Bad Little Habits

Screw you, taxpayer!

Big news this week in Canadian cultural policy: the Harper government is was(?) moving through legislation that would empower the federal Heritage Minister to deny tax credits for film and television productions deemed 'offensive' or 'contrary to public policy'. The Globe and Mail caught the provisions, which are obscured deep inside an omnibus Income Tax Act bill, and published a story on Thursday. The arts community immediately picked up the scent of censorship; by week's end, vociferous (and unusually sensitive and well-composed) opposition was all over the Internet and overflowed the inboxes of MPs and Senators. Word on Friday evening was that the bill was been sent back to committee from the Senate. We're staying tuned.

Steven Harper should be taking extra vitamins this week, first feeling heat from the opposition on the Cadman affair and now the wrath of artists.

Some thoughts on arts funding from Kids in the Hall:

At last, the literary art$ are given their due

The Toronto Star reported over the weekend that the office of Jim Flaherty, Canada's Conservative Finance Minister, paid marketing research consultant Hugh MacPhie a sum of $122,000 for "analysis, assessment and advice" during the preparation of the 2007 Federal budget. This revelation has caused an uproar in the House of Commons for a number of reasons, including the size of the contract ($122,000 for a two month period of work, or alternately, a generous $22 per word) and the fact that the job was not subject to a tendering process, which is required by Treasury Board regulations for any contract of $25 000 or more.

That Mr. MacPhie was previously a speech writer for Conservative Ontario Premier Mike Harris (Mr. Flaherty was Harris's  Finance Minister) and that he supported Flaherty's bid for the province's Conservative leadership have afforded the affair an ironic odour of dirty linen; the nepotism displayed in the Liberal sponsorship scandal and the Conservatives' professed commitment to 'accountability' were key to the success of Stephen Harper's 2006 federal election campaign.

But, in the words of S.E. Hinton, that was then, this is now.

Flaherty assured his colleagues in the House today that Mr. MacPhie's contract “provided good value for money". If this is any indication of the state of writing in Canada, these are good times indeed.

I'd like Mr. Flaherty's office to know that I'm available this spring and am willing to go as low as 20 bucks a word.