Last week, I noted in this space that Heritage Minister James Moore had announced a grant to REPORT magazine, an unabashedly conservative magazine and, quite possibly, a haven for separatists (albeit of the Western kind). Many thought I was off my rocker for failing to note that the government funds all sorts of magazines. That, though, was not the point. The government funds all sorts of things but when it issues a press release it, presumably, wants us to pay particular attention to that particularly funding announcement (which, as it turns out, may also be new therefore qualifying it as, what we call in my business, “News”). But I digress …
Last week's press release about funding for REPORT was, so far as I can tell, the first announcement in a year about dispursements from the magazine fund.
This afternoon, I am happy to draw your attention to the second such announcement I am aware of:
On behalf of the Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, Patrick Brown, Member of Parliament (Barrie), (standing in the middle in the photo above) today announced [$23,666 in] funding to support the creation of Canadian editorial content in Snow Goer Canada, an important magazine for Canadian snowmobile fans.
What constitutes “news” – how about reports on what Canada achieved at the G20? Like co-chairing the financial regulations committee? I can't give any more details than that, because I haven't seen or heard much about it in the “news.”
I have heard an inordinate amount of speculation on why the PM missed a photo-op, though. Of course THAT was of prime importance according to the blond (BF) leading the blonde (JT) on Power Play.
An announcement re: funding? Maybe a minister's department wanting to prove it has NOT mercilessly cut funding to everything in sight, which to your credit you wrote about here:
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/01/15/david-akin-who-says-the-tories-don-t-like-the-arts.aspx
“But another minister has also had a very busy 2009 so far. Heritage Minister James Moore has been very active trying to prove that, contrary to some popularly held beliefs, the federal Conservatives really do like art and culture and are ready to back up that love with some federal funds.
Since Jan. 1, Minister Moore has made six announcements handing out a total of $286,074 to arts and cultural groups. Today, it was Nova Scotia's turn to benefit with $62,500 for the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, $100,000 for the Jazz East Rising Association, and $61,000 to the Scotia Chamber Players.”
BTW, don't take this the wrong way, but the word is disbursements, although I suppose the word you use makes more sense since we often hear references made to the public purse.