Harper Watch - #52 Harper Is No Good If You Like Museums

Or any kind of culture really, unless the military counts.

First we heard, the Museum Assistance Program was canned. The $4.5 million program was small potatoes — and recently replaced with a $5 million 2-year program to hire summer students, which the Canadian Museums Association calls an initiative "stemming more from electoral preoccupations than from an analysis of the museums' priority needs."

Then we noticed that the Portrait Gallery of Canada had been left out of future federal budgets entirely. Mothballing the portrait museum may be a bad idea, but cutting the already meager federal assistance to museums nationwide is worse for those that don't live in Canada's Capital Region.

Now the program that helps museums put their pieces on tour is closing its doors. The program — good for anyone who thinks museum's acquisitions are too centralized in Ontario — will shut down in less than a year.

Heritage minister Bev Oda has reneged on her commitment to a comprehensive national strategy for preserving Canada's museums, a plan she supported as heritage critic. Why? Is Harper waiting for a majority so he can axe federal contributions entirely?

LINK: Xtra.ca-Marcus McCann - "SHHH. Soccer moms are softening on Harper. That doesn't mean he's not making SoCon ideological moves. He's just doing it quietly!"