Siobhan Coady

[Government Expenditures, June 14th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives seem to think they can get rid of the $56 billion deficit by giving out prizes. Here is the latest from the Treasury Board president: “find government waste, get a $10,000 reward”.

Since he has offered, I can give him an idea to save money. The government should scrap the fake lake and that will save $2 million. The government should give that $2 million, plus the $10,000 prize, I would think, to offset the cuts to women's groups and get on with the real plan to fight the deficit.

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 14th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the government has given the excuse that the G20 was too big to meet in Muskoka, so it moved it to Toronto, at an extra cost of $400 million at least. Now it appears that the Prime Minister has invited another 10 countries to the G8. Apparently the government could not quite handle the G20 in Muskoka, but it can handle the G18 just fine.

Was the Prime Minister not satisfied with having the G8 only? What is all this costing? There is no limit to what Canadians will have to pay for the Prime Minister's ego.

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 8th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, that is not all. The Minister of Foreign Affairs also denied that G8 funds went to washrooms located 20 kilometres away from the summit site. Yet, a June 2009 announcement by the Minister of Industry clearly stated the washrooms received $270,000 of federal money from the G8 infrastructure fund.

Instead of misleading Canadians, when will the government come clean on this Conservative billion dollar boondoggle?

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 8th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, in the face of public anger over the G8 wasteful spending, the Minister of Industry first tried to whitewash the $400,000 restoration for a sunken steamboat, saying it was not a G8 project, that it came from a different slush fund. Then yesterday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs said the project received no federal money at all.

Confusion along with mismanagement reigns supreme with this government. Is the minister saying he cancelled funding for the SS Bigwin or is it an attempt to mislead Canadians on this Conservative billion dollar boondoggle?

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 7th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, I would be really happy to table all the documents and articles from the minister's local paper.

The minister somehow thinks it is important to state that the steamboat is being restored using a different slush fund, not the G8 one. His riding is awash in excessive spending when neighbouring ridings have trouble affording essential infrastructure.

How much of the G8 boondoggle spending is sucking money from other program spending?

When will the minister come clean on how much money the government is spending to try to get him re-elected?

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 7th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Industry is engaging in fiction when he pretends a steamboat for which he authorized $400,000 was never meant to be a G8 project. The local municipal council passed a resolution to support the “SS Bigwin Steamship Restoration Project as a G8 Summit Project”. The website of the boat's builder even says that funds have been requested from “the G8 legacy program”.

If hauling out a sunken steamboat can be billed as G8 spending, how much more money is being squandered in this massive Conservative boondoggle?

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 4th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the only one speaking out of both sides of his mouth is indeed that minister.

It is not just steamboats, gazebos and sidewalks to nowhere. How about $270,000 from the G8 fund to buy a bandshell and new washrooms? The only problem is that those washrooms are located 20 kilometres away from the summit site. That is a long way to go when one has to go.

Given the Prime Minister's history of missing G8 photo ops, would the minister not agree that putting the new G8 washrooms 20 kilometres away from the summit site is poor planning indeed?

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 4th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, it is amazing that, once we put in infrastructure, the Conservatives think that is a bad thing.

It is not just security costs that are out of control: $1.1 million for a sidewalk that is 84 kilometres from the summit site; and $400,000 to restore a vintage steamboat that will not be in the water until two weeks after the G8.

Why does the industry minister not understand? Canadians deserve better than having their money spent to buy his re-election.

[G8 and G20 Summits, June 4th, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, Canadians are rightfully angry about the skyrocketing costs of the G8 and G20 summits.

When the Conservatives first chose the industry minister's riding for the summit site, they knew full well that holding it there was a physical impossibility. Now they have had to bail out Toronto at huge expense to taxpayers. It is a billion-dollar boondoggle.

How do the Conservatives justify their obvious gross mismanagement?

[Ethics, June 3rd, 2010]

Mr. Speaker, the Conflict of Interest Act prohibits public office holders from using their position to further the private interests of a friend. However, the former minister of public works admitted that he discussed his friend Rahim Jaffer's business proposal which the department then fast-tracked. Compliance with the act is a condition of a person's employment as a public office holder.

Will the Prime Minister explain the consequences for his minister's serious ethics violation?