Fakelakegate, Indeed!

Canada is about to play host to both the G20 and the G8 summits, later this month. Details have recently been made public from the goverment plans to dress up the venues where the meetings will take place. A lot of people here in Canada are less than impressed with the government's decision to construct a fake lake at the G8/G20"Experience Canada" pavilion in Toronto's Direct Energy Centre. The lake itself comes with a price tag of $57,000. and will include canoes, trees, deck chairs and a fake dock that all add up to a whopping $1.9 million.
More than 3,000 journalists are expected to be here later in June, covering the G20 here in Toronto and the G8 up in Huntsville. Since there is no way they can all be accommodated in the tourism-country environs of Huntsville, most will have to "cover" the proceedings from down here in good ol' T. O. The display that includes the fake lake with its Muskoka chairs charmingly placed about it is called "The Canadian Corridor" and it is supposed to make amends to the media who will have to miss out on seeing real lakes with real Muskoka chairs and docks when they are shut out of Huntsville.
The G20 is supposedly a meeting about dealing with international debt and countries living more within their means. Given the high profile of the finance ministers and central bank governors who will be attending, the amount to be spent on security is beyond question. Given as well, the potential for nut jobs to decide this is a meeting they have to try to bomb or otherwise terrorize, every penny spent on security is a good investment. A fake lake, however, has absolutely nothing to do with keeping the attendees and their surroundings safe.
The reaction to this ridiculous expenditure has been swift and loud. For instance, Rodger Cuzner, MP for Cape Breton, declared in Parliament that, "The government's half-baked fake lake takes the cake! What a mistake," and was rewarded with loud laughter for his put down of Harper's Half-baked Lake. Harper, however, has been just as quick to defend his government's profligate ways with the public's money. His answer to the criticism is that this asinine display will encourage all those media members to tell the world just how great a country Canada is.
Since the rest of the world with money enough to spend on tourism is already able to check out Canada's real charms, none of which will be evidenced by the phony pond, I have a suggestion or two to make to the dodos who came up with the idiotic idea. First, scrap the fake lake! If Harper wants to send out the message that Canada is a great place, he could keep his focus on water but move it from a let's-pretend-loch to the drinking waters of the First Nations Reserves. Remember the crisis on the Kashechewan reserve, in remote northern Ontario? Premier McGuinty decided to evacuate those sickened by the Walkerton-like condition of the water, and found that figure to be over 50 per cent of the reserve's population. There are other reserves that live under constant boil-drinking-water advisories, here in Ontario and scattered across this country that Harper wants to showcase to the world's media. Maybe instead of throwing money away on a stupid artificial puddle, he could use the cash to clean up some of that polluted drinking water and showcase the action on the backdrops planned for the two summit-hosting meeting halls. At the moment, those backdrops are expected to cost $1,102,500.
That incredible cost leads me to my second suggestion, which is that Harper scout the graduating classes at Ontario colleges, like Sheridan, and get some students to design and construct the backdrops. The price tag would be significantly reduced, I'm sure. The students involved could sign their work and be highlighted - great advertising for them and their talents, and a not-to-be-missed chance for the world to see that Canada is, indeed, a great country where all its citizens are of equal import, not just those who can afford to spend tourism dollars.