OTTAWA - The Conservative government spent more than $100,000 staging a one-hour event in June to provide an update on its economic recovery program.
Invoices obtained by The Canadian Press through the Access to Information Act show taxpayers were billed at least $108,000 for the carefully scripted "town hall" meeting in Cambridge, Ont.
The event turned what the opposition Liberals had hoped would be an uncomfortable exercise in government transparency into a slick campaign-style rally for Conservative party faithful.
Critics say it's just the latest example of what they're calling a Tory penchant for leveraging public money for partisan gain.
But a spokesman for Stephen Harper says it is the prime minister's responsibility to visit Canadians where they live, and not just make announcements from the national capital.
Another report card on stimulus and infrastructure spending was delivered last month in Saint John, N.B., with one more to go later this fall.
The bills for the event in Cambridge included $30,000 for audio-visual equipment and staging, $10,000 for the rights to photos and web images, $10,000 for hotels and travel and $50,000 in printing costs for a glossy report.
