Inkless Wells

Paul Wells on all the latest out of Ottawa—along with the occasional post about jazz. Follow Paul on Twitter: @InklessPW
He also offers his thoughtful perspective of Stephen Harper’s last 10 years in his recent eBook, The Harper Decade.

Categories: Capital Read, Inkless Wells

Liesl! Pack little Farahilde and the cellos. We're going to Ottawa!

by Paul Wells on Wednesday, July 22, 2009 11:10am - 51 Comments

Here in the string quartet section of macleans.ca, I know you’ll be as delighted as I am to learn that the federal government’s not-at-all-ridiculous Marquee Tourism Events Program has announced another grant. And just in the nick of time! Yes, it’s the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, which truly is a marvellous event, and for which I have already, long ago, purchased a single Platinum Pass so I can spend much of the next 10 days geeking out to Haydn and Mendelssohn without actually having to drag any of my already-long-suffering friends along. Anyway, just this morning, the indefatigable Royal Galipeau, Conservative MP for Somewhere Around Here, announced a MTEP grant of $210,000 to “make it possible to increase marketing and promotional efforts aimed at attracting audiences from out-of-province and out-of-country, specifically targeting major cities in the U.S., England and other European centres.”

For this year’s Chamberfest.

Which starts in three days.

This is asinine.

But perhaps I am being too harsh. Probably it would be wrong of me to point out that everyone in the government insists that MTEP was taken away from Diane Ablonczy and given to Tony Clement, not because some money inadvertently fell into the hands of Toronto drag queens — perish the thought! — but to ensure greater administrative efficiency is all, after the Ablonczy-administered program had a few faux pas like giving $338,000 to the Ottawa jazz festival three days before it started. So now that Tony’s on the case, the feds are giving almost one-third less to an Ottawa festival three days before it starts. Progress!

But I got to wondering. What if this MTE grant works? What if a program “specifically targeting major cities” in the U.S. and Europe hits its target? What if news of the chamber festival program, exciting as it is — I am looking forward, in particular, to the St. Lawrence String Quartet, the young Calgary pianist Jan Lisiecki, and my first chance to hear R. Murray Schafer’s 11th String Quartet — actually reaches, say, a hypothetical two-parent, one-child family in Salzburg, Austria? I hear they like chamber music over there.

So I looked on Expedia, and this just might work. If Hans, Liesl and little Farahilde hurry, they can fly out of Salzburg on Saturday at 6:15 a.m., connecting in Frankfurt and Toronto and landing in Ottawa 17 hours later… and then reverse the trajectory on Aug. 2… for only $2,122 each, or $6,636 for the whole family! This represents a substantial savings over the $19,840 that BMI wants for the same trip, leaving our hypothetical lieder-loving Braunschweiger clan with that much more money in their pockets to stimulate the Ottawa economy! (Try the flatbreads at Darcy McGee’s, folks. Wunderbar.)

Never let it be said that Canada’s New Government doesn’t spend money where it can make a difference. Oh, and I checked: Hans Braunschweiger is not a drag queen. Those are lederhosen, Tony. There’s a difference.

Tags: Diane Ablonczy, Magical Salzburg, Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, royal galipeau, Tony Clement

More by Paul Wells

http://twitter.com/larrylarry @larrylarry

If you check the MTEP page on the flashy Economic Action Plan website, you'll notice that they've removed any reference to have funded Pride Toronto. http://actionplan.gc.ca/initiatives/eng/index.asp…
Dot

Good blog. I just wonder if it's possible that the funds were unofficially promised a long time ago, and they are just getting around to finalizing the paperwork. This, to me , seems more plausible, but, then again, I don't know how these things play out there.

http://intensedebate.com/people/john_g2708 john g

I was about to suggest the same thing. Maybe they were given verbal assurances beforehand?

http://intensedebate.com/people/Silly_Walks Silly_Walks

I don't know too many people who include a verbal assurance, especially from the Government, as an acceptable way of doing business.
http://intensedebate.com/people/KadyITQ KadyITQ

You mean like the folks over at Divers/Cite? That didn't work out so well for them.

http://intensedebate.com/people/john_g2708 john g

Depends on who's the one giving the verbal assurance I guess, or whether or not the festival in question is in a swing riding. It was just a theory…

http://intensedebate.com/people/SisyphusThis SisyphusThis

Not the same funding bucket, but verbal assurances can be a moveable feast …

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2009/0…
Matthew Fletcher

Generally, the announcement of this type is the "verbal assurance" to which you refere. Often the money doesn't actually flow 'till sometime later. So if they are only now announcing it, the money probably wasn't committed before, but it might have been.

http://intensedebate.com/people/SisyphusThis SisyphusThis

Nice. But the plans have been the works for years. The municipal and provincial levels committed
their funding on the understanding that the feds were in. Now they're out.
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/SisyphusThis SisyphusThis

Nice. But the plans have been the works for years. The municipal and provincial levels committed
their funding on the understanding that the feds were in. Now they're out.

But never mind. It is off topic.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Inkless Inkless

Pride is listed among recipients on the Industry Canada MTEP site:

http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/dsib-tour.nsf/eng/qq…
http://intensedebate.com/people/Inkless Inkless

So now that we've pointed out the discrepancy, the fun thing to watch will be whether it gets added on the Action Plan site, or taken off the IC site.

http://intensedebate.com/people/c_9 c_9

This would require that IC and AP exist in the same universe. While this is possible, I fear there's no way for us to tell since they clearly don't exist in our universe.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Silly_Walks Silly_Walks

This is just getting embarrassing. It's one thing to deny money out of idealogical difference. It's not right, but it's a thing. It's an entirely different thing to shovel money out the door in a way that can't possibly be effective, essentially the worlds most expensive press release. What happened to 'Good Governance'? Apparently not part of 'Canada's New Government'

Ted

You are assuming that the Conservative sponsorship program is about something other than optics, i.e. the ability to say – in a 10 percenter or a TV ad or a campaign pamphlet – we funded $X to your riding/your group/your demographic.

Effectiveness doesn't come close to entering into the equation.

http://intensedebate.com/people/sea_n_mountains sea_n_mountains

especially if you assume that people that read 10percenters are stupid and/or complete partisan shills!

http://intensedebate.com/people/Inkless Inkless

Yeah, Ted. Clearly those things are written for Stendahl scholars.

Ted

I'm suffering from Stendahl syndrome from your wit. (That's a joke, Paul, a joke, friendly ribbing)

Clearly the CPC is not targetting the Stendahl niche of voters. They are however targetting those bunch of Canadians who might be somewhat leary of Conservatives because what they have said (like arts and culture is only for champagne sipping elites as Harper said) and done (and how that has been spun by others) about arts and culture. This is not to convince anyone that the CPC are great lovers of art and culture, but simply that they are not the enemies of arts and culture they are perceived to be.

Either that, or they really are quite as incompetent as suggested here. Which I don't disagree with.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Inkless Inkless

I don't even know what Stendahl syndrome is. I think that makes me the target demographic.
Ted

Who needs libraries when you have Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stendhal_syndrome

;-)
http://intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack Mitchell

Apparently Stendhal syndrome is when you start jumping up and down and hyperventilating when somebody hums a piece by our Murray Schaffer, or hands you $338 000, or both, whereas Stendahl syndrome would have something to do with St. Paul and "holy envy."
Ted

So, what you are saying is, not only am I incapable of matching wits with Mr. Wells, I'm not so good a speller either. I need to get back out to the beech wear their all swiming.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack Mitchell

I thought the reference to Stendhal syndrome was great! I hadn't known it existed, either, so it was also educational.
http://intensedebate.com/people/sea_n_mountains sea_n_mountains

indeed. But I suspect there could be a happy medium no?

I mean If i was running a resto on Elgin St. that desperately needed some more business and I saw a 10percenter laying around that said how much the Tories just helped me with this investment in advertising the Chamber music fest far and wide, I suspect rather than ensuring my support that said 10percenter would ensure I would badmouth the Tories at every opportunity.

Dot

Well, that is part of my point above. They couldn't possibly spend the money in the next three days in the target markets if they've just been now given the go ahead.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Silly_Walks Silly_Walks

I'm not claiming to have reinvented the wheel here, I'm just pissed off. I don't understand why one of the opposition parties doesn't take this and run with it.

Lord Kitchener's Own

I think perhaps we're missing an important and exciting possibility here.

Our government has invented a time machine to help stimulate the economy!!
http://intensedebate.com/people/Silly_Walks Silly_Walks

Even if they had all of the assurances in the world, a festival like this would be foolish to spend money they don't actually have on hand.

http://intensedebate.com/people/john_g2708 john g

No, in thinking about it some more you're completely right…it doesn't make sense. The festival is happening either way, the money was intended for advertising/promotion, not for festival operations or anything, so obviously they wouldn't spend until the cheque was in the bank. Which makes it completely useless for its stated purpose.

Guess it wouldn't really stimulate our economy that much if they use it to promote CD or DVD sales after the event, eh?

Just to nitpick Wells though, there is an Ottawa-Frankfurt direct link, so that would buy a few more hours for little Farahilde to get here.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Silly_Walks Silly_Walks

Just enough extra time to hit up the Rideau Center and Market for a much needed tourist infusion of dollars.

Ted

To put it more succinctly, next election, no one can say Harper hasn't funelled millions and millions of dollars into arts and culture.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Silly_Walks Silly_Walks

It's not how much you spend, so much as how wisely you spend it.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Stewart_Smith Stewart_Smith

It is remarkable that in Canada, the Conservative brand still wears the aura of being prudent fiscal managers. For at least the past 30 years, at both the federal and provincial levels, Conservatives governments have demonstrated they don't give a damm about balancing their books or spending money effectively.
http://intensedebate.com/people/SOUTHOUSE SOUTHOUSE

A couple other thoughts which may or may not be relevant here. Sometimes these funding agreements are reimbursements for expenses that have already been made, and they need to be shown to have been spent/they fall within guidelines before they can be reimbursed.

The other is that funding agreements get signed sometimes months before an event, but the timing of the announcement doesn't match the paperwork. All sides agree to remain silent on it until a joint announcement can be made, or if it's purely federal funding, it happens when it works for a local MP/Minister. I think everyone who's been in government can point to an announcement that doesn't get made until after funding has gone out the door, and sometimes, work has begun.

Not sure if this is the case, but I thought I'd toss it out there for consideration.
Stephen

I wonder if one of the major European centres is Prague.

Lord Kitchener's Own

lol

Mulletaur

Isn't this exactly the sort of thing the Auditor General should be all over ? Like, value for money and that sort of thing ?

Actually, come to think of it, we're heard barely a peep out of her since January 2006. Funny that.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Stewart_Smith Stewart_Smith

Southhouse, Your comments are entirely relevant. In my experience there can be several stages: positive funding decision pending legal stuff, contract signing, official announcement etc. However, if you combine the Ottawa situation with the Divers/Cite result you are left with two possiblities.
1) It is possible that the funding of the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival was well planned and the late announcement is just that (a late announcement). However, in this scenario, one is forced to conclude that the Divers/Cite situation represents the government misrepresenting their intentions to the organizers. (Perhaps Anders, Lukiwski and Tost have pulled off a coup in the PMO! [youtube TwumZ5I6vkM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwumZ5I6vkM youtube]

2) Personally, I like to think the best of the government. They are not bigots, they are simply lousy managers of my money.

Lord Kitchener's Own

They are not bigots, they are simply lousy managers of my money.

Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack Mitchell

Why should they be mutually exclusive?

http://intensedebate.com/people/Stewart_Smith Stewart_Smith

Southhouse, Your comments are entirely relevant. In my experience there can be several stages: positive funding decision pending legal stuff, contract signing, official announcement etc. However, if you combine the Ottawa situation with the Divers/Cite result you are left with two possiblities.
1) It is possible that the funding of the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival was well planned and the late announcement is just that (a late announcement). However, in this scenario, one is forced to conclude that the Divers/Cite situation represents the government misrepresenting their intentions to the organizers. (Perhaps Anders, Lukiwski and Tost have pulled off a coup in the PMO! [youtube TwumZ5I6vkM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwumZ5I6vkM youtube]

2) Personally, I like to think the best of the government. They are not bigots, they are simply lousy managers of my money.
orval

Given that the Festival is an annual event, and MTEP is a two-year program, the MTEP money spent this year will boost international promotion of the event in Europe during the event and after as something worth coming to, and hopefully result in more visitors in 2010.

More prosaically, I'm sure the Festival '09 has advertising and promotional bills that need to be paid, hence they are glad for the MTEP money now.

Politically, this is insurance against any claims that the CPC is "against" the arts.

PW's mocking is only helping spread the word that the CPC actively supports arts and culture, with all the attendant benefits to the tourism industry, an industry in which many voters actually work.

Without this blog, I would have never heard about this good news. This is great work.

I don't get why the Austrians are to be ridiculed. Is it because of Obama's gaffe that Austrians speak "Austrian"? Or is it because of trend-setting "Bruno"? I am surprised that the Belgians are not being picked on.

http://intensedebate.com/people/M_A_N M_A_N

"Here's some money to advertise your festival!"
"Um, it starts in three days."
"Hey, that's ok, you can keep it till next year!"
"Um, we're a non-profit corporation, and we're not supposed to carry a balance that big for very long."
"Hey, that's ok! You can go buy some monogrammed golf balls or something!"

http://intensedebate.com/people/SisyphusThis SisyphusThis

I, too, wish that Mr. Wells would update us on his concerns for the disappearance of
the glory that is Belgium.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Inkless Inkless

Fortunately the fries are still yummy.

http://www.intensedebate.com/people/ottawasteph ottawasteph

One of Harper's main objectives for the MTEP was to avoid the pitfalls of political intervention, as the LPC has been accused of with the sponsorship program, which was meant to raise the GoC (not LPC) profile and address public opinion research revealing that most Canadians were confused about the role of the GoC v. other levels of government.

For Quebec in particular, this confusion made it easy for separatists to make their case for sovereignty. In other words, the sponsorship program was also meant to improve national unity and save our country!

The MTEP was meant to boost tourism in 2009, i.e. this year, and the deadline to apply for funding was May 8, 2009. Now we're seeing evidence of political meddling. Geez, pot, leave that kettle alone!
http://intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack Mitchell

Why don't they just cart these huge piles of cash onto Parliament Hill and set them on fire with the Eternal Flame?

Down With Snark

Heh, a hardline tax and spend Liberal reactionary complaining about tax dollars, that's killer. Go buy some carbon credits or something.

Down With Snark

Hey Paul! You should use more exclamation points! To let people know that you're being snarky!

Very masculine, I might add! Mature, too! You make the O'Malley girl seem laden with gravitas in comparison! Can I tell you how annoying it is reading the snarky Canadian media???!!!!! It's awful! It shames me as a Canadian!

Man the Christ up, Wells, and write like an adult. Just because the rest of your comrades are tarding out doesn't mean you have to too. How old are you? 40? Start acting like it. You might have a point somewhere in this post but it's so unbearable to read that I can't be bothered trying to find it.

"Some of the world's best writers" indeed.
ReallyKadySheSwears

You know, I'd have to check back to be sure, but I don't think Pride was *ever* listed — I remember checking the CA!P site when the controversy first broke out, and I wasn't able to find it. (And yes, this is, in fact, Kady at the keyboard — for some reason, Chrome doesn't seem to get on well with Intense Debate, and won't let me log in.)
Lucas

Incidentally, they did the same thing for the Calgary Folk Fest. MTEP funding was announced yesterday, and the festival starts tomorrow.

http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/ic1.nsf/eng/04845.ht…