Monday, June 02, 2008

Another Harper Achievement

Achievement! Quick, somebody let Sandy Crux know that Canadian Culture is now complete. Every now and then I visit Culture.ca which is a portal to an enormous amount of content and links within the arts and cultural sectors. With all of the fanfare of a silent but deadly fart, the Conservative government decided to cut this excellent resource off at the knees.

We wish to inform you that Culture.ca has been discontinued since April 1st, 2008. This is a result of a Strategic Review of Government of Canada programs and activities announced in the 2008 Budget. The original program objectives of Culture.ca have been fulfilled and the decision to discontinue the Web portal reflects the changing conditions in the digital and online environment.
*emphasis mine

The site is still up for the moment but will disappear into the void soon. Go have a look around the 16,000 cultural links that are no longer of interest to the luddite fools running the show in Ottawa.

As for those completed "program objectives" here they are:

Culture.ca, Canada’s cultural portal, is an initiative of the Department of Canadian Heritage, as part of the Canadian Culture Online Strategy. Developed in collaboration with partners from the private and public sectors, Culture.ca aims to engage Canadians in cultural life by providing access to quality Canadian cultural content in both official languages.

Culture.ca's vast links collection and cultural content reflect the strong and vibrant presence of Canadian culture online while connecting visitors to a multitude of resources on Canadian arts, heritage, nature, society, recreation and cultural tourism.


Mission accomplished. Nothing to see here. Move along.

4 comments:

Frank Frink said...

Fuckers. Sure, you can find the conection to the various resources elsewhere on line - if you have hours and hours to spend looking for them.

I'm sure that money is far better spent on ministerial limos.

Ti-Guy said...

It's their own fault. They should have featured more air-brushing of copyrighted designs on redneck gear or lobbied for a raging mediocrity and social welfare burden to earn the GG's award she so richly deserved.

These people are going to rue the day they ever thought they could control things.

toujoursdan said...

What the fuck!?!?! That is a great site.

Alison said...

Related.
From DFAIT :
"As of April 1st, 2008, the structure of the successful Canadian Studies program has changed to become "Understanding Canada". The changes are made in the context of the Government's Advantage Canada agenda and in tandem with DFAIT's more strategic approach to Public Diplomacy. "Understanding Canada" will be more relevant to government and departmental priorities while continuing to respect academic freedom."

G&M : Authors protest against strings on funds
"A new federal policy for funding foreign Canadian studies programs is raising alarm bells with some of this country's leading authors who see it as the latest move by the Harper government to put strings on money for academic research and limit support for the arts.

The revised program, which came into effect April 1, states that priority for funding will be given to work on such specific issues as peace and security in Afghanistan, North American partnerships (including key Canada-U.S.-Mexico bilateral issues), economic development and prosperity, managing diversity, and environment and energy."