Blocked Auditor-General report finds Harper guilty of misleading Parliament on G8 spending
Corruption, Latest news, World news Sunday, May 1st, 2011A blocked Auditor-General report reveals the Stephen Harper Conservative government misinformed Parliament to win approval for a $50-million G8 fund that lavished money on questionable projects in Conservative MP and Industry Minister Tony Clement’s riding. Auditor-General Sheila Fraser’s findings suggests the process by which the funding was approved may have been illegal.
Ms. Fraser analyzed the $1-billion cost of last June’s G8 summit in Ontario cottage country and subsequent gathering of G20 leaders in downtown Toronto and was to have tabled a final report in Parliament on April 5.
The report was put on ice by the Stephen Harper government, and won’t be released until sometime after the May 2 election. Why block the publication of the report? The report would be catastrophic for Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party’s election campaign.
Harper’s Conservative minority government was brought down because charges of election fraud and contempt of Parliament were laid against Stephen Harper and members of Stephen Harper’s Conservative government. Harper’s government was dissolved because of corruption.
The Auditor-General’s report reveals to the Canadian voters that Harper is not fit to represent the Canadian people because of the culture of corruption that he has brought to Parliament Hill. The blocked report reveals to the Canadian people and voters that the Harper government broke the law by misinforming Parliament in order to win approval for a $50-million G8 fund. The report reveals that the Stephen Harper government participated in a fraud – a felony.
Criminal Code of Canada
380. (1) Every one who, by deceit, falsehood or other fraudulent means, whether or not it is a false pretence within the meaning of this Act, defrauds the public or any person, whether ascertained or not, of any property, money or valuable security or any service,
(a) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to a term of imprisonment not exceeding ten years, where the subject-matter of the offence is a testamentary instrument or the value of the subject-matter of the offence exceeds five thousand dollars; or
(b) is guilty
(i) of an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or
(ii) of an offence punishable on summary conviction,
where the value of the subject-matter of the offence does not exceed five thousand dollars.
The Auditor-General’s report says a local “G8 summit liaison and implementation team” — Mr. Clement, the mayor of Huntsville, Ont., and the general manager of Deerhurst Resort, which hosted the summit — chose the 32 projects that received funding. It says there was no apparent regard for the needs of the summit or the conditions laid down by the government.
Among the questionable projects funded were:
» $274,000 on public toilets 20 km from the summit site.
» $100,000 on a gazebo an hour’s drive away.
» $1.1-million for sidewalk and tree upgrades 100 km away.
» $194,000 for a park 100 km away.
» $745,000 on downtown improvements for three towns nearly 70 km away.
It was common knowledge the Conservatives were “spraying money around like drunken sailors in Tony Clement’s riding” in the leadup to the G8 meetings, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said.
“What we didn’t know is that they lied to Parliament,” he added. “What we didn’t know is that they may have broken the law. This is not me telling you this, this is the auditor general of Canada.”
Mr. Ignatieff urged Mr. Harper to agree to release the report immediately, and to explain to Canadians what he called a “scandalous” abuse of public money and the parliamentary process.
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