Recent Comments
Edward King on Liza Frulla: Standing on guard for Canada
andrew on Liza Frulla: Standing on guard for Canada
Edward King on Liza Frulla: Standing on guard for Canada
andrew on Liza Frulla: Standing on guard for Canada
Edward King on Liza Frulla: Standing on guard for Canada
Previous Entries
Elections Canada, and bloggers.
The world I want to live in is kind of fantastic
Harper backtracking on same sex marriage
how desperate are the Liberals?
Take action to end patronage at CBC
some of my best friends own dictionaries
don't vote strategically -- unless you're a conservative
private health care—the sicker, the better
we always knew we were morally superior—now there’s proof
Posted by andrew at December 3, 2004 03:52 PM
Anyone who knows how the federal government perceives its role regarding national unity won't find this article from the Ottawa Sun surprising. Here's the lede:
The heritage minister is set to scrap or overhaul a federal Canada Day program that has doled out the lion's share of its cash to Quebec. A breakdown of the "Celebrate Canada" program's 2004-05 expenditures shows Quebec scooped up $5 million of the $7.3-million pot.
We're talking, here, about a Heritage ministry that hired the avowedly separatist group Les Bottines Souriantes to play Parliament Hill on Canada Day two years ago. If the separatists weren't laughing at Canadians before then, they certainly are now. And sure, none of this happened under the watch of Liza Frulla. But Ms. Frulla is doing her best to make Sheila Copps appear competent in retrospect.
Here's how the above Sun article ends:
Marianne Goodwin, a spokesman for Heritage Minister Liza Frulla, said the federal cash is distributed based on applications, and that Quebec planned more costly concerts and "major" events. The minister has ordered a review that could result in recommendations to cancel or overhaul the program so money is distributed more fairly, she said.
Let's play spot the bullshit. Does anyone seriously believe that Quebec got five out of every seven Canada Day dollars because -- proud Canadians that they are -- they organised so many more excellent July 1 activites than the rest of the country as a whole?
Second, note that the floated remedial measures -- cancel or overhaul -- actually contradict the above explanation. After all, if the explanation were correct, the distribution would, ipso facto, be just, and would not need overhauling to make it "more just". Which is why the programme will be cancelled. If you're a Liberal, and are forced to choose between helping your friends, or helping nobody, best to choose nobody.
Previous:
Next: The Future of Media?
If the Martin government keep up their current national unity strategy, there won't be a Canada to celebrate. Problem solved.
Distribute the money more fairly? If other provinces' governments start spending millions on their own nationalist celebrations(ie Fête Nationale), then they should get more money from the federal government too. But since that's not the case, I don't see anything wrong or unfair in how the money is currently distributed.
Posted by: Edward King at December 3, 2004 04:28 PM
•
EK,
I would agree with you, if it were the job of the federal government to step in and provide services/financing/etc. only where the provinces failed to do so. But that isn't the case. A federal programme offering money to fund Canada Day celebrations should be available to all citizens of Canada, regardless of how much any given province is or is not spending on *provincial* Canada Day celebrations.
Posted by: andrew at December 3, 2004 06:56 PM
•
andrew, I'll clarify what I meant: ideally the federal government should fund only the Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill.
When I talk about provinces funding nationalist celebrations, I'm talking about celebrations other than Canada Day, like St-Jean-Baptiste in Quebec(now called Fête Nationale).
The reason I approve of funding Canada Day celebrations in Quebec is because the government of Quebec uses public funds to assist almost any small-town Fête Nationale celebration in the province, while displaying the Quebec flag everywhere and reminding Quebeckers that Ottawa is useless.
I think it's necessary for the federal government to respond accordingly. Since the other provincial governments are not using nationalist holidays to promote a seperatist agenda, I don't think they should get more money. Like you said, it's not the federal government's job to do that. Defending Canada from seperatists certainly is.
I don't expect anyone to agree with me, after all I'm one of those crazy people who think the sponsorship program was a good idea. To those, like NDPer Pat Martin, who say it's insulting to think you can win Quebeckers over with flags and wordmarks I ask: if that's so, why has the PQ been doing it for the last four decades?
Posted by: Edward King at December 4, 2004 11:00 AM
•
Very good EK. You're not the only one who agreed the sponsorship programme was a good idea. Me and Alan Gregg do as well.
Being back in Montreal after 10 years, I can't believe how little Canada there is around, even compared to what it was like around the referendum. In the SAQ (booze store), California, Chile, France, and Australia get their own shelf, while Ontario and BC wines are filed under -- get this -- "divers pays", i.e. "other countries".
So, I agree with you, the feds need to combat the PQ progaganda; I was fully behind the federal branding programme etc. What irritates me though is that, instead of getting everyone onside, including the other provinces, they run these purported "national" programmes which, in theory, everyone in the country is eligible to apply for, but then they funnel 90% of the money into Quebec. This simply feeds the alienation of the rest of the country against the feds, instead of serving as a unifying mechanism.
So, I think these sorts of things are good ideas -- there should be more of it -- but ineptly handled.
Posted by: andrew at December 4, 2004 12:07 PM
•
Good points.
On a side note, I went to the Vieux Québec in September for the first time since 1995 and I was surprised by two things: there were Canada wordmarks everywhere and there were fewer Quebec flags than I remembered.
The maple leaf was visibly present, mostly because of all the historic sites but also because of the many regional federal office buildings, all of which have big signs on the lawn with the wordmark. I joked to my die-hard sovereignist uncle that I now understand why they call it la Capitale Nationale; there were so many maple leafs and federal buildings you could swear you were in Ottawa!
The visibility program is working and the government of Canada should keep it up. Unfortunately, our Prime Minister is a self-described Quebec nationalist who doesn't believe in standing up to his fellow nationalists.
Posted by: Edward King at December 4, 2004 04:08 PM
•
Blog This Must-Reads
Blog This Archives
|
|
|
|