Government Operations Committee on Oct. 19th, 2010

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you, sir.

Mr. Regan, for five minutes, please.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Gentlemen, I think the reaction of most Canadians to this fake lake was, “Look, we've got a few other lakes in Canada; we've got a few real lakes. In fact, we've got thousands and thousands of real lakes in Canada. Why the heck do we need to spend $1 million or whatever on a fake lake?”

I guess the question I have for you is whether anyone in the Conservative government ever called you or your offices to say, “What are you doing here with this fake lake--shut it down.”

[Peter McGovern]

Mr. Chairman, excuse me if I gave the impression that the corridor was solely about a fake lake. There was a reflecting pond. That reflecting pond was used by thousands of journalists over the course of the meeting, including breakfast television in the U.K., which wanted to do a live broadcast from Muskoka to their audience in the U.K., only to discover, of course, that when you come on at two in the morning, it's somewhat dark out. As a consequence, they used the high-definition images of the Muskoka region as the backdrop for their live broadcasts. It was used by countless other media organizations. It was a draw that brought journalists in and then allowed them to—

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Chairman, if you don't mind, the question was very simple. The question was only “Did anyone call from the Conservative government and say that?” I guess you're saying the answer is no. Or are you answering that question? Did anyone call and say, “What are you doing--shut it down”?

[Peter McGovern]

No.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

No one from the Conservative government. Thank you very much.

As you know, Mr. Elcock, there have been some eyebrows raised by some of the expenditures, for example, $14,000 on glow sticks, snacks at the Park Hyatt hotel, and others. Where did these costs come from? Were these decisions that were made by you and your team solely, or were the different elements of the overall security operation making decisions on spending?

[Ward Elcock]

Mr. Chairman, there was a security plan, which was developed by the Integrated Security Unit with the cooperation of the various police forces involved. As a consequence of that, there were estimates of what would be required to deliver that security plan; it was costed out. There was a process to challenge those estimates, and from there the various police forces would have gone out to acquire the various supplies they would require.

Now, in some cases some of the supplies are contracted for on the basis that you plan for the worst and hope for the best. In other words, you have to be prepared for serious problems, not for a walk in the park, particularly when you're—

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

So glow sticks help with those serious problems in some way?

[Ward Elcock]

Pardon?

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Forgive me, but where do the glow sticks fit in, in terms of security and serious problems?

[Ward Elcock]

I can't speak off the top of my head to the glow sticks, but I would suspect, Mr. Chairman, that if there had been problems around the G-8 site in Huntsville, they probably would have needed more glow sticks than they may have otherwise used in what was a relatively quiet meeting, thankfully.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

You have one minute.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Oh, I thought you said I was going to be done.

My colleague, Madam Coady, has a quick question, I believe.

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Well, I'm just trying to get a handle.

You said there's a security plan and that you budgeted $930 million. Is that correct? Is that what we're understanding? Just a yes or no.

[Ward Elcock]

The budget estimate was ultimately $930 million, with a $50 million contingency.

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

Absolutely. So do we have that budget detail? I understood that you said you don't have all the costs in yet, so you don't know if you're within that $930 million or below that $930 million and where those appropriations were made.

[Ward Elcock]

As to the amount that was actually appropriated in estimates, I can't remember the exact number, but I think it's about $833 million. But that would not include EBP or accommodation costs; those would be the actual estimates numbers, roughly.

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

And one final question goes to those infrastructure projects. I'm hearing from you that the bathrooms and the lovely gazebos and the steamboat all came out of infrastructure spending. It was not under the $930 million you're talking about now; it's in addition to. That's what I'm hearing.

[Ward Elcock]

I think, as Mr. McGovern said, the infrastructure spending costs came out of neither the security budget nor his budget for the G-8 and the G-20.

[Siobhan Coady, Liberal, St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL]

So it's in addition to the $930 million?

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you, Madam Coady.

Thank you, Mr. Elcock.

We have two minutes for Madam Bourgeois, two minutes for Mr. Holder, and that will be the end of the questioning.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would first like to say that the committee will have to invite other people, especially the people from Infrastructure Canada and from Public Works and Government Services Canada since you are unable to provide us with either a breakdown of expenses or the exact costs.

Gentlemen, what strikes me about all this—and this is just a personal observation—is that, from the outset, the choice of the two summit sites was not up to you. It seems that there were four sites and the choice was made randomly, without worrying about how much Canadian taxpayers would have to come up with. It is clear to me that things were really done on the fly. There was no program, no project, no financial analysis, and I find that outrageous.

Could you tell me what came of the lake we heard so much about? Is it still there or has it been filled in?

[Peter McGovern]

No.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

It is no longer there? Has it been filled in? How much did the lake cost?

[Peter McGovern]

One million dollars.