The phrase “$1 billion dollar boondoggle” is being bandied around these days in relation to the G8/G20 security budget. Excuse me? What planet are Greg Weston and the others on?
I mean, we live in a post 9/11 world, an RBC bank in Ottawa was recently blown up by a fire bomb and we know that police are expecting thousands of protesters, many of whom have already threatened physical violence.
So, how is carefully preparing for those events — even to the point of providing comfort stations and port-a–potties—a boondoggle?
According to this source, a boondoggle is a project that wastes time and money for no useful purpose. So, while it is true that the security budget is going to be far more than anyone expected, it is not wasted or for no useful purpose.
So, why on earth are our national media and the opposition parties trying very hard to convince Canadians that the money for security will be wasted and could be better spent on other things? For examples of the coverage, other than Weston’s above, check out The Toronto Star among other sources.
You want to talk waste? You want to talk boondoggles?
What about the Ontario government’s $1 billion dollar e-health scandal where the money was completely wasted?
What about the several billion dollar federal long gun registry overruns for a system that, while it makes people feel like they are doing something to stop gun crime, does nothing whatsoever to save lives?
What about the $2 billion dollars identified in the mid 1990’s HRDC scandal, the arrests made and the many loopholes discovered?
And, what about the millions identified as wasted in the sponsorship fiasco for little or no work done?
Yet, throughout these million and billion dollar scandals, all under Liberal governments I might add, I cannot recall any of the national media complaining that the money wasted could have been better spent on other projects.
Double standards, pettiness and anti-Conservative bias? Possibly. But, whatever the motivation, for anyone to suggest that the G8/G20 security plan is a boondoggle of wasted resources, is not only foolish, but irresponsible as well because lives will depend on it.
In other words, leave the analysis for later, particularly after the federal Auditor General, Sheila Fraser, does what she is calling, a routine audit.
In the meantime, could we please reject the “boondoggle” hyperbole because it secures no one?
