I've always had a lot of respect for Diane Ablonczy. She's a hard-working MP and, at least in my dealings with her, has always been very accessible and straightforward.
So I find it concerning that she's apparently been rapped on the knuckles over funding for Toronto's Gay Pride Parade:
Controversy erupted Monday amid suggestions federal Tourism Minister Diane Ablonczy was pulled from a key file weeks after granting $400,000 to Pride Week from the -Marquee Tourism Events Program.
The $100-million Marquee program was quietly moved to Industry Minister Tony Clement two weeks ago.(...)
The $397,500 awarded to Pride was used to improve access for disabled people, infrastructure spending and to help bring artist Kelly Rowland to perform.
(...)
Saskatchewan Tory MP Brad Trost criticized the grant, telling a conservative website it was an "isolated decision" that did not sit well with a number of Tories. He also hinted Ablonczy was yanked from the file as a result.
Clement's office insists the move was not due to the grant.
And the director of another of Canada's premier gay and lesbian festivals said yesterday she has received even more support since the Tories took power.
UPDATE: Trost has more to say.
Maclean's magazine's Kady O'Malley joined us to discuss this controversy - you can listen to that interview via the player at right and read more of her coverage here.
Meanwhile, rather than address the matter head-on, the government is deflecting:
The federal cabinet minister now responsible for giving Pride Week any new money said the government is reviewing the program to see what "value for money" it gives taxpayers.
Industry Minister Tony Clement told reporters that it's "appropriate" to review the Marquee Tourism Events Program after its first year, a review he suggested had nothing to do with its controversial sponsorship of Toronto's gay pride parade.
Well, that's all well and good, but it a) does not address whether Ablonczy was indeed admonished, and b) is all after the fact: the millions have already been spent. If the government wants to have a discussion about whether we need funds like this is the first place, then great. If the government believes that we should fund tourism events, but just not gay ones, then they should stand up and say so.
Yes, there may be nudity in the Toronto gay pride parade, but there's likely much nudity to be encountered at the Toronto International Film Festival, which received millions from this tourism fund. In fact, as David Akin details, there are several gay events which have received funding from this government.
Governments are not obligated to fiund every event under the sun. It can be a slippery slope, however, when governments are empowered to revoke funding for "offensive" events. "Offensive", of course, is in the eye of the beholder - a Liberal or NDP government might have a very different view of what's "offensive" and the social conservatives demanding such an approach of this government are being rather short-sighted.
Former MP Monte Solberg sums it up well:
So you can either scrap all grants for all parades, or you can fund the thing like you always have and devote your efforts to fixing the three or four other things that really do make a difference, none of which involves parades, costumes and nudity.
My ideal is to let everyone raise their own money to hold their parades and the police can be there to make sure that most of the people, keep on most of their clothes most of the time. That's never been a problem at the Rodeo Day parade in my town but then again it's usually cold in Alberta at the beginning of June.
Whatever. The bottomline is that after all the years Diane has contributed to building the conservative movement in Canada she deserves better then to be ratted out by a colleague on an issue that is a complete loser for the party.
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