Ministers Baird, Clement, defend roles in G8 spending
Posted Nov 2, 2011 04:35:07 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA – A pair of cabinet ministers are defending their role in the $50-million G8 infrastructure program, saying every cent was accounted for.
Treasury Board President Tony Clement and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird say spending in the Muskoka region for the 2010 summit was open and above-board.
Baird was infrastructure minister at the time and he signed off on the projects, which were mainly in Clement’s riding.
Clement acted as a sort of middleman between the federal government and municipalities in the region, which developed the infrastructure projects.
Baird says the G8 work had to be squeezed into about 15 months and to speed up approvals, an existing border infrastructure fund was used as a delivery mechanism.
But he says that fund was topped up so that no cash intended for border work was diverted to the G8 project.
