Stephen Harper’s latest accountability report – released to reporters while flying over Siberia – is more finance fiction, full of weasel words with no hard job creation results or economic stimulus spending figures, Liberal MPs said today.
“Far from being transparent, this report is full of weasel words that try to hide the truth from Canadians,” said Liberal Finance Critic John McCallum. “No wonder Mr. Harper released this report over Siberia – as far from Parliamentary scrutiny as possible.”
The report reveals the Conservatives’ plan to slash by 36 percent their expected spending on infrastructure this year. Two months ago, the government said it would spend $3 billion on infrastructure projects this year, a figure now lowered to $2 billion – a figure that Liberals predict will be much lower yet by year’s end.
“The Conservative stimulus plan is failing Canadians and our economy,” said Mr. McCallum. “The proof is that Canada had the second worst GDP growth of the G7 over the past 6 months. But in this report, the Conservatives hide behind a weasel worded, arcane statistic called ‘domestic demand’ to falsely claim Canada is leading the G7 out of recession.”
Liberal Infrastructure and Communities Critic Gerard Kennedy said the report insults Canadians by asking them to believe that 97 percent of the infrastructure stimulus fund has going out, when data on 1000 projects collected by the Liberals showed just 12 percent of promised projects were generating jobs.
“As predicted, this report is an expensive fairy tale. Billions of dollars have been tied up in the government’s political wrangling at the expense of Canadians who need work,” said Mr. Kennedy. “It is as insulting as it is misleading. Luckily, Canadians are much smarter than Mr. Harper gives them credit for and can see the job creation failures for themselves in their own communities.”
Liberals released a new slide show today of infrastructure projects that have yet to start, months after the Harper government said they would. While the Conservatives claim that 43 percent of projects are underway, their methodology labels projects as underway when they are up for tender – before they generate any construction jobs.
“Propaganda doesn’t feed families – construction jobs do,” said Mr. Kennedy. “While the Conservatives collect stimulus job creation results from the municipalities, they’re concealing the facts from Canadians because the truth would reveal the extent of their failure.”
To further prove that the report’s numbers don’t add up, Canadians should consider these facts:
• Only 4.6 percent of a $1-billion fund to renovate existing social housing units has been spent.
• Only 1.9 percent of a $400-million fund for low-income seniors’ housing is out the door.
• Only 0.1 percent of a $75-million construction fund to house people with disabilities has been spent.
• Less than 5 percent of the $2 billion Municipal Infrastructure Lending Program has been allocated.
• Less than a third of the $1-billion Green Infrastructure Fund has even been allocated.
• Only $300 million of the $12 billion Secured Credit Facility Mr. Harper promised for the auto sector has gone out.
