Categories: Megapundit

Revenge of the giant pander, vol. II

Another triumph for the government pandermeisters! (See vol. I, Tal Bachman.) It seems Gwynne…

by selley on Tuesday, August 12, 2008 11:00am - 0 Comments

Another triumph for the government pandermeisters! (See vol. I, Tal Bachman.) It seems Gwynne Dyer, the pundit deemed too left-wing and too wealthy to receive funding to promulgate Canadian values in Cuba (a) asked for no funding, (b) had never heard of PromArt until his name cropped up in the government’s talking panderpoints and (c) was asked to go to Cuba, in 2007, by the Department of Foreign Affairs!

“I didn’t get paid for the work, but the Canadian embassy gave me $3,000 in cash to cover my travel costs,” he writes to the Globe. “Obviously some wily accountant at Foreign Affairs took the money for the Cuban project out of the wrong pocket. Stephen Harper’s ministers just can’t keep control of their departments.”

Hiyo!

Tags: gwynne dyer, morons, promart

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boudica

My favorite part in this story isn’t so much the PMO getting their facts wrong, that wouldn’t be the first time. Rather, it is the Globe and Mail’s editorial which also chimed in on the accusations w/o fact checking that had me chuckling.
http://carnewsandviews.com jwl

Chris I don’t understand who you think is getting revenge here.

Is the conservative political base going to re-evaluate their feelings towards Harper after its been revealed that Foreign Affairs bureaucrats are handing out money like candy to socialists such as Dwer, who wasn’t even looking for money in the first place?

I would say that’s going to reinforce our neurosis towards the bureaucracy!
boudica

jwl, socialists such as Dyer? What’s your issue here? That Foreign Affairs paid for the travel expenses of a trip they ask Dyer to make or that Dyer isn’t a rightwinger?
T. Thwim

Except, jwl, that the excuse given for cutting the program isn’t simply that it was costing money (because that applies to everything the government does, including paying MPs.. any bets they’ll be willing to cut that for cost savings?) but rather that the value Canadians were receiving for the money wasn’t enough.

Yet what we see here is that the conservatives didn’t even know what the program was doing.
boudica

I think that the PMO’s policy is to cut funding for any program with the word “art” in it.
DPat

JWL – Sure, blame it on the bureaucracy – who appear to do nothing in the current atmosphere without political approval.

The conservative base wouldn’t re-evaluate their feelings toward Yo Harper even if they saw him with the gun in his hands. However, the lying/bungling over the bad, bad artsy types by the tory con-unicators will hopefully remind the middle of the road folks who hold the majority in their hands about just how sleezy the Harper Conservatives can be in their lust for majority power.
http://carnewsandviews.com jwl

Boudica I could write a dissertation on what my issue is here. However, I will keep my comments brief. My main problem is the Department of Foreign Affairs and their half baked ideas.

Is it really necessary to send people to Cuba to lecture them on democracy? I would be amazed if the ‘influential’ Cubans didn’t know how democracy works or its benefits.

And why would they choose Dwer, a man who doesn’t appear to entirely like democracies, to lecture them about the benefits of the system?

And why send a Canadian who doesn’t live here to lecture them on how great Canada is?

And is it really being ‘creatively subversive’ to send a socialist to Cuba?
boudica

In short, you don’t believe in cultural exchanges, especially when it is done with the help of someone like Dyer whom you’ve categorized as a socialist who doesn’t believe in Democracy.

I honestly don’t even know what to say to something like that.
Sisyphus

Gwynne Dyer is a smart and attractively cynical guy. I’d like to hear what he said to the Cubans.

In any case,does this mean Canada Day in Central Park without the glory that is Gord Downie all tremorous and trancy. Shame.
boudica

Next think you know, the PMO will start burning books.
http://carnewsandviews.com jwl

“I’d like to hear what he said to the Cubans”

I bet it was something along the lines of, ‘keep up the good work’! The imperialist yankees are trembling before your mighty dictatorship’.
Sisyphus

jwl, I doubt it. But glad to see you’re keeping up with Granma. Balance in your life is good.
boudica

LOL!
Emmett

“Next think (sic) you know, the PMO will start burning books.”

Very insightful.
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