Ottawa

Ablonczy/Pride: Maybe Brad Trost wasn’t so far off the mark.

At least, as far his understanding of why Diane Ablonczy is no longer in charge of handing out money to festivals.

David Akin has a copy of the email that went out to Conservative MPs on June 26th – just two weeks after Ablonczy made what would turn out to be her final marquee funding announcement.  Reading through, it’s suddenly not that difficult to imagine how a backbencher like Brad Trost might have thought that Ablonczy had been stripped of the file as a direct result of public reaction to her decision to fund the Pride parade —  and that PMO, or at least whoever sent out this email on its behalf, felt the same way he did about it:

From: Alerte-Info-Alert <[email protected]>

To: Alerte-Info-Alert <[email protected]>

Sent: Fri Jun 26 15:18:41 2009

Subject: Marquee Tourism Events Program / Programme des manifestations touristiques de renom

Recently many MPs have received an increasing number of constituent communications related to the Marquee Tourism Events Program.

The program is now directly the responsibility of Industry Minister Tony Clement. He will be conducting a review of the entire program to ensure that the funding is providing genuine stimulus to the economy.

The Minister’s office and the PMO are working together to support Caucus members and help them respond to constituents.

For further information, please contact Regional Affairs in the Prime Minister’s Office:

Coincidentally, just a few days earlier, the Institute for Canadian Values —  headed up, as it happens, by one Rev. Charles McVety — had issued an alert of its own, which called upon right-thinking Canadians to let the government know what they thought about giving taxpayer dollars to “sex parades” like Pride :

Funding sex parades is not just politically destructive- it is also spiritually devastating. Scripture records numerous admonitions to not promote immorality. The first chapter of Romans teaches us that God will turn one over to vile passions and a reprobate mind. He then gives a litany of inevitable consequences that will follow. Paul Martin is a clear example of this immutable spiritual law. Mr. Martin had a stellar career as the Finance Minister and most believed he would become a great Prime Minster. Once he achieved the office, Paul Martin spent all his political capital to redefine marriage. Everything fell apart and he ended his short term with newspapers reporting that he was the worst Prime Minister in the history of Canada. Paul Martin lost his life-long goal, his legacy and integrity. Stephen Harper has done quite well for families as Prime Minister for 3 years raising the age of sexual consent and attempting to protect children. However I am afraid that if he continues to move in this direction he will see his career could abruptly end in turmoil and disgrace.

The hope is that the course can be corrected. If you and I, plus our friends, families and colleagues voice our opposition to this program, hopefully the Prime Minster will listen and reverse the path he has chosen.

Call the Prime Minister’s office and express your views. 1-613-992-4211
Call your Member of Parliament and request that the government stop wasting our money on destructive sex parades.

Coincidence? Or cause and effect? Somehow, ITQ suspects that Charles McVety would claim the latter. She’s just surprised he hasn’t popped up in the news taking credit for the whole thing, like he did last year with C-10, and the government’s ill-fated attempt to prevent naughtily-titled movies like Young People Fucking from taking advantage of the film tax credit.

Of course, since that little bout of bombast ultimately led to the bill’s demise — although not before providing ITQ with ample fodder for liveblogging, including an memorable appearance by McVety himself — perhaps he has learned that, as with valour, discretion can be the better part of a effective grassroots lobby campaign.

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