World's most expensive photo-op

[Wezil]

Damn! This is likely going to hurt me a lot more than it hurts you.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/canada-the-teacher-as-uk-prepares-for-budget-blitzkrieg/article1595455/

I take this as evidence of good government?

Of course my remark was facetious (compared to many ****holes around the world we are doing quite fine) but I do point out good government is more than just keeping the finances in order, as important as that is.

Btw, I heard a discussion today relating to the last paragraph of the article you posted:

The Daily Telegraph said the cuts damaged provinces: “As provincial governments saw their health grants slashed, thousands of nurses were sacked and hospital waiting times soared.

A provincial conservative was defending the Harris legacy (his name is somewhat of a bad word these days) by pointing out the federal liberals were to blame as they had slashed transfers. She then went on however to give Harris the credit for making tough decisions because they were the right thing to do...

[notyoueither]

Yep. It's seldom as black and white as it is made out to be.

I'm still upset that you caused me to post something complimentary of the Liberals!

[Wezil]

Just keep in mind this was the same Paul Martin that was Finance Minister during Adscam.

[Asher]

Can the government monetize this lake after?

Some ideas: make it a nude bathing lake.

[Wezil]

10cm deep Asher.

Nude wading pool at best.

[Asher]

Deep water is not conducive to nudity. It doesn't provide good views.

10cm is ideal.

[Wezil]

Well then. Money well spent.

[BeBMan]

10cm deep Asher.

10cm is ideal.

[Wezil]

Yes BeBro, there's hope for you yet.

[Wezil]

In politics, always sweat the small stuff.

The original $2-million price for a fake lake inside Toronto’s G8-G20 media centre was the total Experience Canada pavilion estimate. It’s actually just a $57,000 puddle worth about 0.005% of the total $1.1-billion-plus summit price tag.

But the tourism project, including the infamous lake with dangling canoes, rocks and Muskoka chairs, is now guaranteed to become the symbol of the twin summits’ excessive spending.

Why it took the communications swat team inside the Prime Minister’s bunker more than 24 hours to correct the sticker price is curious. These guys have truth squads on standby to correct the most obscure errors of anti-Conservative fact.

Perhaps it’s because PMO communications director Dimitri Soudas is on the run from a House of Commons bailiff trying to deliver a summons to appear before a parliamentary committee. Or not. I digress.

Whatever the reason, the damage had been done by the time organizers figured out their error and blitzed media with the new figure.

But the problem is more obvious. Summit organizers must have only the most elementary, if any, media training.

Bored journalists waiting for something to happen that doesn’t involve exposure to tear gas, pepper spray or sonic cannons only require a lounge with oversized televisions tuned to the World Cup to be happy. They don’t need tourism propaganda.

But now we’ve been handed a running joke as a backdrop — a lake with a dock, artificial rocks and, in a beautifully symbolic move, the cry of the loon — so that international television reporters can give their hosts a daily giggle standing before the source of ridicule.

New Democrat leader Jack Layton is right. “Everybody is laughing. We have got so much natural beauty, you would think the last thing Canada would have to do is come up with a fake and full versions of our natural beauty.”

If the lake and city scape were the only things plaguing summit preparations, it might not be so optically warped.

But with the spectacle of sunken fire hydrants in new brick sidewalks, gazebos and gardens nowhere near the sites, you’ve giftwrapped the summits for opposition attack.

It’s no wonder Conservative MPs appeared uncharacteristically docile yesterday while Industry Minister Tony Clement, whose summit-hosting Huntsville riding has been wallpapered with outrageous payola, endured non-stop savaging.

When Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon pooh-poohed the lake’s $57,000 price tag, Liberal MP Mark Holland unleashed the comeback zinger of the week. “That is more than the annual income of 40% of Canadian families,” he shouted.

Even Stephen Harper winced.

The damage this small stuff is inflicting on the prospects of success for Harper’s world-stage showcase is starting to dawn on a panicking PMO.

They summoned media yesterday for a full-court press spin, complete with slides to sell the contentious features in such anemic form that the investment looked even shakier.

Sorry, spinners, it’s all too little, too late. Canada.com online poll results released yesterday suggest the summit has already become a greater domestic liability than international asset for Harper.

Even if, as expected, the parliamentary budget officer finds the cost acceptable, more than two-thirds of those surveyed blasted the summits as a lousy investment of taxpayer dollars.

“Canadians look at this and say it’s not worth the disruption. It’s not worth the money. It’s not even worth the prestige,” said John Wright, senior vice-president of Ipsos Reid.

In the meantime, opposition critics will continue to pinch themselves, hoping they don’t wake up as Conservative ministers gulp their way through Question Period by explaining they’re only replicating Liberal waste from earlier summits.

How pathetic.

The small stuff is causing them a big-time sweat.

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/06/08/don-martin-g8g20-becoming-a-liability-for-tories/

I could almost feel sorry for them if it wasn't our money being squandered.

[Wezil]

So far the G20 bunker remains secure. Not so for the rest of the downtown core.

The price tag just went up again.

[Asher]

They're burning cop cars now.

[Wezil]

A good portion of downtown has been trashed.

[Asher]

That's what you get for not voting Harper, *******s.

[embalmer42]

A good portion of downtown has been trashed.

I guess we know where you spent your afternoon.