A protester jumps on a burnt out car as a police car burns in the background during an anti-G20 demonstration, June 26, 2010 in Toronto.

By CBC News

The federal government is coming in for intense criticism over expenses incurred during the G8/G20 summits, including $80 million for food and accommodation, $85,000 for snacks and $14,000 for glow sticks.

"This is totally unacceptable," said Liberal MP Dan McTeague, who tabled the expenditure reports in the House of Commons on Thursday.

Since the story ran on CBCNews.ca, more than 1,000 comments have been posted, and an active discussion continues. The majority of comments condemn the expenses of the summits in Huntsville, Ont., and Toronto.

"I realize that hosting both the G8 & G20 would be expensive, but lets get a grip ... $300,000 on sunscreen and bug spray?" Ronald HRH wrote. "There is no way they bought that much. They would need a warehouse for it all. Where did the money really go? 2.2 million for car rentals for one day?! How is that even possible? We have heard this government telling us it is fiscally responsible and that we all need to tighten our belts, over and over. How can they justify such waste when there are so many Canadians out of work or living pay to pay?"

Live Evil agreed. "$14,000 for glowsticks? Was there some rave party going on, too?"

Chriswynn also thought the summit expenses weren't justified. "If the gun registry costs between 4 -7 million a year and is considered a waste of money by this government, then surely 1.2 billion should be considered a huge mistake to spend on a photo opp."

RRReasonable made a much broader criticism: "The profligate spending on this event gets more and more disgusting, to say nothing of the serious disruption in Canada's largest city, and abominable breaches of human rights by a police force run amuck. And all that Harper can do is focus on the simple requirement for a citizen to register a lethal weapon. The sooner we get rid of this government, the better."

A few commenters supported the costs. "I'll wait for the Auditor General's report, myself," wrote LifeisButADream. "I'm sure she will approve the bulk of the expenditures and maybe suggest a small amount wasn't spent efficiently. It's hard to be perfect when organizing a large event like this but I think the Conservatives should be applauded for pulling it off in a way that we can all be proud of."

Sean McIntyre suggested on Facebook: "If we want presence on the world stage and favour with major trade partners, we have to play host and work the system that is available. I think a fair way of judging whether hosting the G8 and G20 summits were successful is return on investment. How will our trade/exports increase over the short and long term? Are developing nations receiving more funding? Those are the true tests. The rest is just politics."

According to pendlehill37, "I don't know what people think of when they say, 'the world stage.' I was in the UK at the time of the G20 in Toronto, and I did watch the news over there. It paid little notice to the G20 meetings. It did show the large protest marches.... The item that got the most coverage was the fact that David Cameron got to ride in President Obama's helicopter from Muskoka to Toronto! I am not sure who Mr Harper was trying to impress with his $1 billion G20."

Read more and see the expenditure reports for yourself.

Do you think there is a better way  $1.2 billion could have been spent to boost Canada and its largest city? What would you have put the money towards? Weigh in below.