Canada's recent announcement that it is spending a mind-boggling US$900 million to protect the two global summits it's hosting on June 25-27 was bad enough.
Now, planners of the 72-hour diplomatic jamboree - the G-8 summit of industrialised democracies and the broader G-20 - are running into howls of derision for trying to showcase Canada's tourist appeal by building a media centre that includes an artificial lake with canoes, trees, deck chairs and a fake dock.
Does Canada, whose charms and natural beauty have hardly gone unnoticed by the outside world, need to spend nearly US$2 million on a theme park of itself? And does that park need to go up in Toronto, just blocks from a Great - and real - Lake?
Many Canadians would agree with opposition politician Jack Layton's verdict: "Fakelakegate." The G-20 are meeting in Toronto while the G-8 will gather 225km to the north, in Huntsville, Ontario.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
Latest from World
India begins world’s largest election as Modi seeks third term
Nearly 970 million people will vote — more than 10 per cent of the world’s population.