[BRIEF NOTE] First we want to defund gay pride festivals in Toronto, then we do it in Montréal

[rfmcdonald]

Just days after the scandal over the opposition of some Conservatives to funding gay pride in Toronto, we find out that the Conservative government isn't going to provide more funds for Montréal's Divers/Cité.

The fate of this year’s Divers/Cité festival in Montreal was up in the air on Wednesday after the federal government said it would not approve funding for the event.

Divers/Cité, Montreal’s gay pride arts festival, was counting on $155,000 in new funding from Ottawa.

In an email from Industry Canada, spokeswoman Christiane Fox said there are just too many worthwhile events to allow government funding for all of them.

The directors of Divers/Cité in Montreal said bureaucrats told them their funding request met all the criteria, and that final approval was with Industry Minister Tony Clement’s office. But on Monday, organizers were told the Conservative government had rejected their request.

Suzanne Girard, director of Divers/Cité, said Wednesday the event's organizers are reeling from the news.

"To be told that there is no money, when there is. They have $100 million put aside; they chose not to give to Divers/Cité. The reasons … we don’t know. Is it we're gay? Is it we're Montrealers? We’re Québécois? It's incredible they would decide at this late date, five days before our event starts,” said Girard.

Girard said the Divers/Cité festival, in its 17th year, provides vital economic stimulus.

"Per capita, we bring in more tourism than any other festival in Canada. And you can ask any Montreal taxi driver, the hotels … about our impact on Montreal … we are a niche market, we are an extremely important tourism event," said Girard.

Industry Minister Tony Clement says that the decision not to give more funds to Divers/Cité was based on regional fairness, on the grounds that Québec received 42% of the funds, the same amount as Ontario, and that the non-central Canadian provinces should be given a chance. Some say that the federal government's own criteria ensure this dominance.

Luc Fournier, director of an umbrella organization for Quebec's major international events, says the department has known from the outset that the province's festival circuit is the most powerful in the country and might scoop up a large proportion of the funds.

Just for Laughs and the Montreal International Jazz Festival received half of the Quebec total of $12-million. Only large-scale events across Canada that could prove they attract significant numbers of tourists met the criteria to apply.

“I told them many times that with the criteria they had, they wouldn't be able to fund events in the Maritimes and the Prairies, or very few,” said Mr. Fournier, of the Regroupement des evenements majeurs internationaux.

“If Industry Canada is saying that Quebec is getting more, well, with the criteria that we received we already told them that.”

The irony?

The directors of Divers-Cite had actually sprung to the defence of Stephen Harper's government earlier this month, telling The Canadian Press that the Conservatives had never treated them differently. Some in the gay community attacked them for their comments.

They had submitted a bid under the new Marquee Tourism Events Program for $155,000 to add performers and promotion to this year's $2-million event.

Government relations and marketing director Paul Girard said bureaucrats handling his file at Industry Canada told him his application met all the criteria, and had been sent up to Minister Tony Clement's office for final approval.

When he phoned to check on the bid Tuesday, Girard says he was told by a senior bureaucrat that the $100 million tourism program had received so many requests, the government simply had to make a choice.

[. . .]

Paul Girard said he has noticed that although Divers-Cite received two-year funding by the Economic Development Canada this year, for the first time the agency did not send his event a public letter congratulating them on their continued success.