Mr. Speaker, I am rising to talk about a question I asked in the House. The government promised recreational infrastructure then turned down thousands of qualified projects across British Columbia. In B.C. alone, almost half of the proposals were rejected.
The Minister of State for Science and Technology bizarrely responded by saying that I was absolutely incorrect and that there were a number of projects accepted across the country, creating jobs from coast to coast to coast. Yes, there were some accepted, but almost half were rejected. That was my point.
Then the minister of state, again bizarrely, went on to say that I voted against any money for any arena in any part of Canada, which again was completely false, since the Liberal Party supported the government's budget in order to support people during a recession period.
In going over that interaction, I was very disappointed at the hon.minister of state's answer. It is an illustration of the lack of integrity in question period, in terms of answering the question, and it is a lack of respect for Parliament's role, which is to hold the government to account.
I have to wonder whether this lack of transparency by the minister of state has a purpose and serves the government's partisan, self-serving use of public funds. The money for recreational infrastructure was far more targeted at Conservative ridings than the percentage of Conservative ridings itself because 60% of the funds went to Conservative ridings, when only 46% of ridings are Conservative. We have seen this in other programs. We have seen it in the facilities to improve access for the disabled, where 90% of funds went to Conservative ridings.
Another point I made was that every sign for the Conservative's action plan cost money. Whether it is replacing a doorknob or a light bulb, there is a sign. Those signs cost, on average, over $2,000 per sign. This money should be used for recreational infrastructure, for playgrounds, for fitness facilities and senior centres, for field houses, all the things that were turned down by the minister responsible for the recreational infrastructure funding.
Canadians need recreational infrastructure funding for their health, for equality. Community centres in Vancouver Quadra, like Kerrisdale Community Centre, Point Grey and Dunbar, are desperate funds to update aging facilities so they can serve the public. The government, sadly, does not care much about families and their needs for recreational infrastructure. It has wasted money that should be spent on the priorities of families. It has wasted $1 billion with the G8-G20 nonsense that did nothing for Canadians. That funding could have funded every recreational infrastructure project across Canada.
My concern is the government's priorities are misplaced and its funding, using taxpayer dollars, is mismanaged.