Conservative Government Wastes $1 Billion on G20 Summit in Toronto « The Canadian Headlines Newspaper
Quite clearly the Government of Canada is tone deaf to the excess and waste in spending going on with the upcoming G8 and G20 summits.
Roughly a $1 billion is being spent on security alone, vastly more then the 30 million spent for security at the London G20 summit and 18 million at Pittsburgh. There are of course additional millions being spent on all the other summit related costs and goodies for Tony Clement’s riding. The latest estimate is 1.2 billion and rising fast.
This is wildly inappropriate for a summit that purports to address the plight of impoverished women and children with an emphasis on maternal health.
This silly and disgusting excess and waste of money is going to put the lie to any idea that they care at all beyond the hoped for political payoffs.
Now, we are told, the latest bit of unnecessary and ridiculous spending is, at a cost of millions, a faux Muskoka deck and lake built for reporters along with a free Blackberry with promotional information about holidaying in cottage country.
Far from being thrilled with their loot bag and the phony lake, all but the most venal will be disbelieving and disgusted. How can our government with a straight face suggest we have to withdraw from spending money on aid to Africa and tighten our belts etc.
Do they think anyone will regard this out of control spending as a demonstration of our concern for the suffering of the world?
Even if it goes smoothly, this summit will be an embarrassment and a giant black eye to Canada. This is not a collection of Mike Duffy’s coming together, there will actually be people in attendance who give a damn about the topics up for discussion and will not be shy about giving their opinions.
If Harper thinks our press is hard on him, ,just wait till the rest of the world’s media get a gander at Steve and Tony’s billion dollar boondoggle especially when compared with the costs of the summits in other countries. *
*Security costs at previous summits, LINK
- G8 summit Japan, October 2008: $381 million
- G8 summit Gleneagles, Scotland, July 2005: $110 million
- G20 summit London, April 2009: $30 million
- G20 summit Pittsburgh, September 2009: $18 million US