So this happened:
In February Colin Coates, professor of history, wrote in his role as president of the Canadian Historical Association to Marc Miller, Minister of Canadian Heritage, expressing the CHA's concern over the way the budgetary choices made by the Carney government have led to serious closures, service reductions, and staff reductions at almost every federal agency charged with creating, preserving, and distributing historical and cultural knowledge, and particularly Library and Archives Canada, the Canadian Museum of History and the Canadian War Museum, Parks Canada, and Statistics Canada. As he says:
I am sure that you are aware of the key roles these agencies play in encouraging interest in Canadian history. At this particular juncture in the history of our country, active engagement with the complicated Canadian past is more necessary than ever. Canadians need to understand, for example, the features of our past that distinguish us from our neighbours to the south and that have led us to adopt different paths to our concepts of citizenship, democracy, and civic engagement.
On March 18 (lightspeed by Government of Canada standards) the minister replied, saying (I paraphrase): hey, we only make the budget, these agencies make their own choices, why complain to me?
We have had a deluge of propaganda about how "wokeness" is somehow killing Canadian history. Now we can consider where the real problem begins.
This Carney government is beginning to shape up as the most philistine Canadian government in a long time. I did not love the Harper government's historical priorities (war, hockey and the crown, mostly) but at least they had some history they valued. This government: seems like it's just submarines all the way down.
Global News has put up two charts of how much the Carney government plans to cut spending or increase spending in each department. This below is the hit list. Take a deep breath. And Canadian Heritage is not even one of the big losers, despite the damage summarized above.
