Ah, to be a senior in Beauval!

[One of my Twitter Followers “CanTaxFed” twigged me on to the thinking that resulted in this post]

On Wednesday this week, Sen. Marjory LeBreton announced that the federal government was spending $11 million for 900 projects across the country aimed to improving the lives of seniors. Who's going to quarrel with that? No one in Beauval, Saskatchewan, that's for sure.

Today, the area's Conservative MP Rob Clarke announced that the village of Beauval was to receive $20,000 for “its project Circle of Seniors and Youth. The project will provide seniors with an opportunity to organize, plan and teach the traditional arts of dancing, beadwork and storytelling of the Cree culture to fellow seniors, youth and other members of the community.”

At the time of the 2006 census, 806 people lived in this northern Saskatchewan communitty and precisely 80 people were, in 2006, 60 or older. That works out to $250 per person over 60. Not bad.

Even before Sen. LeBreton made her announcement, MPs have been busy handing out cheques to seniors groups:

• Conservative MP Devinder Shory had $24,000 for the Calgary Seniors' Resource Society to be used for the “Seniors’ Social Link. The project will help seniors develop relationships and facilitate social activities for isolated seniors, including flower planting, educational presentations, cultural dance and musical entertainment.” There are about 100,000 seniors in Calgary. That's about 24 cents per senior, isolated or not.
• Conservative MP Peter Braid announced $25,000 for the Parkwood Mennonite Home “for its project Health and Wellness for Successful Aging, which will support seniors in the design and delivery of educational sessions on healthier lifestyle choices for their peers.” Cost per senior: 60 cents.
• Conservative MP Michael Chong handed out $25,000 to the Federated Women's Institute of Ontario “for its project ROSE Buddies. Through the project, seniors will create partnerships with local elementary schools and facilitate an intergenerational memoir-writing program with youth.” Cost per senior: 75 cents.

There's been a pile of other announcements like this in the last two weeks — MP so-and-so gives $20,000 to $25,000 for a seniors project in his or her community:

The Government of Canada supports seniors in Wingham ($22.42 a senior)
The Government of Canada supports seniors in New Jersey and Burnt Church ($22.25)
The Government of Canada supports seniors in Cayuga ($3.22)
The Government of Canada supports seniors in Kitchener (76 cents)
The Government of Canada supports seniors in Brussels ($33)

There have also been these since March 13:

The Government of Canada supports seniors in Niagara West and Flamborough
The Government of Canada supports seniors in Georgetown
The Government of Canada supports seniors in New Ross and Chester
The Government of Canada supports seniors in Beamsville
The Government of Canada supports seniors in Thornhill, Vaughan and Concord
The Government of Canada supports seniors in Goderich
The Government of Canada supports seniors in Kincardine
The Government of Canada supports seniors in Prince George
The Government of Canada supports seniors in Delta

Now I haven't crunched the seniors-to-funding ratio in that last bunch but I'm willing to bet that the good folks of Beauval are still going to come out on top no matter what.

By the way — these are the first 18 projects, I'm assuming, of the 900 that Senator LeBreton spoke of. If you're on Twitter and want to follow along, you can track these spending announcements and others by following the Twitter hashtag #ottawaspends or by just following me on Twitter at davidakin.