I have to agree with a lot of the criticism online after the Giller Prize told Ottawa it might have to shut down if federal subsidy for the big fiction prize is not forthcoming.
If a private nonprofit foundation wants to give a literary prize, no one will stop them, say the critics I was reading. But there is no reason for taxpayers' money to take over when the foundation's aspirations start to exceed its budget. The withdrawal of Scotiabank funding after protests of the bank's alleged support for Israel is no doubt a factor in the Prize's financial woes. But if the feds want to support arts and culture, they can give more to the Canada Council and stop talking about more cuts to the CBC.
It is not only literary nonprofits that go down the road of assuming the feds should pay for everything, of course. Look at the provinces on medicare and housing!
Sticking to the arts/culture area: the history NGO Historica launched with a lot of billionaire money, but over the years it has gone to Ottawa for a lot of funding. It sometimes looked from here as if its choices seemed to reflect the historical preferences of the party in power at the time. (Lots of hockey and military Heritage Minutes in the Harper years, lots of diversity achievement Minutes in Liberal times?) The situation may be a little different, however: Historica does things the feds would not do themselves, so contracting some work to the NGO makes sense, whereas the Canada Council is designed to support the arts, with the Giller as to some degree a competitor.
A different angle on politics and culture: an anti-Israel protester tried to run in front of the sprinters charging to the finish line at yesterday's Tour de France (and failed to cause a possibly fatal crash, fortunately). The protest was demanding a boycott of the team Israel-Premier Tech, which this year is led by Canadian cyclist Michael Woods.
There is a lot of sports washing in Grand Tour cycling: one leading team is called UAE and another Bahrain Victorious, both subsidized by the governments of those states. There used to be an Astana team, linked very closely to the Kazakhstan government. Israel Premier Tech is sponsored by a wealthy Israeli private citizen and his partner, a Canadian, not by the Israeli government, apparently.
The solution should be a rejection of sportswashing by the cycling authorities: no more state-sponsored teams. (There are no Arabic riders on the Arabian teams, and no Jewish riders on IPT at the moment, I believe.) But that's never going to happen. Politicize your sport and political activists will respond, I guess.
