Last month, when respected Parliamentary veteran Diane Ablonczy was punished by Stephen Harper for the crime of providing funding to this year's Toronto Gay Pride parade, a Montreal LGBT organization leaped to the government's defence.Suzanne Girard, director of Montreal's Divers-Cité artistic festival, said that far-right so-cons were trying to embarrass the Conservatives. Since the Tories came to power, she said, her organization has had more stable support than ever before.
Egg, meet face. Yesterday Divers-Cité, which applied for funding out of the same envelope as Toronto Pride and was told that it had met all the criteria, was informed that the application had been denied by Tony Clement, who took over the funding portfolio after Ablonczy was stripped of it.
Girard was shocked:
"We met all the criteria — this is a democracy. They changed the rules as they went along. I feel like I've been had."
One must feel a little sadness for Girard, who was either hopelessly naive, or else thought her spirited defence of the Tories might move her own application along. Either way, I hope she has learned her lesson well.
UPDATE: Kady O'Malley: Tony Clement's Charles McVety connection?
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