The lake's real, but now the grass is fake
By Michelle Mcquigge, The Canadian Press
Well, at least the lake is real.
Despite an obvious abundance of the real thing, it was artificial turf that some of the world's most powerful leaders trod upon Friday during their long-awaited "family photo" at the G8 Summit in the heart of cottage country.
The leaders stood atop the turf-wrapped platform, complete with stylized G8 logo in the centre, as they clapped one another on the back, waved and mugged for the cameras for all of about a minute.
Then, almost as quickly as they had arrived, they were gone again, leaving behind the 111-square-metre platform and the perfect vista of glassy waters that served as their backdrop.
Huntsville resident Lisa O'Doherty admitted she found it odd that organizers deemed it necessary to install a fake-grass platform on top of real grass, but if it was in the name of further beautifying her already picturesque town, so much the better.
"I don't think it's necessary, with all the beautiful grass around," O'Doherty said. "But I know they do that because they do want everything to look pristine. So am I upset about it? Definitely not."
Suppliers of artificial turf say an area of fake grass that size would typically cost between $6,000 and $8,400 to install, depending on quality — a drop in the bucket of the overall $1.2-billion budget set aside for the G8 and G20 summits.
It's also a fraction of the $57,000 that was spent on the infamous "fake lake," an artificial oasis in the international media centre in Toronto to give journalists who are covering Huntsville from a distance a bit of a taste of what it's like in cottage country.
They've done fake lakes down in Toronto right beside Lake Ontario, so they're going to do what they're going to do," O'Doherty said. "I still think it's great that this is happening here."
Judy Brouse of the Muskoka Watershed Council, a group dedicated to protecting the region's delicate water ecosystems, said she'd heard nothing of the plans to install fake grass.
And while it might seem counterintuitive, it could serve a valuable environmental purpose — protecting the grass underneath it from pedestrian traffic, for instance, Brouse said.
"We’ve often found that when we think something is really bizarre, we look into it and think, 'Oh, that’s not as bizarre as we thought it was,'" she said.
"So we try not to say very much until we sort of understand both sides."
Earlier Friday, protesters in Toronto unveiled their version of the fake lake — a children's splash pool with a deck chair, complete with a sign: "Community organizers provide media lake for $12.99."
"Welcome to our pool party," said Adonis El-Jamal, spokesman for the Toronto Community Mobilization Network.
"Our pool only cost $12.99. Feel free to take a dip if you like."
Protesters who gathered around the kiddie pool say the $1 billion spent on summit security could have housed all the homeless people in Toronto, along with all those on the waiting list for social housing, for one year.
