It pays to vote Tory

Ron Seymour 2009-10-01 Kelowna Daily Courier:

The federal Conservatives are spending four times as much money on infrastructure development projects in their own ridings as in areas represented by the Liberals or NDP. Conservative ridings in B.C. have been promised an average of $9.3 million in grants, compared to an average of $2.2 million in ridings held by members of the opposition parties. “There‘s a pattern of Conservatives favouring their own ridings right across Canada, but what‘s happening in B.C. is the worst imbalance in the country,” Liberal infrastructure critic Gerard Kennedy said Wednesday from Ottawa. “It‘s a blatant example of the government exploiting the recession to help people in their own ridings at the expense of other Canadians,” Kennedy said. “It‘s old-style, pork-barrel politicking.”

The top 13 ridings receiving funding in B.C. are all Conservative. Kelowna-Lake Country, represented by MP Ron Cannan, came in at the seventh spot, with total federal funding commitments to date of $12 million. Tory Stockwell Day, who represents Okanagan-Coquihalla, a riding that includes West Kelowna and Penticton, has secured $4.5 million, ranking 16th among B.C.‘s 36 ridings. Infrastructure projects in the Okanagan-Shuswap, represented by Tory Colin Mayes, will be supported by $3.7 million in federal grants, for a ranking of 18th spot. Four of the seven ridings for which infrastructure funds have not yet been announced are held by either the Liberals or the NDP. The Liberals say the overall funding disparity means that Conservative ridings in B.C. have received an extra $158 million over and above what should be their share based on population. “Distributing these funds should have been an open, transparent, accountable process,” Kennedy said. “Instead, it‘s been a matter of Conservative MPs getting in there and making off with as much loot for their ridings as they can.” Attempts to reach Cannan, who was travelling on Wednesday, were not successful. In the Okanagan, the grants have gone toward such things as improvements to water systems and sewage treatment facilities, roadworks, park development, and new and expanded recreation facilities.

The Liberals are also critical of what they say has been the slow pace of infrastructure spending in B.C. More than one-quarter of the money pledged for B.C. has yet to be allocated, even though the program calls for all projects to be complete by the spring of 2011. “There‘s still time to fix this problem of bias toward Conservative ridings,” Kennedy said. “With $140 million still to come in the program, I would hope people who live in ridings not represented by Conservatives will come forward and ask for their fair share.”