Toronto builder siphoned $1.8M from Gravenhurst project

Shwa · April 22, 2011

From the Star. Please note that the article is "...article subject to legal complaint by The Dalton company." Yeah, I guess so.

Star probe: Toronto builder siphoned $1.8M from Gravenhurst project

It is an interesting article in that is opens the door on some pretty shady - but in my opinion totally usual - dealings with contractors on large infrastructure projects. And why is this news? Sure those folks in Gravenhurst are going to pay for the overcost through tax increases, thems the breaks.

However, I believe that the attention paid to this story is an attempt by the Star to weave this little mess into the overall G8 Funding Fiasco. But does it achieve that lofty goal? Nope.

I think the Star would be better off scrutinizing the shady dealings of developers in the GTA and not lil ol' Gravenhurst. And why is that? Because I am betting that kickbacks, shady dealings and such in the GTA alone have dollar value of far, far above the measely $1.8 million that is alleged Dalton received.

However, it is an interesting story, overtly political, but insight into how it all seems to work and flow...

A Toronto builder siphoned almost $1.8 million of taxpayers’ money from a municipal project in cottage country by taking advantage of weak controls in the Conservative government’s economic stimulus program, a Star investigation has found.
Dalton Engineering and Construction Ltd. used a sophisticated kickback scheme to extract the money from cement, steel and other suppliers working on an expansion of the Gravenhurst Centennial Centre. The project is in Industry Minister Tony Clement’s riding.

Dalton was paid a fixed-price fee to manage construction of a recreation centre with pool and hockey rink but secretly insisted on hefty kickbacks from many of its subcontractors.

Kickbacks from subcontractors — as much as 10 per cent of their individual contracts — helped hike the cost of a project that started at $18.7 million and is now dangerously over budget at $21.8 million and not yet completed.

Here’s the kicker: Local residents have been told property taxes will rise to make up the difference between the final price tab and what the federal, provincial and town governments originally intended to pay.

But this is where it gets fun:

The only evidence that a town official may have benefitted from the project is the line called “Fire Watch” in the Dalton expense sheets.
The 25-year-old son of the town counsellor who chaired Gravenhurst’s building decision committee was paid $25,000 over a period of several months to stand in the building while it was under construction and call out if he saw a fire.

WTF? LOFL!

Tilter · April 22, 2011

From the Star. Please note that the article is "...article subject to legal complaint by The Dalton company." Yeah, I guess so.

Star probe: Toronto builder siphoned $1.8M from Gravenhurst project

It is an interesting article in that is opens the door on some pretty shady - but in my opinion totally usual - dealings with contractors on large infrastructure projects. And why is this news? Sure those folks in Gravenhurst are going to pay for the overcost through tax increases, thems the breaks.

However, I believe that the attention paid to this story is an attempt by the Star to weave this little mess into the overall G8 Funding Fiasco. But does it achieve that lofty goal? Nope.

I think the Star would be better off scrutinizing the shady dealings of developers in the GTA and not lil ol' Gravenhurst. And why is that? Because I am betting that kickbacks, shady dealings and such in the GTA alone have dollar value of far, far above the measely $1.8 million that is alleged Dalton received.

However, it is an interesting story, overtly political, but insight into how it all seems to work and flow...

But this is where it gets fun:

The only evidence that a town official may have benefitted from the project is the line called “Fire Watch” in the Dalton expense sheets.
The 25-year-old son of the town counsellor who chaired Gravenhurst’s building decision committee was paid $25,000 over a period of several months to stand in the building while it was under construction and call out if he saw a fire.

WTF? LOFL!