the tough issues will not even be seriously discussed.
“A leaked draft of the final communiqué for the upcoming G8 summit suggests Canada has dodged a bullet on the thorny issues of abortion and climate change.
The draft, obtained by The Canadian Press, says the world’s most powerful countries are prepared to throw money at “all factors” affecting the health of women and children in poor countries but doesn’t specifically mention abortion.
There is no agreement yet on specific funding for the maternal initiative, climate change, food security or aid to developing countries, despite strong words urging concrete measures.”
Our anti-choice Prime Minister and his merry band of pro-life fascists are out to scuttle reproductive freedom for the Third World. It is good to know that we will stick to our ideological beliefs in the face of the facts (abortions save womens lives).
“Action is required on all factors that affect the health of women and children,” the document says. “This includes addressing gender inequality, ensuring women’s and children’s rights and improving education for women and girls.”
Message to Harper Government: Women are people too.
Hello, hello?! Abortion is a part of women’s rights! But hey it is just the womenz anyways marginalizing them has always been a slam dunk.
Climate Change though, WoW! Canada looks like to be putting forth this bold initiative:
“On the environment, the only thing G8 negotiators have apparently agreed to is that fighting climate change shouldn’t hurt countries’ economies — a position the Harper government has been pushing.”
Taking the status quo is really a non initiative. Restructuring our economy so we are not shitting in the air we breath and the water we drink is going to hurt economically. It is necessary to do it sooner than later because right now we have the choice to do it, when our ecosystems ‘decide‘ they have had enough of us I assure you, gentle reader, that the economies will be much more than “hurt”.
I don't do "women's rights".
Steven Harper does not believe in female autonomy. If his mendacious crew of ethically challenged social conservatives ever took power women across the country would have to mobilize and shut this country down to protect our reproductive freedoms. Evidence of the Conservative disregard for women is writ large as the Conservative government has decided, as a part of its’ G8 platform on women’s issues, not to fund abortions as a part of maternal reproductive care in the third world.
You would think that outright crazy crank-batshittery would take a holiday at least once in awhile. Unfortunately for us Canadians we are still given the pleasure of living under the yoke of religious-inspired delusional conservative ‘morals’ . Rule one in their insipid handbook of perfidious ass-hattery is this: If ye be woman, ye shall not have rights – especially when the holy fetus is involved. Let us examine what the Canadian government stance is, from the CBC report on our G8 position:
“International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda said the government would consider funding family planning measures such as contraception, but not abortion under any circumstances.
“We’re saying that we’re using the definition in our discussions of family planning, which does not include abortion,” Oda told reporters on Monday in Halifax, where she was meeting with her G8 counterparts.
“We’re not debating abortion; we’re clarifying family planning.”
Which is akin to making a garden salad without any allowing the use of any lettuce. Thank you Bev Oda for your wonderfully refreshing anti-woman stance. It is always hearting to see government policy based on fatuous religious beliefs, because the the frak needs evidence?
The Lancet has called the Canadian Conservative Government on its mendacity:
Canada’s position against funding abortions abroad is ‘hypocritical and unjust,’ a medical journal editorial says (via the CBC).
“The Canadian Government does not deprive women living in Canada from access to safe abortions; it is therefore hypocritical and unjust that it tries to do so abroad,” the Lancet says in an editorial Saturday.
The conservatives hypocritical? Not this bunch, the very same that want to abolish the gun registry despite the fact that police forces across the nation are strongly in favour of the gun registry. This is the same group of politicians who gleefully brought down the Martin minority government on charges of corruption that are now currently wallowing in the Jafer/Afghan Detainee accountability scandals of their own (not to mention the unwarranted prorogation of parliament). I digress. The Lancet editorial brings us back on track though:
“Although the country’s decision only affects a small number of developing countries where abortion is legal, bans on the procedure, which are detrimental to public health, should be challenged by the G8, not tacitly supported. Canada and the other G8 nations could show real leadership with a final maternal health plan that is based on sound scientific evidence and not prejudice.”
Decisions based on evidence? What is this crazy talk about ‘evidence’ you leftard crypto-fascist Lancet editors?!
“The Lancet said the plan’s omission of improved access to safe abortion services “is no accident, but a conscious decision by Canada’s Conservative Government not to support groups that undertake abortions in developing countries.”
“This stance must change,” the editorial said, noting 70,000 women die from unsafe abortions worldwide each year.”
Ah, but it is only 70,000 women who die per year. Come on they are just people women after all.
Rona Ambrose, who I would not trust to successfully rub two dimes together, spouts the following tom foolery as a ‘reply’:
Rona Ambrose, the status of women minister, defended Canada’s G8 initiative, citing a statement by World Vision Canada that the abortion debate was clouding the issue while 8.8 million children die every year from causes that would cost pennies to prevent. World Vision, one of the world’s largest humanitarian organizations, opposes abortion as a family planning method.
Ah, yes those damn womenz and their bodies. They just need to shut the f*ck up and die quietly.
Ambrose said the government wants to save the lives of women and children, Ambrose said.
“We ask the opposition to stop playing politics with this issue.”
Ah, yes I am guessing ‘Playing politics’ actually means: Stop debating our irrational faith based position with real world evidence and fact. You are just not playing fair; being all evidence based and supported by fact and what not. Let us leave reason firmly outside the political playpen.
Playing politics indeed. The buffoonery that passes for reasonable arguments from conservatives is shocking. How many clown cars need to be called in before Canada squares its position on abortion with reality?
I’m guessing not until the Conservatives are out of power and once again bidden to the background, where they belong.
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