Baird and Flaherty were reportedly issuing “direct approvals”
Documents obtained by the Toronto Star suggest cabinet ministers had discretionary power to approve G8-related projects in Huntsville. An email exchange involving Vern Freedlander, a media consultant hired by Huntsville Mayor Claude Doughty, and Environment Minister Peter Kent implies cabinet ministers John Baird and Jim Flaherty were intimately involved in the decision-making process. “Peter tells me that right now MPs are being asked to provide infrastructure projects to cabinet for direct approvals by Baird and Flaherty,” Freedlander wrote to Doughty and two other senior officials in Huntsville. “They earlier shovels get in the ground the better.” A spokesperson for Kent denied the conversation ever took place, while Flaherty’s office insisted the finance minister “was not part of the process.” Baird’s office said it considers the controversial dossier closed.