Court File No.

:

FEDERAL COURT

BETWEEN:

KATHLEEN TROTTER

Applicant

- and-

AUDITOR GENERAL OF CANADA

Respondent

AFFIDAVIT OF KATHLEEN TROTTER (Sworn April 24, 2011)

I, KATHLEEN TROTTER, of the City of Toronto, in the Province of. Ontario, HEREBY

MAKE OATH AND SAY AS FOLLOWS:

1. I am a Canadian citizen and taxpayer interested in the upcoming federal elections. I am

not presently - nor have I ever been - a member of any political party.

2. Shortly after the story first broke on April 11, 2011, I read a news report by the Canadian

Press (as published in the Globe and Mail) that said that a draft chapter of the Auditor General of

Canada's forthcoming report about the Canadian government's funding of the G8 summit (the

"Report") had been leaked, which revealed that the Canadian government had misinformed

Parliament to win approval for a $50 million fund for the G8 summit and that the government

then lavished money on questionable products in the riding of Industry Minister, Tony Clement (Parry Sound-Muskoka). According to the Canadian Press story, the Report revealed that a local "G8 summit liaison and implementation team" - comprised of Mr. Clement, the mayor of Huntsville, and the general manager of Deerhurst Resort, which hosted the summit - chose the 32 projects that received funding, but that there was no apparent regard for the needs of the summit or the conditions laid down by the government. The Canadian Press reported that the questionable projects that were funded include:

• $274,000 on public toilets 20 km from the summit site;

• $100,000 on a gazebo an hour's drive away;

• $1. l-million for sidewalk and tree upgrades 100 km away;

• $194,000 for a park 100 km away; and

• $745,000 on downtown improvements for three towns nearly 70 km away.

3. The Canadian Press also said that the draft of the Report revealed that the government tabled supplementary spending estimates before Parliament in November 2009 requesting $83 million for a "border infrastructure fund" aimed at reducing congestions at border crossings. The government did not, however, reveal that it intended to devote $50 million of that money to a G8 legacy fund, even though Huntsville is nowhere near the Canada-U.S. border. According to the Canadian Press report, in the AuditorGeneral's opinion, Parliament was "misinformed".

4. Needless to say, I became very concerned about the actions of my government. If the Canadian Press report about the Auditor General's findings is true, it would mean that the

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Canadian government had used significant sums of taxpayer money for political ends and that this was then concealed from Parliament.

5. At the same time, however, the Canadian Press reported that Conservative candidate John Baird insisted that the Report had changed considerably from draft to draft and that a later version does not say that the Canadian government "misinformed" Parliament. The Canadian Press also reported that Mr. Clement, Mr. Baird and the Mayor of Hunt~ville all denied that there was anything untoward about the way funding was distributed.

6. A copy of the Canadian Press report to which I have referred and which I read is attached

hereto as Exhibit "A".

7. All of this has left me very confused. I consider the Auditor General a reliable, objective source of infonriation about the government's management of our tax dollars. I would like to have a reliable, objective report of information about public spending on the G8 summit in order to engage in meaningful discussions with my friends, family and colleagues in the lead up to this election. I cannot do that based on third hand information about draft reports and leaks. I want to examine the final version of the Report so that I can participate in this election as an intelligent, informed voter.

8. I then read another media report (from the Toronto Star), which said that the Auditor General of Canada, Sheila Fraser, was refusing to release the final version of the Report - despite the unanimous agreement of all political parties that it should be released - on the basis that the Auditor General Act prevented her from doing so. A copy of the Toronto Star article I read is attached hereto as Exhibit "B".

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9. I subsequently visited the website of the Auditor General of Canada and found the public statement issued by Ms. Fraser, a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit "C". In the statement, Ms. Fraser stated that her office "will not release or comment on our audit report on the G8 Legacy Infrastructure Fund". She "strongly caution[ed]" the public to wait until the final Report had been tabled in Parliament and made public. She stated that "[t]here are indications that an early draft of this report may have been released by someone outside our Office", but that "[0 ]nly the final report that is tabled in Parliament represents our audit findings and

conclusions".

10. I cannot wait until the final draft has been tabled in Parliament because that will not be until after the federal elections on May 2, 2011. If it is true that the Canadian government misused taxpayer money in relation to the G8 summit and misled Parliament in the process, then not only will I refuse to vote for the governing party in the upcoming election, but I will vigorously attempt to persuade my friends, family and colleagues to do the .same. I do not, however, want to act on misinformation. Right now, I just do not know the truth. Accordingly, it is necessary for me (and for all Canadians) to have access to the final version of the Report so that I can engage in a meaningful debate at this crucial time in our political process.

11. I believe that the Auditor General has prepared a final version of the Report because I read a CBC News article that refers repeatedly to the "final" version of the Report. In particular, CBC News reported that while the reference to the misleading of Parliament was removed, the changes in the final version of the Report were not substantial. A copy of this CBC News report is attached hereto as Exhibit "D". In addition, in the Canadian Press report to which I earlier referred, it was reported that the Auditor General was planning on tabling the final report in Parliament back on April 5, 2011 before the election was called.

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12. Moreover, I believe that the immediate disclosure of the Report to the public - even though it has not yet been tabled to Parliament - is consistent with the role of the Office of the Auditor General in Canada. I read on the Auditor General's website that "(t)he Auditor General of Canada is an Officer of Parliament who audits federal government departments and agencies, most Crown corporations, and many other federal organizations, and reports publicly to the House of Commons on matters that the Auditor General believes should be brought to its attention" (emphasis added). A copy of this website printout is attached hereto as Exhibit "E".

13. I also read on the Auditor General's website that the Office of the Auditor General conducts a confidential preview of its reports for MPs and Senators several hours before they are tabled in the House of Commons and, at the same time, conducts a media lock-up in order to ensure that journalists have time to understand the reports. In addition, I read that the Auditor general holds a news conference during the media lock-up, during which the Auditor General makes a short statement and answers questions. All of this happens before the reports are tabled in the House of Commons. A copy of the printout from this portion of the website is attached hereto as Exhibit "F".

14. Given that all political parties were calling for the release of the Report and that the public was stepping up the pressure on the Office of the Auditor General to do so, I believed that there was a reasonable possibility that the Auditor General would indeed release the final version of the Report before the upcoming election.

15. As more time passed and as we moved closer to the election, however, I became increasingly concerned that the Report would not be disclosed before the election. The significance of the Canadian government's potential misconduct regarding the funding of the G8

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summit also acquired primacy in my conversations with my family, friends and colleagues about

the election. Accordingly, I began to take more direct steps to press for the immediate disclosure

of the Report.

16. First, I signed a petition organized by Avaaz (an international advocacy group) calling on

the Auditor General to immediately release the final version of the Report to the public. I

understand from Avaaz's website - a printout of which is attached hereto as Exhibit "G" - that

over 80,000 Canadians have signed this petition.

17. Second, on April 21, 2011, I wrote to the Office of the Auditor General of Canada with

the support of A vaaz to request the immediate release of the final version of the Report and to

advise that in the event the Auditor General continues to withhold the Report, I intend on hiring a

lawyer to ask a judge to decide if Canadians like me are entitled to this information before the

election. I have not yet heard back from anyone in the Office of the Auditor General of Canada.

A copy of this letter is attached hereto as Exhibit "H".

18. I believe that the immediate release of the Report is necessary for me to exercise my

freedom of expression and right to vote under ss. 2(b) and 3 of the Charter of Rights and

Freedoms, respectively. I swear this affidavit in the hope that the Court will order the Auditor

General to disclose the final version of the Report prior to the May 2nd elections and thereby

vindicate both my constitutional rights and the constitutional rights of all Canadians.

Sworn before me at the City of Toronto in the Province of Ontario this 24th day of April, 2011.

~--

) ) ) )

A Commissioner for taking oaths, etc.

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