Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

Woodward & Bernstein & Alghabra

by Aaron Wherry on Thursday, October 15, 2009 4:27pm - 47 Comments

Former Liberal MPs are the new investigative reporters. Apparently.

Ontario was allocated about $1.1 billion in Infrastructure Stimulus Fund money, translating to about $90 for each Ontarian (according to the 2006 census). Mississauga was assigned $46 million (to be matched by the province of Ontario and the city of Mississauga). According to the 2006 census, it means that Mississauga only received $69 per person. The city of Mississauga received 23% less than the provincial average.

It gets worse. Looking at some cities that are represented by Conservative MPs, the numbers are even more disturbing. For example, Barrie received $129 per person, Niagara Falls received $200 per person, Cambridge received $170 per person, and Oakville received $279 per person.

Tags: Barrie, Cambridge, economy, government spending, infrastructure, Mississauga, Niagara Falls, Oakville, Omar Alghabra, stimulus

More by Aaron Wherry

Mike514

Ontario still has $600 million of its share of the stimulus fund to be announced by the federal government

So that Mississauga per-person number could go up if some of the remaining funds are directed towards non-Tory ridings.

Or that number could go down. We'll have to wait and see. Considering the amount of heat the Tories have been getting lately, I expect the remaining 600M$ to go towards Liberal/NDP ridings.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Thwim Thwim

Thank goodness someone is.. lord knows if we waited for the actual media to report substance we'd still think Chretien was in power.
AT1

This line of argument is somewhat weakened by the fact that the provincial Liberal government presumably also had a say in where the funds would be distributed. Each level of government, according to this, pays for one third of the project.

If this is truly an unfair state for affairs, shouldn't the provincial and underfunded municipalities be raising the alarm, rather than parliamentary partisans?

Stan L

No, why would they raise an alarm?, cities often have more than one riding and the riding by province are not aligned by the same boundaries as the Federal ones. Add to that that a mayor of the city doesn't know what other cities are getting, only what he has gotten (no comparative in other words)….in short, why would they notice if they don't have the 50 thousand foot view?

Too bad that that 2 million dollar action plan website wasn't delivered as promised with all the detail it was supposed to have…..then maybe I could see your point.
http://intensedebate.com/people/ChrisInKW ChrisInKW

Many apply. Only the vaunted few are chosen. And who is this mystical force who has the final say in approval of project applications?
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/ChrisInKW ChrisInKW

Many apply. Only the select few are chosen. And who is this mystical force who has the final say in approval of project applications?
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/ChrisInKW ChrisInKW

Many apply. Only a select few are chosen. And who is this mystical force who has the final say in approval of project applications?
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/ChrisInKW ChrisInKW

Many apply. Only a select few are chosen. And who is this mystical force with the final say in project approval?

Dave

If it were true…Missisauga is represented by a Conservative. So how does this compute?
http://intensedebate.com/people/delano_d delano_d

Shh, you'll jinx the New Narrative.
Foreigner

You do realize that Mississauga constitutes more than one riding (six, in fact), only one of which is presented by a Conservative.

http://www.intensedebate.com/people/VinceClortho VinceClortho

Now there is the 1st problem amongst many…..Is it that Mr Alghabra is saying that the Conservative who occupies the seat he formerly warmed isnt doing enough? Or that rest of Missisauga is being penalized because the others are Liberals.

This of course ignores the fact the projects had to be applied for by the municipalities and provincial government. Don't see that mentioned in Mr Alghabara's EXCLUSIVE report.

http://intensedebate.com/people/psiclone psiclone

Is it only me or is the smell of desparation by the LPC permeating every announcement they make most especially the self righteous pseudo-scandal of the day variety. It looks weak – someone should talk with Kinsella as it doesn't look good and if it keeps going like this will only get worse – stick to a real gameplan and drop the giotcha hunt then offer real alternatives and maybe the party might make some headway but as it stands it look so weak!
http://intensedebate.com/people/VinceClortho VinceClortho

Apparently some still do

http://jeanchretien.libertyca.net/html/0007.html

"OTTAWA; QUEBEC CITY – Jean Chretien, the Prime Minister, yesterday said his government had nothing to apologize for in seeking to reap maximum partisan political benefit from disbursing $1-billion worth of federal job grants across Canada each year.

He had always made sure since taking power in October, 1993, that voters were left in no doubt that it was his Liberals who were distributing such grants, he said.

"Listen," he added, "we are the government … I don't see why we can't try to get credit for what we do. I hope we do so. There is nothing to be ashamed in that."

Stan L

Nice quote….I see it used a lot lately, funny that

Problem is? this is a billion dollars that was distributed that the Liberals were trying to make sure they got credit for….cheap, yes……but at the end of the day, no one is saying that the billion dollars was improperly given to given to Liberal friendly projects or ridings…….just that they were trying to get as much mileage as they could with it.

Also, Chretien was 2 Prime Ministers ago now …….

http://intensedebate.com/people/VinceClortho VinceClortho

Now there is the 1st problem amongst many…..Is it that Mr Alghabra is saying that the Conservative who occupy's the seat he formerly warmed isnt doing enough? Or that rest of Missisauga is being penalized because the others are Liberals.

This of course ignores the fact the projects had to be applied for by the municipalities and provincial government. Don't see that mentioned in Mr Alghabara's EXCLUSIVE report.
hosertohoosier

Aaron, when the media (like say… you) uncritically accepts statements from partisan politicians, then perhaps yes, I suppose former MP's are our Bernstein's and Woodwards…

Well except that the data is sketchy. When I had checked in, Kennedy's data included no projects for Toronto and almost none for Vancouver and Montreal. This was because (according to Kennedy's staff) those announcements were made after they collected data. There were also virtually none for Quebec (which Kennedy's staff said was because the government website had incomplete data).

http://intensedebate.com/people/ChrisInKW ChrisInKW

Gosh, if only someone had made better data available.
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/ChrisInKW ChrisInKW

Gosh, if only someone had made the data available.

http://intensedebate.com/people/SisyphusThis SisyphusThis

No. It is only you.

Bingo

Ditto

http://intensedebate.com/people/Harbles Harbles

Minor counter to meme post but in Missisagua East Coolsville (Lib Albina Guarnieri MP) there is a sign from the Action plan stating that they are paying for the replacement (1/3?) of a sound redudcion wall along a part of <a href="http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=mississauga,+ON&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=48.030958,114.169922&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Mississauga,+Peel+Regional+Municipality,+Ontario&ll=43.578942,-79.623934&spn=0.000818,0.001742&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=43.579011,-79.624052&panoid=NoQN4FQzXIAF1kAf3mmcrA&cbp=12,175.09,,0,9.85"> Confederation Parkway. Probably peanuts in the scheme of things.
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Harbles Harbles

Minor counter to meme post but in Missisagua East Coolsville (Lib Albina Guarnieri MP) there is a sign from the Action plan stating that they are paying for the replacement (1/3?) of a sound redudcion wall along a part of Confederation Parkway. Probably peanuts in the scheme of things.
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Harbles Harbles

Minor counter to meme post but in Missisagua East Coolsville (Lib Albina Guarnieri MP) there is a sign from the Action plan stating that they are paying for the replacement (1/3?) of a sound reduction wall along a part of Confederation Parkway. Probably peanuts in the scheme of things.
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Harbles Harbles

Minor counter to meme post but in Missisagua East Cooksville (Lib Albina Guarnieri MP) there is a sign from the Action plan stating that they are paying for the replacement (1/3?) of a sound reduction wall along a part of Confederation Parkway. Probably peanuts in the scheme of things.
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Harbles Harbles

Minor counter to meme post but in Mississagua East Cooksville (Lib Albina Guarnieri MP) there is a sign from the Action plan stating that they are paying for the replacement (1/3?) of a sound reduction wall along a part of Confederation Parkway. Probably peanuts in the scheme of things.
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Harbles Harbles

Minor counter to meme post but in Mississagua East Cooksville (Lib Albina Guarnieri MP) there is a sign from the Action plan stating that they are paying for the replacement (1/3?) of a sound reduction wall along a part of Confederation Parkway. Probably peanuts in the scheme of things. Mind you that since that streetview image was taken the entire length of Confederation Parkway has been repaved and improved over the summer. I did not see any Action Plan signs when that was going on and the sign at the location on the above street view only appeared in the past few weeks.
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Harbles Harbles

Minor counter to meme post but in Mississagua East Cooksville (Lib Albina Guarnieri MP) there is a sign from the Action Plan stating that they are paying for the replacement (1/3?) of a sound reduction wall along a part of Confederation Parkway. Probably peanuts in the scheme of things. Mind you that since that streetview image was taken the entire length of Confederation Parkway has been repaved and improved over the summer. I did not see any Action Plan signs when that was going on and the sign at the location on the above street view only appeared in the past few weeks.
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Harbles Harbles

Minor counter to meme post but in Mississagua East Cooksville (Lib Albina Guarnieri MP) there is a sign from the Action Plan stating that they are paying for the replacement (1/3?) of a sound reduction wall along a part of Confederation Parkway. Probably peanuts in the scheme of things. Mind you that since that streetview image was taken the entire length of Confederation Parkway has been repaved and improved over the summer. I did not see any Action Plan signs when that was going on and the sign at the location on the above street view only appeared in the past few weeks. The sound reduction wall in question has one section knocked down by an auto accident (covered in wood) and some of the other bricks have cracks but otherwise it is still serviceable.
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Harbles Harbles

Minor counter-to-meme post but in Mississagua East Cooksville (Lib Albina Guarnieri MP) there is a sign from the Action Plan stating that they are paying for the replacement (1/3?) of a sound reduction wall along a part of Confederation Parkway. Probably peanuts in the scheme of things. Mind you that since that streetview image was taken the entire length of Confederation Parkway has been repaved and improved over the summer. I did not see any Action Plan signs when that was going on and the sign at the location on the above street view only appeared in the past few weeks. The sound reduction wall in question has one section knocked down by an auto accident (covered in wood) and some of the other bricks have cracks but otherwise it is still serviceable.
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/Harbles Harbles

Minor counter-to-meme post but in Mississagua East Cooksville (Lib Albina Guarnieri MP) there is a sign from the Action Plan stating that they are paying (1/3?) for the replacement of a sound reduction wall along a part of Confederation Parkway. Probably peanuts in the scheme of things. Mind you that since that streetview image was taken the entire length of Confederation Parkway has been repaved and improved over the summer. I did not see any Action Plan signs when that was going on and the sign at the location on the above street view only appeared in the past few weeks. The sound reduction wall in question has one section knocked down by an auto accident (covered in wood) and some of the other bricks have cracks but otherwise it is still serviceable.

http://intensedebate.com/people/ChrisInKW ChrisInKW

Probably another case of taking credit for something already completed, a la federal building in Charlottetown that was funded by the Liberal government 6 years ago and opened in 2006.
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/ChrisInKW ChrisInKW

Perhaps another case of taking credit for something already completed, a la federal building in Charlottetown that was funded by the Liberal government 6 years ago and opened in 2006.

Dot

Less Alghabra, and more Funct[h]ions and Relat[h]ions.
hosertohoosier

There is some huge cherry-picking going on.

Firstly, it is worth noting that Omar is only looking at a subsection of the stimulus budget. For instance, Ontario is getting 3 billion in additional gas tax money for municipalities, which is how a lot of the infrastructure is being funded. Already you don't have a representative sample if you are only looking at the 1.1 billion ISF. Disproportionately those kinds of projects are going to be in rural areas that don't have the tax base to improve infrastructure solely with gas tax money.

Secondly, there are other specific programs that benefit Mississauga disproportionately. For instance fully 20% of the recreation infrastructure fund is being spent in Mississauga. The GO trains (which Mississaugans use heavily) are getting 213 million.

I really wish the Tories would let Kevin Page do his job. If they did, they could finally discredit these kinds of accusations.

http://intensedebate.com/people/ChrisInKW ChrisInKW

In the vacuum of actual data, how would you go about tracking this?
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/ChrisInKW ChrisInKW

In a vacuum of actual data, how would you go about tracking this?

http://intensedebate.com/people/danby danby

Most of us agree: Let Kevin Page do his job

hosertohoosier

Moreover, it is in their ideological interest. If Harper really is a fiscal conservative (and I am getting my doubts), he would want projects to be costed accurately. Look at how CBO reports constantly undermine Obama (like the one that suggested the stimulus would lead to lower economic growth after a short-term boost, or its skepticism about his administration's unemployment projections – the ones that said with the stimulus US unemployment would peak a bit above 8%), or at least prevent him from taking more expensive routes.

Here are Obama's numbers…
http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/.a/6a00d834515c236…

FYI as of September the BLS has unemployment at 9.8%, and economic growth still hasn't bottomed out (plus unemployment is a lagging indicator). Intrade has an unemployment rate of 10% or higher at about a 70% chance of occurring.