Didn’t You Just Give Us That Money?

So who’s behind the Canadian culture cuts? That would be finance minister Jim Flaherty, and Martin Knelman says that Flaherty seems to be doubling back on his own word. “In the course of slashing $4.6 million from the Museum Assistance Program of Ottawa’s heritage ministry — not to avoid a deficit but to fluff up a surplus — Flaherty seemed to be grabbing money from one culture-world pocket while only midway through putting money into the other pocket. In effect, he has taken back a large part (close to 25 per cent) of the increased funding he promised to the cultural sector last spring in his first budget — not a dime of which has yet made its way to anyone in the arts.”