Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Sunday, May 06, 2012

Feds spending $100k for paper flags, lapel pins to mark diamond jubilee

OTTAWA — The Conservative government has set aside more than $100,000 for paper flags and lapel pins for celebrations to mark the sixth decade of Queen Elizabeth’s reign.

The costing was tabled by Heritage Minister James Moore in response to a written question by NDP MP Tyrone Benskin.

Details of various contracts were also included in the document, among them: $74,180 for 682,000 paper flags to be sent to the public, provinces and territories; $52,650 for 300,000 lapel pins; and $28,883.20 on posters.

The government also plans to spend $94,675.50 to print Crown of Maples — a government publication that “makes information on the Crown in Canada available to Canadians in an interesting and educational format,” according to the Canadian Heritage website.

Overall, Canadian Heritage expects to spend $7.5 million dollars from the department’s budget for celebrations and commemorations. Of the funds, $2 million will go toward community celebrations, $1.8 million for “awareness initiatives” and $3.7 million for the diamond jubilee medals program.

Of the $2 million for regional celebrations in the 13 provinces and territories, Ontario will receive the bulk of the funds ($333,947). Prince Edward Island ($169,150), British Columbia ($156,525), Saskatchewan ($129,630) and Nova Scotia ($92,205) round out the Top 5. The Yukon will receive the least amount of money at $10,000.

The $2 million in funding also includes $800,000 handed out to national organizations that are not represented by the regional events.

Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, will visit New Brunswick, Ontario and Saskatchewan for two weeks at the end of May to mark the diamond jubilee celebrations commemorating the Queen’s 60-year reign.

Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Postmedia News

No comments:

Post a Comment