Lawsuit filed to get auditor general’s report on G8 spending released before vote

<p>TORONTO – A Toronto woman says the auditor general’s refusal to release a report on G8 spending is preventing her from making an informed choice in next week’s federal election.</p> <p>So Kathleen Trotter is taking Sheila Fraser to court.</p> <p>Backed by the global online activist group Avaaz, Trotter has filed a lawsuit in Federal Court in an attempt to force Fraser to release her findings on the G8 legacy infrastructure fund prior to Monday’s election.</p> <p>”I want to know as much as possible before I cast my vote,” said Trotter, a 27-year-old personal trainer. “The government is going to be running the country and I feel that I can’t cast an informed vote without this information.”</p> <p>Earlier this month, a leaked draft copy of Fraser’s report said the government had “misinformed” Parliament to get approval for some G8 spending.</p> <p>Trotter claims Fraser’s refusal to release the report violates her Charter right to make an informed choice in an election. She decided to take legal action after writing the auditor general to request the report’s release but getting no reply.</p> <p>Fraser’s office has previously said the report can’t be released because Parliament isn’t sitting and it maintained that position Tuesday.</p> <p>In an email, Fraser’s spokesman said the auditor general’s office stands behind Fraser’s public statement that the report can’t be released. The office won’t comment further “as matters are before the courts,” the spokesman said.</p> <p>The findings on the G8 infrastructure spending are contained in the draft of a confidential report Fraser was to have tabled in Parliament on April 5. The report analyzed the $1-billion cost of staging last June’s G8 summit in Ontario cottage country and a subsequent gathering of G20 leaders in downtown Toronto.</p> <p>The report was put on ice when Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government was defeated.</p> <p>Frank Addario, Trotter’s lawyer, is hoping the court will hear the case this week.</p> <p>”Canadians have a right to know what their government is doing,” he said Tuesday during a news conference at his law office. “The auditor general has the information, the former government knows what’s in there, we’re in the midst of the election but the electors don’t know.”</p> <p>In the notice of the application filed with the court, Trotter references an April 11 Canadian Press story that cites a leaked draft copy of Fraser’s report.</p> <p>The draft of the chapter on the G8 legacy infrastructure fund shown to The Canadian Press said the government misinformed Parliament to win approval for a $50-million G8 fund that dished out money on questionable projects in Industry Minister Tony Clement’s riding.</p> <p>The confidential January draft also suggested the process for approving the funding may have been illegal.</p> <p>A second draft that was subsequently leaked by the Conservatives was similar in substance although less incendiary in tone.</p> <p>Conservative cabinet minister John Baird has said Fraser’s final report differs from the draft and does not say the government misinformed Parliament.</p> <p>Trotter said she was confused by the differing information from the draft reports and Baird’s comments.</p> <p>”Was Parliament misled about what the money was going to be used for? Only the elites know,” said Addario. “Was the money used for partisan political purposes? Only the elites know.”</p> <p>Trotter hasn’t decided how she’ll vote but is keeping an open mind.</p> <p>Avaaz has started a petition calling for the report’s release and has garnered more than 80,000 signatures, said spokeswoman Emma Ruby-Sachs.</p> <p>The Conservatives, Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois have all said they would like the report released.</p> <p>Avaaz is best known in Canada for its petition against a Sun TV licence – which drew it into a war of words with the new network and accusations that it had a left-wing axe to grind.</p>