The Harper Conservatives’ dismissal of Gerard Kennedy’s infrastructure analyses as nothing more than partisan spin doesn’t hold water when several other independent media analyses have found the same bias of spending towards Conservative ridings.
CBC News, cbc.ca, (Oct. 23, 2009):
“Conservative ridings are getting more economic stimulus money than ridings held by opposition members of Parliament, a CBC News analysis suggests.
“According to the analysis of the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, Conservative ridings have received about 60 per cent of the funding, compared with 40 per cent for opposition ridings. The Tories hold 143 of the 308 ridings in Canada, or 46.4 per cent.”
Globe and Mail (Oct. 22, 2009):
“A high-profile Harper government stimulus program created to build hockey rinks and other recreation projects has funnelled about 33 per cent per cent more money to Conservative seats than to opposition ridings in the battleground province of Ontario.
“An analysis by The Globe and Mail shows Tory ridings received an average of $2.1-million, compared to $1.5-million on average for opposition ridings.”
Ottawa Citizen and Halifax Chronicle Herald (Oct. 22, 2009):
“The Ontario riding of Industry Minister Tony Clement received 15 times as much money as a struggling Nova Scotia riding through a $1-billion program intended to help small towns hit by the failure of pulp mills, auto plants and other industries creamed by the global economic downturn.
Ottawa Citizen and Halifax Chronicle Herald (Oct. 20, 2009):
“Funds from a federal stimulus program designed to put hockey rinks and other recreation projects in communities across the country appear to be have been awarded disproportionately to Conservative ridings, an investigation shows.
Halifax Chronicle Herald (Oct. 13, 2009):
“Clement’s Parry Sound-Muskoka riding, which includes both affluent cottage country north of Toronto and poorer areas, got $7.4 million in projects under the Community Adjustment Fund, including $5.1 million for a new university residence, a Citizen-Halifax Chronicle Herald investigation shows.
“In contrast, the hard-luck, high-unemployment riding of Sydney Victoria on Cape Breton Island, which is held by a Liberal MP, received three projects worth a total of $480,000, as it struggles to cope with the recent shutdown of three auto parts plants. The unemployment rate in Cape Breton is 13.5 per cent. In Muskoka it is 6.8 per cent.”
“Tory ridings have landed 66 per cent of all projects so far announced under the Harper government’s Recreation Infrastructure Canada program, also known as RinC. The Conservatives have only 46 per cent of the seats in the House of Commons, so Conservative ridings appear to have landed 41 per cent more projects than had they been distributed evenly.
“The numbers suggest that opposition politicians are right to complain that the Tories are using politically desirable recreation facilities for partisan advantage.”
“Nova Scotians in Conservative ridings should be feeling a little action in their economic plan by now, because an analysis of federal stimulus spending in the province shows blue ridings are awash in pork.
“In fact, more money – $162 million – is being spent in those three Tory ridings than in Nova Scotia’s other eight ridings put together. Defence Minister Peter MacKay’s riding of Central Nova is the big winner, with $87.7 million in stimulus money, 13 times as much as the $6.6 million being spent in Dartmouth, held by a Liberal. In fact, Mr. MacKay’s riding received more money than all five Liberal ridings in the province combined.”
“The analysis by The Chronicle Herald supports the conclusions reached by a federal Liberal party report, which found that Conservative ridings across the country have been getting more federal economic stimulus funding than opposition-held ridings have.”
