New docs establish Clement selected slush fund projects

OTTAWA – New Democrat MPs Charlie Angus and Alexandre Boulerice released new documents today, obtained under the federal Access to Information Act, that shed light on Tony Clement’s role in selecting projects to fund with the G8 Legacy Fund.

“Clement has been repeating for months that he had no role in selecting which projects got money from the G8 slush fund. What we have today are documents from senior public servants directly contradicting the Minister,” said Angus, Ethics Critic for the NDP.

“At the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Minister Clement clearly claimed he didn’t pick the projects. He told us it would be wrong for him to have made the selections. He claimed it was the mayors who whittled down the list to 32 projects, from 242,” said Boulerice. “But the document we released today makes it clear that Clement misled the committee, the final 32 projects were recommended by Clement himself.”

On November 2, 2011 Clement told the Standing Committee on Public Accounts that he, the mayor of Huntsville and the General Manager of the Deerhurst resort “were not involved in selecting the projects” and called allegations of his personal involvement “mythology”.

Federal documents released today by the New Democrats state “A list of unsuccessful applicants was provided by the Minister's office to FedNor officials and letters were prepared in accordance with the direction received from the Minister's Office.” The document goes on to note that a list of the 242 potential projects was provided by Clement’s office, including “the 32 projects which were recommended by Minister Clement.”