Government Operations Committee on Nov. 18th, 2010

[Sandra Young]

The total cost that's listed on the spreadsheet covers everything. I wasn't aware to the level of detail that they did it twice, but I can tell you that when we do issue contracts, there is a standard that is set and it is up to the contractor to bring the site up to that standard.

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

Could you get back to me as to whether or not it was actually levelled twice?

[Sandra Young]

Yes, I'd be happy to do that.

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

Also, I understand that the improvements were then dug up and taken away or obliterated after the G-8. Could you explain to me why that was done, and was there an additional cost incurred?

[Sandra Young]

Well, again, all of that is factored in up front, and it was about leaving the site the way we found it. The owner has that decision. It was factored into the cost of upgrading the site, and all of that is factored in up front.

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

Okay, so you're going to get back to us on the other information?

[Sandra Young]

Yes, for sure.

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

Thank you.

I want to turn to the transport and infrastructure questions again. I know that Infrastructure Canada allocated $50 million, I believe, for the G-8 legacy fund. How many applications were there? How many projects did Infrastructure Canada review, and what were some of the projects actually turned down?

I'm curious only because some of the ones, such as the lighthouse that was 20 kilometres away.... It's just interesting what was approved as opposed to not approved.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Be very brief, Mr. Conrad.

[Bryce Conrad]

The short answer is that a large number of projects were identified as priorities by municipalities, as you can appreciate. Municipal governments supported each one of these projects via a council resolution.

We received more projects than we funded. I can tell you of one that I'm aware of that we deemed to be ineligible for funding simply because it amounted to general cleaning and debris removal from the—

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you, Mr. Conrad.

I would just say to all colleagues that if you look towards the chair near the end of your time, we won't have to have questions go unanswered.

Mr. Calandra is next.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Listen despite what you're hearing from the opposition coalition, make no mistake about it: what they're saying is that each and every one of you is completely incompetent, that none of you deserve to have the job you are doing right now, and that somehow—

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

Point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Mr. Calandra, we have a point of order.

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

I take personal exception to that, and I'm sure my other colleagues do. This is not a point of saying that anybody in this room is incompetent, especially our guests. We have the highest regard for our civil servants and we want to make sure they understand that. This is about the decisions this government has taken.

I certainly wish he would withdraw that comment.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

That's not a point of order but a point of debate.

I do have a point of order by Mr. Warkentin.

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Peace River, AB]

I was going to ask if that was really a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Okay.

Mr. Calandra, you have—

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Wetaskiwin, AB]

That's a good decision, Chair.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

What they're suggesting is that the decisions you helped make in preparation for the summit were incompetent. For my part, as a member from the greater Toronto area, representing Oak Ridges—Markham, I think the summit was an extraordinary success for the people of my region. I think it was an extraordinary success for the people of Canada, and for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. They have had extraordinary success as a result of this summit.

I knew that when the Liberals turned on the TV today, I was going to have some trouble, because I didn't bring my tinfoil hat with me and I'm getting all of these conspiracy theory signals through the signals the TV is giving me. So let me just follow this line of conspiracy talk with a question, I guess, to Mr. Potter.

You said that a contribution agreement was signed in March of 2010 and a further agreement in June of 2010. Did you know in March that the member of Parliament for Vaughan, Mr. Bevilacqua, intended to resign his seat? Did you have some advance notice? Did he call you, did he confirm and confide in your department that it was his intention to resign his seat in September? And did you and your department purposely put in a date that would have an impact, because the Liberal member of Parliament for Vaughan called you in March and said, “Listen, I'm resigning, so you'd better pick a date in December”?

[Mark Potter]

Thank you for the question.

I can assure you that in terms of the work that I and my colleagues undertook there is absolutely no relationship between the process of due diligence and negotiation with respect to these contribution agreements and any electoral considerations.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

Obviously Mr. Bevilacqua didn't call you, and he actually resigned in September. It was on September 3, I believe, after the summits were done and everything was completed.

What you have here, again, is a massive fishing expedition. My friend Mr. Warkentin, my colleague, always likes to talk about fishing expeditions. I'm sorry, it's a bit frustrating, because what you see is a complete disrespect from the opposition coalition. Not one of the people asking questions here has the absolute decency to have a GTA member asking questions with respect to the summit. And why is that? It is because they know, the members of the GTA know, that this summit was an extraordinary success for the people of Toronto. It was, as I said, an extraordinary success for the people of Huntsville.

We've had the OPP come in and tell us that they're coming in under budget. We've had the chief of the Toronto police, Chief Blair, come in and tell us that he'll be under budget and that it was an extraordinary success in terms of policing.

I was extraordinarily proud of the role that York Regional Police played in this, and I was very proud when I talked to my colleagues in other countries. I just had a parliamentarian from Italy who was talking about the success of the G-8 and G-20 and how envious he is of Canada and their position with respect to the global economic downturn.

I'm just going to show this. This is a G-8 vanity set and it's from L'Aquila, when I went to Italy. When I got to my room in Italy there was this and there was a whole host of items. I have to be honest with you, when I got there I thought I didn't need any of that, until you were in the corridor, and then you realize that if you forget something you're not just leaving the security area to go to Shoppers Drug Mart to get yourself a comb or a brush. Once you're in the security corridor, you're in the corridor. You're being protected. So that's why we have to provide all of the things the delegates might need to protect themselves.

Mr. Chowdhury, I don't have a lot of time--

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

You have less than a minute.

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

--so I'll just say this. This government obviously puts a value on international relations. We put a value on international trade. We have agreements. We're starting agreements with India and all kinds of other free trade agreements. I think it's because of the success of these summits. What other jurisdictions in the world would do what the opposition would suggest: close our doors, not interact with foreign jurisdictions? Do you know of any other summits...? We don't even use paper plates and paper cups here in Parliament. Members of Parliament are talking about using plates, but here we use this. Here we have food for us in the back. What other summits in the world have you ever gone to where they use paper plates, where they don't feed the delegates, where they don't protect the people of international importance, and what other countries in the world are successful by closing their doors, by not engaging other world leaders and opening themselves up to trade?

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you, Mr. Calandra.

Unfortunately, Mr. Chowdhury, Mr. Calandra made a speech and didn't ask a question.

Ms. Bourgeois, you have five minutes, please.