Tony Clement used G8 money as personal slush fund: Gravelle

Nickel Belt MP Claude Gravelle is asking the federal government to explain new documents outlining Parry Sound-Muskoka MP and FedNor Minister Tony Clement's use of “G8 Legacy money as a $50-million personal slush fund.

Nickel Belt MP Claude Gravelle is asking the federal government to explain new documents outlining Parry Sound-Muskoka MP and FedNor Minister Tony Clement's use of “G8 Legacy money as a $50-million personal slush fund.”



During the first day of this fall's Parliament Sept. 19, Gravelle also asked why Clement “improperly involved FedNor staff and devised a system that would skirt transparency and accountability.”



“The Auditor General was kept in the dark about the Minister’s homemade funding process. Deputy Ministers signed off on inaccurate statements,” Gravelle said during Question Period.



“The summit management office misled about their involvement with funding meetings. And the minister went ahead with these slush fund meetings in the middle of an election campaign. Allocating funding out of the backroom of your constituency office is not ethical government. Will this Minister finally apologize to Canadians for this abuse of their trust?”



Gravelle told the House mayors in Clement's riding determined criteria for project funding, and Clement improperly involved FedNor staff.



This evidence obtained by New Democrats through municipalities in Muskoka contradicts the story given to the Auditor General by government officials, a press release from Gravelle said.



New Democrat ethics critic Charlie Angus said these new documents raise major questions as to whether the Conservatives engaged in a cover-up to prevent the Auditor General from learning the true extent of the Muskoka slush fund.



The documents reveal the elaborate lengths Clement went to set up his own funding process to distribute $50 million, the press release said.



The projects were chosen by a small group of mayors at meetings chaired by Clement, according to the press release.



“They wrote their own criteria for the projects, nominated projects for approval and then rubber-stamped the results,” the press release said.



“On top of all that, Clement used his constituency office to handle the intake of project proposals, with FedNor staff present.”



Angus said Clement broke all the rules when it comes to the G8 Legacy fund and that Canadians deserve answers.



“Haven’t we learned any lessons from the Liberal sponsorship scandal?” Angus said. “Canadians deserve better. Sadly, it seems the Conservatives took all the wrong lessons from the Liberal sponsorship scandal — they're just trying to make sure they don't get caught, rather than making sure it doesn’t happen again.”



-Posted by Heidi Ulrichsen