Opposition Holds Tories’ Feet to the Fire over G20 Costs

PARLIAMENT HILL, Ottawa—A scorching of the government by the opposition parties over spending on the G8 and G20 summits has dominated question period for weeks now, displacing parliamentary privilege and other issues.

With costs purportedly breaching $1.3 billion, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is charging that the government lost control of the spending for the events.

“It is also a question of the government changing the venue at the last minute, splurging on decorations, inviting half the guest list with 10 days left, and the prime minister is going to shut down the entire neighbourhood. A bake sale would not be run like this. A children’s birthday party would not be planned like this,” said Ignatieff during question period on Wednesday.

Prime Minster Stephen Harper and his ministers have largely deflected allegations of misspending by saying that security costs have climbed due to the ongoing threat of terrorism and that world-class events like the G8 or G20 summits have associated costs.

They have also pointed to the events as a way of marketing Canada, suggesting there could be some return on money put toward the summits.

Harper has also used Canada’s relatively booming economy to divert attention from the cost of the summits to an arena where he has little to apologize for.

“The Liberal Party seems extremely angry that Canada is leading the world right now in terms of the economy, not just through chairmanship of the G8 and G20 but also, obviously, through the strong performance of the Canadian economy, some of the strongest job creation in the advanced world, the lowest debts, the lowest taxes, the strongest banking system, the strongest balance sheets,” he countered in his exchange with Ignatieff on Wednesday.

Besides the amount spent, there were also questions about how that money was spent. The opposition is alleging that 85 percent of the contracts went out through sole-source contracts, while the government says fully 90 percent were tendered out for bids. The Liberals have begun asking the government to let the auditor general review the contracts.

The opposition parties have failed to get traction with other issues in terms of public opinion, perhaps explaining why those issues have largely dropped off the radar.

“It’s because they haven’t got anything better to talk about,” said Ned Franks, a professor emeritus in the department of political studies at Queen’s University and a respected expert on Parliament.

He said the extraordinary cost of the G20 and the inconvenience of having it in downtown Toronto have raised the ire of citizens like himself.

“I would be happy to see them held in some other country,” he said.

That sentiment seems to be shared by a good many Canadians. An Ipsos Reid poll released last week found that two-thirds of Canadians thought the money spent to host the summit was a waste, with one-third thinking it was a worthwhile investment.