Ottawa, ON
This is certainly not something Prime Minister Stephen Harper needed leading up to Tuesday's election debate.
Canadians awoke today to be informed of a blistering report by Auditor General Sheila Fraser regarding the money spent on preparations for last summer's G8 Summit in Huntsville, which was in tandem with the G20 Summit in Toronto.
According to Fraser, the Conservative government misled Parliament and flagrantly bent legal guidelines in order to filter $50 million into the G8 Legacy Infrastructure Fund. That fund poured money into widely criticized projects in the riding of Parry Sound-Muskoka, a riding held by Tory Cabinet Minister Tony Clement.
The criticism isn't only about the spending, but where the projects that were invested in took place, many of which were well away from the Huntsville Summit site.
Among the projects: $100,000 on a gazebo an hour’s drive away, $274,000 on public toilets 20 km from the summit site, and a whopping $1.1 million for sidewalk and tree upgrades 100 km away.
However, word came Monday evening that there were even more questionable Summit expenses, many of which have left the Twitter/Facebook and other social media abuzz with disbelief.
According to Fraser, the Harper government expensed $9,460 for five "upscale haircuts" for the Prime Minister leading up to the Summit to ensure he "looked his best." Also in the report was a $30, 000 expenditure for a Laser-tag outing which the leaders engaged in on June 25th. Taking part were Harper, French President Sarkozy, Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi, and Japanese PM Naoto Kan.
The Harper Campaign could not be reached for comment at press time.
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