Gerard Kennedy

Ottawa – The Federal government has a moral and practical obligation to cover all the costs that the G20 Summit imposes upon the residents of Toronto, Parkdale-High MP Gerard Kennedy told the Prime Minister in the House of Commons today.

Despite the severe inconvenience of hosting the G20 Summit in downtown Toronto, the federal government is refusing to honour its obligations leaving businesses facing lost sales and possible damage to property on their own and is sticking the city of Toronto with costs for staffing and safety related measures.

“Incredibly, despite having mismanaged the price tag for the Summit to over $1.3 billion, the Harper government is still not covering many basic cost,” said Kennedy, the official opposition Critic for Infrastructure, Cities and Communities, in question period today.

“This government is turning the honour to Canada of hosting the G20 into both a financial debacle, and an unfair burden on the businesses, residents and government of Toronto,” Kennedy added.

The City of Toronto has already had to undertake logistics such as moving 1,000 pieces of street furniture, and incurred $20 million in additional staff costs to date.

Businesses along the summit zone face significant losses and protest-related property damage without any reasonable support from the government.

The City of Toronto asked the federal government to move the site to a more practical location and it refused.

“Unfortunately, the Harper government’s idea of partnership with cities is “Do it my way”, showing a clear lack of respect towards Toronto and other cities,” remarked Kennedy.

Should someone be imprisoned for sharing the views of most Canadians on the Iraq War? That is the question being posed in part by my Bill C-440, soon to be considered at second reading in the House of Commons.

Parliament has voted twice to let Iraq war resisters from the United States stay in Canada. Now the Federal Court of Appeal has added its voice to the debate.

According to a schedule fixed by Ottawa, federal stimulus funding for municipal infrastructure works is to disappear in less than eight months

The federal Liberal infrastructure critic says a new report on the stimulus program proves the Conservative government, not Canadian municipalities, is to blame for a delay that will leave many projects unfinished by March 31.