“Pork barrelling” nothing new in Canadian politics

According to the Auditor General's report on G8 and G20 spending, the Conservatives hid their true intentions from Parliament when they funneled $50-million in discretionary spending to the riding of Treasury Board President Tony Clement.

While Clement's indiscretions are the latest example of a government rewarding a riding for voting for them, it's by no means the first time it's happened.

During this past election campaign, Senator, turned candidate, turned Senator Larry Smith publically said it is "normal that more of Ottawa's money should go to Conservative ridings as opposed to those held by opposition MPs. He admitted that Conservative ridings are the sites of many federally funded projects and added that this practice, often referred to as pork barrelling, "is just part of political life."

The most recent example of pork barrelling came during the economic stimulus program.

As reported in the Ottawa Sun, in several provinces, Conservative ridings received an average of $3-$4 million more than non-Conservative ridings under the Building Canada Fund. Meanwhile, in Ontario, of the top 10 ridings in the province receiving infrastructure funds, four are represented by cabinet ministers, including John Baird, the Minister of Transport, and a fifth by the Prime Minister's parliamentary secretary.

Many will recall the HRDC scandal from the late nineties where Jean Chretien's Liberals set up a $300-million fund for job-creation projects in areas with high unemployment.

A strikingly high percentage was spent in the Prime Minister's riding of Shawinigan on projects linked to his supporters. $8.5-million in grants was spent in Chretien's riding compared to monies spent in Alberta ($3.8-million), Saskatchewan ($5.3-million) and Manitoba ($5.5-million) during the same period.

In 1980, Pierre Trudeau's government introduced the Special Recovery Capital Works Program to combat high unemployment. As reported in the Globe and Mail, figures released to Parliament as the program money was flowing showed that three-quarters of the funds for Manitoba wound up in the two (of 14) seats controlled by Liberals.

Tony Clement's "nest feathering" may not be popular with the public but this has become commonplace in Canada.