All publicity is good publicity

I'll have to give the Cons points for chutzpah in their latest spin to try to justify the fake lake as part of their $2 billion G20 debacle based on the fact that it was often used (and mocked) in news reports:

Peter McGovern, a Foreign Affairs deputy minister, said Tuesday the international media used the fake lake -- intended to showcase cottage country -- as a backdrop for TV reports, bringing images of the Canadian wilderness to living rooms abroad. "The fake lake was actually an idea that I think was a wild success," McGovern, assistant deputy minister of the summits management office, told a House of Commons committee Tuesday.

And by the same standard, Dave Basi and Bob Virk have likewise been entirely successful in building name recognition through the media attention they've received from the BC Rail scandal.