Posts
The Toronto Star is reporting that Minister Tony Clement made the decisions on which festivals should get funding and which should not. The opposition MPs, and indeed the tone of the article, suggest that this is outrageous. And I agree but I doubt for the same reasons.
It is outrageous that one man gets final responsibility for deciding how $100 million of taxpayer’s money is spent. This is money that has been taken directly out of our pockets and is now at the disposal of a man who is a stranger to most of us. Under most circumstances that would be called theft
The problem is how else should the government make such decisions? Do you want this to be decided by some committee? That would mean that no one would be directly accountable. If there was some sort of problem or corruption it would be difficult to know who to fire or who to arrest. By putting the power in one man’s hand at least we know who to lynch. Besides the very principle of Westminster democracy is built on Ministerial responsibility. If you start messing with that you don’t really know what you are going to get.
No, the real issue isn’t that Mr. Clement was allowed to make these decisions. The problem is that these decisions are there to be made in the first place. Government money has no place funding cultural events. If people want these events to take place they will contribute to it voluntarily not be forced by the government to give them money.
It should always be kept in mind that the only true way to prevent the abuse of power is not to give the power to begin with.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I have always advocated that anyone who donates/sponsors an event should get a tax refund. A firm set of rules and guidelines must be in place to avoid fraudulent claims.
This removes all funding from all governments.
The event will either succeed or die.
Agreed and Agreed.
Just because NOW we hold the purse strings doesn't make it right.
There are a lot of issues pro and con to consider. I tend to believe that cultural events of a national significance make more sense than some smaller regional events that provinces or municipalities should cover. Since we are in power it is our prorogative to support what we prefer, that is the right of a conservative. I also agree that the model is to move away from much of this spending which is not a necessity but a frill in many cases. The suggestion of more corporate funding with tax implications is not bad. (real conservative)
Post a Comment