More anecdotal evidence of Conservative pork barrelling

Monday was the first day of Christmas break for members of Parliament. Most were back in their ridings and, as usual when they're on a break week, it's tie for the federal government to start rolling out funding announcements so that local MPs can take credit for the spending. (The local MPs are always government MPs, no matter who is in power).

Here's the scorecard so far this week:

  • On Monday, Dec. 14, I found 22 announcements in which one government department or another committed to spending $18.8 million. Of those, 18 announcements involves spending that will occur almost exclusively in a Conservative MP's riding. Those 18 announcements totalled $12.9 million.
  • On Tuesday, Dec. 15, I found 6 announcements worth a total of $2.82 million. Of those, 5 are to be spent in Conservative ridings for a total of $$2.7 million.

Here's the announcements from Dec 14 (See note on table layout at the bottom) :


Lebel CEDQR Lebel New hotel construction Havre-Saint-Pierre QC $1,100,000 QC BQ Asselin
Lebel CEDQR Bernier Grant to Mecanium Inc. for guidance services to business Saint-Georges QC $97,200 QC CPC Bernier
Lebel CEDQR Bernier New wastewater treatment Beauceville QC $623,420 QC CPC Bernier
Lebel CEDQR Bernier Wastewater treatment system Saint-Jules QC $931,500 QC CPC Bernier
Lebel CEDQR Bernier RINC: Arena upgrade Beauceville QC $468,667 QC CPC Bernier
Lebel CEDQR Bernier RINC: Water play area Vallee Jonction QC $43,823 QC CPC Bernier
Lebel CEDQR Cannon Loan to Auberge du Draveur to modernize Maniwaki QC $212,500 QC CPC Cannon
Yelich WD Day Okanagan School of the Arts training program Oliver BC $400,000 BC CPC Day
Moore PCH Devolin Lindsey Concert Foundation to fund concert series Lindsay ON $22,000 ON CPC Devolin
Lebel CEDQR Gourde Loan to Fromagerie Bergeron to buy new equipment Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly QC $500,000 QC CPC Gourde
Lebel CEDQR Gourde RINC: Improvements to municipal park and rec centre Saint-Gilles QC $184,808 QC CPC Gourde
Lebel CEDQR Gourde New multifunctional centre Saint-Sylvestre QC $706,306 QC CPC Gourde
Aglukkaq HC Kerr Training/recruiting francophone health care students Ottawa ON $1,965,566 NS CPC Kerr
Finley HRSDC Shory Homelessness Partnering Strategy Calgary AB $240,000 AB CPC Shory
Finley HRSDC Warkentin For 2010 NW Alberta Regional Skills Canada Competition Peace River AB $25,370 AB CPC Warkentin
Yelich WD Warkentin Replacing public works facility High Level AB $2,543,040 AB CPC Warkentin
Yelich WD Jean Dwarf Mistletoe Remediation Project Boyle AB $3,500,000 AB CPC Jean
Yelich WD Jean RINC: Renovations to local arean Boyle AB $347,000 AB CPC Jean
Moore PCH Kent Captus Press grant Concord ON $96,949 ON CPC Kent
Ashfield ACOA MacKay RINC: upgrades to sport courts, Wanderers Grounds Field House Halifax NS $710,000 NS M M
Ritz AAFC Shipley Pulse Canada to develop herbicide Centralia ON $772,000 NATIONAL M M
Yelich WD Day Osoyoos Indian Band & CSQ Environmental Tecnologies Oliver BC $3,285,750 BC NDP Atamanenko

And here's the set from Dec. 15:


Lebel CEDQR Paradis Pomerleau Park multifunction centre Ascot Corner QC $112,894 QC BQ Bonsant
Moore PCH Allen_Mi Carleton-Victoria Arts Council Perth-Andover NB $8,000 NB CPC Allen_Mi
Clement FEDNOR Clement Community economic development Huntsville ON $152,000 ON CPC Clement
Lebel CEDQR Genereux Grelots, Bâtons et Cie du Fou du cochon to buy equipment La Pocatiere QC $94,000 QC CPC Genereux
Lebel CEDQR Gourde Upgrading water supply Lotbiniere QC $1,645,572 QC CPC Gourde
Prentice EC Oda Leaskdale Manse National Historic Site Uxbridge ON $803,332 ON CPC Oda

I'd be most pleased to be advised of any funding announcements that I missed.
Table Layout:Column 1: The name of the minister that is signing off on the funding.Column 2: The departmental code responsible for the funding.Column 3: The name of the MP making the announcement. Sometimes the minister responsible is also the announcing MP.4: A brief description of the funding initiative5: The municipal “placeline” on the funding press release.6: The provincial “placeline” on the funding press release.7: The total amount of federal funds committed.8. The region or province of the country that will benefit from the funding. NATIONAL means the funding will benefit Canadians in more than three provinces.9. If the funding is going to spent almost entirely in one riding, then this code identifies the party that holds the riding. BQ, NDP, LPC, or CPC. An M denotes that the funding will benefit Multiple ridings.10. The name of the MP whose riding is benefitting from the funding. M here means that multiple MPs are benefitting.

5 thoughts on “More anecdotal evidence of Conservative pork barrelling”

  1. The okanagan schol of the arts funding annoucnement will benefit multiple ridings in the okanagan. of the 4 ridings in the Okanagan, 3 are CPC and 1 is NDP

  2. I can be convinced of that but you'll need to provide more details. Here's the description I'm working from off of the WD press release:
    “Okanagan School of the Arts: The Okanagan School of the Arts is receiving $400,000 to create a training and entrepreneurial employment centre to foster employability and skills development through the arts. The project will employ skilled instructors, construction workers, administrators and youth in the short term. The new centre will offer programming, training for residents in the entire South Okanagan Region. This project will build on existing business and entrepreneurial training initiatives offered through the Okanagan School of the Arts”
    I'm assuming that when WD talks about creating a new employment centre, they are talking about constructing a physical building. The stimulus, then, is in the construction jobs and wages paid on site in that riding; the employees needed to staff that centre will also earn their wages and likely spend their wages mostly in that riding. I have no doubt that artists and administrators who attend the school and benefit from the training will come from all over but, for the purposes of this examination, I'm looking at what sort of stimulus/job creation the government creates directly by its investment and where that stimulus is geographically located.

  3. The database is mine. The sources are government press releases issued by the departments cited above. My database, incidentally, has, of 1830 this evening, 2,275 press releases announcing funding commitments issued by a federal government department since the last general election.

  4. Are you sure this isn't a matter of national security? The Cons have to take this down right away otherwise the terrorist opposition may get their hands on it.

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