MP/MINISTER: Boondoggle Steve & Steamboat Tony
DATE: June 26-27
CITY: Fake Muskoka in Toronto
SPOKESPERSON: Dimitri Soudas (if he hasn’t been arrested by Parliament’s bailiff)
EVENT
Spend $1.1 billion to host world leaders in Toronto for G8/G20 photo-op. Make Toronto look like Muskoka and shove pork-barrel projects into Tony Clements’ Muskoka riding, including:
• $2.1 million for a fake lake inside the Toronto media centre
• $2.4 million for a brand new media centre hockey rink in Muskoka
• $400,000 for a steamboat that won’t be in the water until July
• $270,000 for a toilet 20km from the G8 site
• Two new gazebos – one an hour away from Huntsville, another near the new toilet
• $1.3 million for sidewalk and park upgrades in Parry Sound – 100 km from the G8 site
EVENT TYPE
Billion-dollar boondoogle
HEADLINE
“Fake Muskoka for journalists a loony plan” – Kingston Whig-Standard
“Fake Muskoka costs real bucks” – Ottawa Citizen
“G20 media centre with fake lake to cost $1.9M” – Toronto Star
“Liberal says G8 summit spending going down the drain” – Canadian Press
“Your tax dollars at work: a gazebo in the middle of nowhere” – Montreal Gazette
“In the penalty box this week: Steamboat Tony” – CTV’s Power Play
MEDIA IN ATTENDANCE?
Muskoka – NO
Fake Muskoka in Toronto – YES
AUDIENCE SIZE AND DESCRIPTION / TARGET AUDIENCES
Canadians and media: People who do not take kindly to extreme government waste at a time when the Conservatives have run up a $54-billion deficit.
VENUE DESCRIPTION
$2.1-million fake lake inside the Toronto media centre: “A sweeping dock surrounded by a ‘very large water feature’ complete with canoes, all facing a big-screen TV the size of a stadium jumbotron creating the sights and sounds of cottage country. Journalists will be able to lounge in comfy Muskoka chairs on what is likely the only cottage dock in existence with bar service and high-speed Internet connections.” (QMI Agency)
STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS / RECOMMENDATIONS
• Tony Clement funneled G8 and G20 money from programs directly under his control into projects in his home riding that have nothing to do with the G8 or G20.
• The Conservatives desperately clung to their plan of hosting the event in Minister Tony Clement’s riding of Parry Sound-Muskoka, even though it was an unsuitable location for the gathering of world leaders, until the last possible minute.
• Because of this delay, the government had no choice but to hold the event in Toronto and at enormous cost.
• In the most absurd example of the Conservative culture of deceit yet, the government built a fake indoor lake in the Toronto media centre, so that journalists could still feel like they’re in Muskoka.
KEY MESSAGES
• “This isn’t part of special G8 funding (even through it really is), it’s just regular tax dollars!”
COMMUNICATIONS PRODUCTS
• Damage control messaging
PICTURE
• Media lounging at fake lake inside, angry protesters outside
TONE
• Voter outrage
ATTIRE
• Swim trunks
MEP PREPARED BY:
Liberal Caucus Research Bureau
