Another totally bizarre action on the part of the Harper minority government...
As Siddiqui explains, "The Harperites’ decision cannot be explained away by fiscal prudence. The sum involved is small, especially for a bunch that spent $1 billion on the G8/20 summit, and is to spend $9 billion on prisons for inmates that don’t exist, and $785 million on guns for customs/immigration officials at border crossings and airports when the passengers arriving at the latter have already been through security checks prior to boarding their flights.
"Nor can the decision be explained by ideology, as in the case of the turmoil caused by this government’s appointees at Rights and Democracy, that other Canadian organization that promotes democracy and human rights abroad. That agency has been turned upside down because it gave $30,000 to one Israeli and two Palestinian NGOs probing possible human rights violations by Israel in its Occupied Territories. The witch-hunt there has already cost taxpayers $1.2 million for a 'forensic audit,' consultants’ fees and other activities initiated by pro-Israeli Conservative appointees.
"The only plausible explanation for turning off the financial pipeline to the Forum is just plain pettiness, speculates one of my sources.
"'It’s hard to see why they wouldn’t extend the funding to the Forum, beyond that it was established by the Liberals. Maybe they are just being vindictive. We know that they are nothing if not vindictive.'"
Full article: Siddiqui: Harper guts yet another independent agency
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