Posted on 06/09/2011 9:08:04 PM PDT by Clive
OTTAWA - Parliament was "poorly informed" about the funding of the G8 and G20 summits last summer, and proper controls were missing from a $50-million legacy fund that showered money on Treasury Board President Tony Clement's riding, according to the auditor general.
Interim Auditor General John Wiersema tabled Sheila Fraser's last report Thursday.
In the much-anticipated document -- conflicting drafts of which were leaked during the election campaign -- Fraser slams the government for the way funds were requested for the two summits, and blasts the G8 Legacy Fund saying no public servants were ever consulted on the 32 approved projects in Clement's Muskoka riding that combined received $50 million from the fund, which itself was hidden in an $83-million request for funds to reduce congestion at the Canada-U.S. border.
"When government presents a request for funds to Parliament, it should be transparent about the intended use of the money," Wiersema said in a news statement, citing Fraser's report. (Fraser headed up the audit, but retired at the end of last month.)
As for the projects themselves, it turns out only Clement himself advised the infrastructure minister what projects to approve, and the AG points out there is no paper trail to explain why these projects -- including gazebos, public washrooms, a wooden fake lighthouse, and new sidewalks sometimes far from the summit site -- were approved.
Indeed, no public servant was involved at all in the project selection process.
"I am very concerned that documentation was not available within the federal government to explain how or why these 32 projects were selected," Wiersma said.
The report adds: "We asked Infrastructure Canada for documentation showing how the 242 projects were reviewed and selections made. The department did not manage the application intake or the identification of priorities for funding and, therefore, was not able to provide us with this documentation ... We could not conclude on project selection because documentation was not available to show how projects were chosen."
As for the summit funding, seven different requests were made to Parliament over two years from 14 different departments, and since the plans kept changing, it meant department estimates were rarely accurate.
In fact, although Parliament ultimately approved $1.1 billion for the two summits, it appears the true costs will be closer to $664 million, or slightly more than half.
"Because of the short timeframe to prepare for the summits, departments had to prepare budgets quickly, often with limited information," Wiersema said in the statement.
"As a result, the funding requests significantly overestimated the amounts needed."
For example, the RCMP missed the mark by $25 million on how much their hotel rooms in Toronto would cost. Instead of $600 per night, they were $200. Likewise, the budgeted $14 million in hotel rooms for the RCMP in Huntsville were never booked because of a change in plans. Originally, the RCMP budgeted $16 million to buy portable radios, but they actually only cost $5 million.
Likewise, National Defence budgeted for $11 million to use commercial aircraft, but were able to use their own planes most of the time, and used virtually none of the $11 million.
But, when it came to the summit spending, the auditor general found the money was spent on the intended purposes, despite Parliament being "poorly informed" about how much money was being requested and for what.
Just who do these arrogant pols think they are, Democrat Party USA?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.