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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – Four months after hosting the G8 and G20 Conferences in June, the government of Canada provided more details on how the $1 billion budget was spent.

The breakdown showed that Ottawa spent at least $200 million on hotel accommodations, car rentals, bug sprays, lunches, communication gadgets, parking fees, mosquito traps and portable toilets.

The breakdown elicited criticisms about overspending from the opposition at a time when Canada is grappling with a national budget deficit. Liberal MP Dan McTeague, who requested the breakdown, said Canadian taxpayers would be appalled and outraged by the reckless manner the federal government spent for the two summits.

However, Ottawa found an ally in Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page, who traditionally is also critical of government spending. Page, in a June report, acknowledged that the cost of hosting and providing security to heads of states and other public officials had gone up significantly. He said the expenses that Canada incurred were not out of line compared with expenses of other nations that had hosted similar large international events.

McTeague charged that most of the expenses were not bid out, but Public Safety Minister Vic Toews pointed out most of the expenses were security related and Ottawa adhered to regulations regarding tendering contracts.

Auditor General Sheila Fraser is auditing the summit expenses and expects to release a report on the result of the audit by spring of 2011.

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