The Liberal government embarked on a massive spending spree in the first two weeks of April, showering Liberal ridings and targeted groups and regions of the country with $1 billion of federal largesse. Opposition MPs say Prime Minister Paul Martin has engaged in a "$1-billion orgy" to buy votes in an election that could be called as early as April 25 and reneged on a pledge to spend taxpayers' money wisely. "It looks like Paul Martin is becoming the 'Prince of Pork' as he tries to buy Canadians' votes with their own tax dollars," said Conservative MP Jason Kenney. "He can't find money to slash taxes, but he can find $1 billion for pork for Liberal MPs and target constituencies." The $1 billion accounts for spending in just five departments and does not include many hundreds of millions of dollars unveiled in March as Mr. Martin began a series of cross-country tours and put the Liberal party on an election readiness footing. When he became prime minister, Mr. Martin promised to freeze spending on capital projects and to scrutinize every expenditure, but a survey by CanWest News Service shows the new government has been spending freely on wharves, festivals, archeological digs, community centres, performance arts theatres, symphony orchestras, and a host of make-work projects in Liberal ridings. NDP MP Pat Martin charged yesterday the Liberals are handing out cheques as part of a vote-buying scheme in anticipation of a spring election despite growing pressure from some Liberals to delay the vote until the fall. "It looks like a pre-election orgy of gratuitous goodies-basket goodwill here," the Manitoba MP said. "This amount of largesse certainly can mean one thing really -- that they are priming the pump for going to the polls." But deputy government leader Mauril Belanger, who yesterday announced almost $1 million in government funds for official languages in Sudbury, insisted the Liberals aren't on a vote-buying spree. The rash of spending announcements is due to the fact that the House is not sitting and Liberal MPs are in their ridings, he said. A survey of press releases from April 1 to April 14 for the departments of Agriculture, Fisheries and Oceans, Human Resources, Canadian Heritage and Industry show Liberal ministers and backbench MPs lapping up the credit for $1 billion of funding announcements. Some expenditures appear to be serious activities, such as $123 million for genomics and proteomics research, $80 million for the food safety program and $138.3 million for university research chairs. But many of the spending initiatives are clearly designed to help Liberal MPs or candidates improve their standing in their communities. For example, Conservative-turned-Liberal MP Scott Brison presented a $50,000 cheque in his Nova Scotia riding on April 5 to buy bookshelves for a library, while on the same day, Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc claimed credit for a $77,000 grant to renovate an old school that houses a senior citizens club in his New Brunswick riding. In Ontario, MP Bob Kilger claimed credit for a $385,324 job creation grant to the Societe franco-ontarienne d'historie et de genealogie in Cornwall. Former cabinet minister Don Boudria announced in March he got $64,762 for the Friends of the Mcdonnell-Williamson House to hire three people and he landed another $166,309 from Human Resources to hire people at a food bank in his Glengarry-Prescott-Russell riding.
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