It seemed like a good idea at the time.

It made you proud to be a Canadian:

16/05/2008 7:12:43 AM
CTV.ca News Staff

... Bev Oda, the minister of International Co-operation has said that the federal government will be matching private donations made by aid groups working on disaster relief for Burma as well as China, which has suffered a deadly earthquake.

Unfortunately, given time, the sleazy Stephen Harper douchebaggery will eventually out:

Strings attached to feds' pledge to match donations

Updated Sat. May. 24 2008 4:48 PM ET
The Canadian Press

OTTAWA -- The federal government's offer to match Canadian donations to disaster relief efforts in China and Burma turns out to be nowhere near as generous as it initially appeared.

Humanitarian groups have been disappointed to discover the bulk of donations they've received thus far -- in the immediate aftermath of the disasters -- won't be matched at all.

Um ... OK, what's the catch? Oh ...

However, details subsquently posted by the Canadian International Development Agency revealed the government will match only those individual donations received by aid groups between May 15 and June 6.

That excludes all the donations that poured in immediately after the devastating May 2 cyclone in Burma, and the May 12 earthquake in China.

And guess whose lives this fucks up?

[Kieran] Green estimated Care and its partner groups in the Humanitarian Coalition have thus far raised about $200,000 through private donations from individuals for the relief effort in Burma.

He said some donors have asked Care to refund their original early contributions so they can make new donations that will be matched by the government.

And while I can sympathize with humanitarian organizations like Care, come on, how depressingly gullible do you have to be to have fallen for that announcement in the first place? I mean, the Conservatives offered to do something charitable for less-fortunate people. What the fuck made you think they meant it?