Plan to take the great outdoors indoors for global media more than a little loony
GREG WESTON, QMI Agency
First posted:
Canadian and international journalists covering the G8 summit in Muskoka later this month will be able to file their reports from the leisurely comfort of a cottage dock, their feet dangling in the water, surrounded by the stunning sights and sounds of the fabled Ontario resort country three hours north of Toronto.
The only catch is they won't be anywhere near Muskoka.
Instead, the federal government is shelling out millions of dollars to re-create cottage country - complete with a small lake - inside a Toronto convention facility that will warehouse most of the media during the three-day windfest.
Your tax dollars at work.
It is all another stunning achievement by organizers of the great Canadian summits of squander, three days of hot air and tear gas that will cost taxpayers an estimated $1.2 billion and counting.
Recession? What recession?
The head of the Muskoka tourism agency, Mike Lawley, cannot contain his enthusiasm for the great outdoors being built indoors with federal tax dollars.
Lawley describes the planned decor as a sweeping dock surrounded by a "very large water feature" complete with canoes, all facing a big-screen TV the size of a stadium jumbotron creating the sights and sounds of cottage country.
Journalists will be able to lounge in comfy Muskoka chairs on what is likely the only cottage dock in existence with bar service and high-speed Internet connections.
The loopy lake project is only part of a bigger prop called "The Canadian Corridor" being constructed inside the temporary media centre.
Foreign Affairs describes it all as "experiential and will provide the media with compelling stories, images and ideas that could form the basis of published and broadcast works."
Think: Drunk reporter falling in fake lake.
Foreign Affairs estimates the cost for the project will be $1.9 million, including draining the lake and dismantling the whole thing after three days.
At least, that's the bill so far.
Government documents show that just last month, the absolutely outside cost was supposed to be $1.5 million - an increase of almost 25% in 30 days.
At that rate, the public tab for plugging arguably the richest resort region in the nation will blow past $3 million like a blackfly in a hurricane.
That's just the beginning.
We have it on good authority that the usually hum-drum swag bags for media will include brand new "special summit edition" BlackBerrys preloaded with promotional stuff about Muskoka.
Since most international reporters won't get within 200 km of Muskoka while they are here, Canadian taxpayers will also be forking out a small fortune in post-summit advertising campaigns aimed at potential tourists in the U.K., Germany, China, and U.S. border states.
Ka-ching. Ka-ching.
The worst of it is none of this had to happen.
After spending $23 million on a media centre in Huntsville where the G8 leaders will actually be meeting, the feds decided six months ago to keep most of the journalists three hours away in Toronto.
Needless to say, the decision did not sit well with the local tourism folks.
It also made life politically awkward for Muskoka-area MP Tony Clement.
Known affectionately as Uncle Tony for his political largesse with other people's money, Clement has spent the past two years wallpapering his riding in $50 million of "summit heritage funds" for projects ostensibly to wow the visiting world media in the hopes of promoting future tourism.
But no media. No wow.
Lucky for everyone but taxpayers, Clement is also the federal industry minister responsible for a large federal slush fund called Investment Canada.
And apparently there is nothing Uncle Tony and Investment Canada can't solve for the good voters of his riding.
If the media couldn't go to Muskoka, why not bring cottage country to the media stuck in Toronto, eh?
Investment Canada to the rescue, indoor lake and all.
The good news is that in the likely event the actual summit meetings produce zero of value, tourism officials say bored reporters will be able to sit on the dock and watch FIFA soccer on the big screen.
If nothing else, the world will at least come to understand that not all the loons in this country are birds.
