Federal Transport Minister John Baird waded into Ottawa civic politics on Sunday, blasting municipal officials for what he said were a misplaced sense of priorities.

Baird, the MP for Ottawa West-Nepean, told an audience from a taxpayer advocacy group Ottawa's city hall has a history of wasting money.

"There are some people who can't make priorities," he told a Sunday audience gathered to hear potential municipal candidates in Ottawa's upcoming election.

Baird criticized the city for its management of sewage discharges into the Ottawa River and said city money wasn't being spent properly, taking a shot at Ottawa's controversial decision to build the Corktown pedestrian bridge over the Rideau canal, connecting Somerset West and the University of Ottawa.

The location of the $5 million bridge was controversial, because it was not far from the Laurier Avenue Bridge.

"I was over walking [and] saw that new pedestrian bridge going over the canal," said Baird, referring to the Corktown bridge over the Rideau canal that connects Somerset West to the University of Ottawa. "And right beside it there is an ad from Participaction Ontario encouraging people to walk more."

"So instead of walking three blocks more to the [newly renovated] bridge, we built a … pedestrian bridge," he said.

Sparked committee probe

It isn't the first time the federal minister has voiced an opinion concerning municipal affairs. In 2006 Baird, then acting as Treasury Board president, withheld its $200 million contribution to the city's proposed north-south light rail project until after the election.

Baird was later called before a House of Commons government operations committee in 2008 that was looking into whether the MP overstepped his authority in withholding the funds.

More recently Baird had to apologize last summer to Toronto Mayor David Miller for using an expletive in criticizing the city's application for stimulus funding.

Sunday's meeting was a chance for the Ottawa Taxpayer Advisory Group to grill prospective municipal candidates on whether they would support a two-year departmental budget freeze.

"I mean, in an ideal world, we'd like to think that the majority of candidates will speak with a frugal tongue," said spokesman Kevin MacDonald.

Two weeks ago, Ottawa city council voted to freeze their salaries for the next two years, but a motion to include a similar freeze for non-unionized city staff wages failed to pass.