Topic
Thirteen ways the Harper government's planned cuts will swamp the mission of our heritage keepers.
Budget blasts holes in the vessel that stores the nation's history and carries it to the public. Image: Shutterstock.
Tory explanations don't add up, so here are three possible reasons.
As Harper's toxic rule erodes our democracy, it's time for the right to recall its vintage values.
As PM re-engineers Canadian society, he never lets facts get in the way.
The ongoing cuts and changes to service delivery at Library and Archives Canada (LAC) continue to be a source of consternation for Canada's archival community and to the users of Canada's documentary heritage. It's quite easy to get carried away on a tide of outrage around these issues, though, and so I present here a brief summary of the proposed changes themselves so readers can have an idea what's going on.
First, a brief refresher on LAC's mandate:
"The objects of the Library and Archives of Canada are (a) to acquire and preserve the documentary heritage; (b) to make that heritage known to Canadians and to anyone with an interest in Canada and to facilitate access to it; (c) to be the permanent repository of publications of the Government of Canada and of government and ministerial records that are of historical or archival value; (d) to facilitate the management of information by government institutions; (e) to coordinate the library services of government institutions; and (f) to support the development of the library and archival communities."
In light of this, let's look at the broader organizational changes which affect the whole institution, now headed by an individual, politically appointed in 2009, who is neither an archivist nor a librarian.
1. Hours and services for on-site reference are being cut to six hours a day (weekdays only); reference services will no longer be available without a formal appointment.
2. One out of five positions to be axed. Four hundred and fifty staff have been presented with "affected" notices announcing they will effectively need to re-apply for their own positions; of these, 215 will be eliminated. This amounts to around 1/5 of LAC's total workforce. These cuts include:
Twenty-one of 61 archivists dealing with non-governmental records will be eliminated;
Fifty per cent of digitization staff will be eliminated;
Fifty per cent of circulation staff for analog holdings will be eliminated;
Thirty per cent of cataloguing librarians will be eliminated;
Thirty per cent of library technicians working in collection development will be eliminated;
The professionals previously responsible for loans and exhibitions, microfilm preservation and imaging, digital preservation, preservation registry, textual and visual conservation, multicultural publications, and rare/out-of-print publications will be fired; the archivist positions responsible for cartography, moving images and sound, aboriginal treaties and affairs, art and photo archives, and the multicultural portfolio are already vacant.
Staff dealing with preservation and conservation of documents will see "significant" reduction.
3. Interlibrary loans will be completely eliminated by February 2013, meaning that LAC's services as library of record for all books published in Canada will only be available on-site in Ottawa.
4. A new "whole of society model," developed in secret and without any apparent public oversight or input, will be used to guide (and partly automate) archival holdings and acquisitions.
5. An official 10-month moratorium on purchased archival holdings announced in March 2009 has extended, unofficially, into a three-year lapse on acquisitions -- dozens of historical documents now leave Canada each day, never to return. No end to this situation is in sight.
6. Online access to holdings will be more difficult, because online archival descriptions will be reduced from 25 information fields to 10.
7. Key money-making program eliminated. The National Archival Development Program (NADP), which serves to support the archival enterprise across Canada, is being eliminated -- even though that program generates an average of 150 per cent return (in direct and in-kind contributions) on every federal dollar spent on project development.
8. Virtually all funding is being withdrawn from the Canadian Council on Archives, the body responsible for Canada's national standards on archival arrangement and description and for administering the NADP.
9. Collapsed councils across Canada. The impact of the NADP cut will be most keenly and immediately felt by communities across Canada, as 11 of the 13 provincial and territorial archives councils are projected to collapse within six months without additional financial support.
10. Ninety projects in communities cancelled. Also resulting from the NADP cut, 90 fully approved projects for the 2012-2013 year have been retroactively cancelled across Canada.
11. Archival professionals in provinces to be fired. Also stemming from the NADP cut, 17 archival professionals will lose their jobs. Among them, 11 archives advisors and conservators will be eliminated. These had previously been stationed in every province to provide free cooperative extension services in support of small heritage institutions around the country; without them many institutions now have access to no professional expertise and will be left to care for their holdings without any support. Six other staff at the CCA Secretariat tasked with the administrative business of the CCA will be shown the door.
12. Leading edge ArchivesCanada.ca threatened. The imminent launch of ArchivesCanada.ca, a revolutionary national-level hub for all archival descriptions in the country, is now seriously at risk. The CCA is urgently seeking additional financial support to ensure the project can be completed.
13. Canada's credibility on heritage issues at home and abroad will be undermined now that the participation of Canada in the National Archival Appraisal Board, the North American Archival Network and the International Council on Archives is seriously threatened.
I will take only a few moments to discuss the rationale behind these decisions, as the specifics of that rationale tend to change from day to day depending on who the management of LAC is talking to. Generally speaking, there has been no admission on behalf of LAC that these organizational changes will be detrimental to Canada's ability to preserve and disseminate its cultural heritage; any challenges will be addressed by private industry and by a renewed focus on 'digitization' and 'decentralization.'
No one, especially at LAC, seems quite certain how these efforts are to be paid for or made possible, especially given that digitization is one of the most expensive and time-consuming aspects of archival work. Counter-intuitively, LAC instead plans to eliminate half its staff working in digitization and has apparently backed down from an ambitious plan to develop a Trusted Digital Repository in which to store digital materials (the plan has not been modified since 2008).
LAC has, however, proposed a "Pan-Canadian Documentary Heritage Forum" in order to facilitate a dialogue about decentralizing the responsibility for Canada's heritage. The Association of Canadian Archivists withdrew from the forum last week among allegations that professional organizations were being asked to act as a rubber stamp on decisions made without consultation by LAC management.
When presented with facts and figures like those listed above, LAC has instead tended to assure those making inquiries that everything is in hand and that asking for detailed cost analyses and projections for service provision is not reasonable since consultation with stakeholders is still ongoing and ministerial communications are confidential. Very little transparency around any of these changes is in evidence to the untrained eye -- perhaps the Librarian and Archivist of Canada will explain why when he speaks on the subject of "What is Needed to Make Transparency Meaningful in a Digital Age?" in Edmonton later this month.
The reaction to these cuts from the academy and from the professional communities of librarians and archivists has been uniformly negative -- Canadian archivists even went so far as to organize an "Archivist's Trek" to Ottawa where a mock funeral for the National Archival Development Program was held on the steps of LAC. A campaign to oppose these changes has been organized by the Canadian Association of University Teachers; meanwhile, a petition to save the NADP has garnered almost 6,000 signatures. Supporters of these efforts have been encouraged to voice their opposition to the cuts by writing to their MPs and to Heritage Minister James Moore.
At this point, perhaps it's best if I refrain from further analysis and leave readers to make up their own minds about what these changes mean for Canada's past -- and its future. ![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
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dabido
49 weeks ago
plasticity of history
Cons have no use for a yesterday that was better than today.
Control the past and you control the future, was that not one of Orwell's warnings. ( Pssst, it was a warning, not a playbook. )
Fiat lux
49 weeks ago
Shows that the
Shows that the "conservatives" are not conservatives, because they either don't have enough brains to understand what the word really means, or are using fraudulently it to mislead people.
Ed Deak.
themobilelibrarian
49 weeks ago
kill past - lose control over the future
While the bean counters making the decision to axe Libraries and Archives Canada may think they are going to control the future - the concurrent cancellation of funding and recognition of Canadian Studies programing outside of Canada (we are highly regarded and studied in other parts of the world) will effectively mean when decisions are being made about climate change, Arctic sovereignty and other global issues, as well as who sits on various security councils and other high level positions - that it won't be Canadians - why? - because no one will know who we are, including us - these cuts to our internal and external cultural infrastructure - the decimation of our collective corporate history and the cutting off of the means to share ourselves with one another and with others, means we will cease to exist as a people. First we stop collecting data about ourselves (killing of the long form census) and then we stop caring for the information we already have.
Being a member of the international community includes promoting ourselves in such a way that people beyond our borders understand who we are and engage in bi and multilateral policy development that takes into account the fact of Canada and Canadians. Libraries and Archives Canada has been integral in promoting Canada both within the country and without. If we choose to isolate ourselves from the world and from ourselves and expect others to know us without an introduction then we are effectively choosing to be misunderstood, misrepresented and misconstrued on the international stage and regionally within our own borders. Please don't let that happen. Let Ottawa know that Canadians know what is at stake here.
Eleanor Oh
49 weeks ago
Thank you to Myron Groover
Thank you to Myron Groover for this excellent article. The impact of the cuts at LAC are far reaching, and will greatly affect the ability for British Columbians and others to access important materials from LAC.
Public libraries in BC and across Canada request documents from LAC on behalf of their patrons daily, for genealogical and other research. Academic libraries rely even more heavily on the ability to bring in materials for their faculty and students. Your local public and academic libraries will be forced to suffer the cost of sourcing and bringing in materials from other libraries -- if they can find them.
This is another example of the federal government offloading costs to cities and provinces, and further proof that this government doesn't value our collective heritage, and neither understands nor supports Canadian research.
Luck
49 weeks ago
LIBRARY FIASCO
IT AINT JUST THE LIBRARIES ACROSS CANADA. IT IS MUSIC IN SCHOOLS, ADULT EDUCATION, COAST GUARD,CHARITIES AND ANYTHING GOOD THAT MAKES PEOPLE FEEL HUMAN.
WE ARE HEADING TO BE THE 51ST STAE IN USA.
WHOOPEE LETS JOIN UP WITH MORE LOSERS AND WATCH CANADA BECOME A REAL WASTE LAND.
Luck
49 weeks ago
LIBRARY FIASCO
IT AINT JUST THE LIBRARIES ACROSS CANADA. IT IS MUSIC IN SCHOOLS, ADULT EDUCATION, COAST GUARD,CHARITIES AND ANYTHING GOOD THAT MAKES PEOPLE FEEL HUMAN.
WE ARE HEADING TO BE THE 51ST STAE IN USA.
WHOOPEE LETS JOIN UP WITH MORE LOSERS AND WATCH CANADA BECOME A REAL WASTE LAND.
VWills
49 weeks ago
Not to mention...
...that cuts to the LAC are already impeding production and distribution of independent Canadian literature. See Quill & Quire's article on the Literary Press Group's funding cuts: http://www.quillandquire.com/blog/index.php/2012/06/07/in-a-blow-to-small-publishers-literary-press-group-loses-federal-funding/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=in-a-blow-to-small-publishers-literary-press-group-loses-federal-funding.
Fritz
49 weeks ago
Rejoice on the Sunny Side of the Street
Archives may dangerously offer information which may be obstructive to efficient governance, it may also be somewhat embarrassing if someone of knowledge is rude enough to interrupt a prepared public speech with a contradictory and fact supported opinion.
Chretien after he was in power was reminded by the scrum about his Red Book of Promises to eliminate the GST and he said: "I did not say that." He was then shown a video of himself saying precisely that, and he responded:
"That is not what I meant." Awkwardly old information impedes.
Realistically it is mandatory to rewrite history to make it more difficult to make invidious comparisons with proposed updated legislated dogma.
Thus the cuts actually make sound logical sense because when there is an undertaking to rewrite history this method is far less odious than the crude book burning method.
Kredinstalt must be full of glee with these government cuts ~_~
Fiat lux
49 weeks ago
Fritz.... Having spent a
Fritz.... Having spent a lifetime on the study of the causes of history's repetitious tragedies, I have about 300 books on various wars and conflicts.
Most interesting how different sides report the same battles and the actions of their heroes.
E.g. Dwight Eisenhower is reported, remembered and was elected President for having been the great hero who "won" the European side of WW2 for the Allies.
Nothing is ever mentioned of the fact that he was one of the worst war criminals, who killed around a million German and satellite POWs in post war camps with starvation, exposure and untreated illnesses jammed up on open fields.
I was lucky for having been in a hospital, but we knew about it at the time and later was living with survivors who had some grim stories to tell.
It is also all on the Net.
http://www.rense.com/general19/gmk.htm
Good photo of the conditions
Such stories are going on and on, on all sides and humanity still puts up with their "leaders" forcing them to go and kill others for no valid reasons.
Afghanistan is a good example of this ongoing fraud and typical example of "history".
Ed Deak.
judycross
49 weeks ago
I am saddened, but not surprised
The writing was on the wall after Harper gutted StatsCan.
ireckon
49 weeks ago
Cutbacks
Gotta pay for them F 35's
Sask Resident
49 weeks ago
1995
What happened to Archives during the 1995 cuts? Does Archives have more or less staff that before and after the 1995 cuts? Who in the bureaucracy has determined where these present cuts will be made? Are archives being preserved but first scanned and made available to Canadians online?
I would just like a little more background before I support either side.
don quixote
49 weeks ago
Canada's very own Taliban
My heart sank as I read Mr. Groover's article. How could we be so foolish? I remember feeling similarly despondent when I learned that the Taliban were going ahead with their planned destruction of the Buddhist statues in Afghanistan. Obliteration of the past to facilitate the new order. Shades of '1984'. In it's own small way, the destruction of the archives is so very emblematic of the 'hidden agenda' about which we were warned. This movement isn't small 'c' conservatism. Conservatives 'conserve' things. This government represents something much more sinister and destructive than that. One can only pray that the nation wakes up to the threat that Mr. Harper and his backers pose before it's too late.
Fritz
49 weeks ago
I didn't know that about Eisenhower Ed
...what I have heard ad nauseum is about his wonderful departure speech on the military industrial danger. This causes me a problem of thinking of him as a "hero" because this coward let that very complex run amok during his 8 year tenure as America's god king...
For me to have respect for him he would have made that speech at the BEGINNING of his term and then done something about it but he couldn't because he was a corporate flunkie as have been the others to follow with the possible exception JFK.
Was Dresdan a War Crime?
Recently on the internet I read a reasoning of why the Americans and Brits bombed the bejusus out of Dresdan which had zip to do with the other rationales I've read and if it is true, and it certainly makes more sense, that bombing makes war criminals out of the US and UK High Command including Roosevelt and Churchill.
But that was already a grand tradition then by the UK and its spawn the US.
Eckhart Tolle suggests that collectively we are an insane species and I can think of no argument to refute his assertion.
lynn
49 weeks ago
The enemy within the gates
Harper is erasing Canada word by word, page by page.
What a tragedy. We must not stand for this.
Remember from even the early days of his minority, Harper insisted that they be referred to as the 'new government'...and not the Canadian government.
This great article, and an excellent one by Donald Gutstein - should be required reading for all Canadians.
Fiat lux
49 weeks ago
Fritz...They bombed Dresden,
Fritz...They bombed Dresden, which was intact up to then, to please the Russians. That was all, as it had no military significance.
They flattened the European cities, because they couldn't hit military targets, apart from a few highly trained specialist crews, and so they bombed the residential areas to terrorize the people.
The US Liberators came over in long rows of blocks of about 50 planes. Then one of them shot up a certain coloured rocket and they've all dropped their bombs, simultaneously. They called it "carpet bombing".
The British came in a long row of single planes in the night, they couldn't see anything, or hit any military targets, so they dropped their bombs all over the place, killing civilians.
The German war production was going up and up right into 1944. There are all kinds of records and books proving it.
This is what they called "precision bombing".
The anti aircraft guns couldn't hit anything and we only saw a few planes shot down, from hundreds. Some were damaged, dropped their bombs and turned back, where the fighters were waiting for them and some were shot down.
Not only Dresden, but virtually the whole years of bombing of Europe were war crime. My school and class have lost quite a few kids. the same as the German Flying bombs and V2 rockets.
At one time I had to climb a tree to scrape the intestines of a little girl from the branches of a tree. Two little girls from my school died in that house, one of them who went over to play on a beautiful sunny day, with 11 people altogether.
Try to find the book The Night Hamburg Died, by Martin Caidin. Or something about the theories and activities of the Brit. Air Marshal Bomber Harris. There are many other books on the subject, written by Americans and Brits.
Sure enough the nazis and satellites were murderous war criminals, but what the Russians have done beat them all and no side were "knights in shining armour". Give any military free hand and they'll go on a killing spree, because they have weapons and want to use them.
Ed Deak.
Jeffrey J.
49 weeks ago
The Wrecking Crew: Presaged by Thomas Frank
It is great to see the use of the very accurate title: The Wrecking Crew.
Immortalized by the brilliant US historian Thomas Frank in his book The Wrecking Crew, he explains in vibrant prose the devastating impacts western conservative governments have inflicted upon the the 99%.
If you haven't read it, it is HIGHLY recommended.
http://tcfrank.com/books/the-wrecking-crew/
"From the most astute political scoffer since H. L. Mencken, the definitive account of the conservative reign of misrule and corruption."
"Hailed as a “hunk of dynamite” (Salon) and celebrated for its “satiric wit” (The New York Times Book Review) and “delighted outrage” (The New Republic), The Wrecking Crew supplies the first and—lacking future fact-finding commissions—probably the only full reckoning of what conservatism has wrought."
"Casting his eyes from the Bush administration’s final months of plunder to the earliest days of the Republican revolution, Thomas Frank uncovers the deep logic behind the graft and incompetence of conservatives in power. He shows how leaders dedicated to a doctrine of government by entrepreneurship proceeded to sell off the state, channeling the profits to cronies and loyalists. He surveys the federal agencies doomed to failure by the inept and even hostile staff appointed to run them. He charts the practice of wholesale deregulation and the devastating results now clear for all to see. From political scandal to mortgage meltdown, Frank documents the consequences of enshrining the free market as the logic of the state."
"As conservatives retreat to lick their wounds and a new administration prepares to undo the years of misgovernment, The Wrecking Crew makes clear the challenges before the nation. A brilliant and audacious stocktaking—now thoroughly revised and updated—this is Frank’s most revelatory work yet."
Great coverage as always. Sadly, the 1% are thus far winning. How can we, the majority, become organized? No easy answer...
Fritz
49 weeks ago
Churchill's Most Heinous, Barbaric War Crime
". . . There is not a doubt in my mind that the Lancaster, the B17 and the B24 were built for the purpose of inflicting massive civilian casualties on the German populace. It was, in my opinion, one the greatest war crimes ever perpetrated...
http://www.rense.com/general87/church.htm
'... the long suppressed story of the worst massacre in the history of the world. The devastation of Dresden in February, 1945, was one of those crimes against humanity whose authors would have been arraigned at Nuremberg if that court had not been perverted. Rt. Hon. Richard. H.S. Crossman, MP, Labour Government Minister..."
The terror bombing of the non-military cultural center of Dresden and the nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a clear and dire warning to Communist Russia not to interfere with the new post WWII world order being created by America the new leader of the Western Plutocracies.
Imagine Ed teaching that in the government public schools.
eusbls
49 weeks ago
Preserving family History
It is a shame to hear of another institution being ruined by politics. Family history is my passion, as is millions of people around the world. Learning about our ancestors, and cherishing their legacy is all part of building a family tree with important historic documents that are found through archives. If you are looking to build your family tree, you can try this online program http://www.family-genealogy.com
Fiat lux
49 weeks ago
Fritz.... Wealth can not be
Fritz.... Wealth can not be created, only taken from others, the environment and future generations.
The reason for the vast majority of wars has always been and still is, the taking energy control from others.
WW2 was the best example, when Hitler invaded Poland and Russia to conquer "Lebensraum" or "room to live", when Germany only had 80 million, with the lands cut up and distributed among the faithful and military heroes, e.g. the recipients of the Knight's Cross, etc.
I was in the satellite Hungarian army for the last 6 months of the war, as a 17 year old and we were preached by our officers, as we were running back and starving, that when we were going to win the war, we'll all be "gentlemen", with slaves serving our demands.
There's no question that the bombing of Europe by the Western Allies was a war crime and the perpetrators should have been prosecuted and hung, but the winners of wars are always the untouchable heroes.
I have seen the nazis , communists and capitalists at work, have been sentenced to death by the nazis for "high treason", innocently, saved by the end of the war.
We found the crew of our sister machinegun squad with their throats cut by the Russians, lying by the roadside, and always carried a handgrenade to blow ourselves up with if wounded and unable to run.
My mother was gangraped by the Russians. My grandparents died from the effects of starvation and no medical help under the Soviets. I was sentenced to the gulags because the new principal of my school , a closet communist before, didn't like me and when they didn't catch me the secret police arrested and tortured my mother. She never recovered mentally.
Some of my friends disappeared in the night and were never seen again, charged with having been "social democrats", the biggest crime under the communists.
Now 30 million, most of them little kids, starve to death every year, around the world, because their parents are either not of the same sect of a "religion", or not "productive", making profits for the new lords, under the capitalist religion.
This has always been the history of the history of stupid humanity.
The question is , will humanity ever wake up and get rid of the insane maniacs and crooks who have always been and are still destroying lives , real civilizations and now the Earth itself, excused and legalized by religious, or ideological, "faiths?
I sure hope so, before the present gang of maniacs kill the world in the name of "fiscal efficiency", profits, growth and GDP.
Ed Deak.
jimmmmy
49 weeks ago
Nothing new here
A historical rewrite began under Mulroney/Reagan /Thatcher in the 80s. That it is now coming into focus should surprize no one , destroying contradictory evidence is what fascists do best.
jimmmmy
49 weeks ago
Fiat lux
My father flew in Wellington and Lancaster bombers . He thought he was killing German soldiers and destroying armament factories. It was only later in life that he discovered the facts , when the footage of the firebombings and pyres of dead women and children were allowed on TV. He suffered a great deal of anguish over this in his later life ,him being a card carrying catholic . He could feel the flames of hell at times.The fact that we seem to share a lot of political opinions is testament to the resiliance of rational thinking. Last week I was exercised by the giving of compensation to Japanese internment camp survivors, my relatives were badly treated by the Japanese. Your response to this article strikes me as similar.
jimmmmy
49 weeks ago
Myron
A very fine detailed article . Should be put in a time capsule and hidden ,elst Winston find it an edit it with newspeak.
Fiat lux
49 weeks ago
Jim....It makes little
Jim....It makes little difference on which side we happened to be born on. We were all misled, as always, right through history.
Your father was no more responsible than millions of us others on either side, brainwashed to believe that they we fighting, always and first of all for "freedom" - as we can hear it today with the nonsense of "free enterprise" - or as in the case of the nazis "Freedom. Christianity and Western civilization", the Soviets for "Freedom, workers' rights" and so on and on, the BS never ending. Like today's suicide bombers etc. blowing themselves up to kill the "infidel" and gain straight passage into the 7th level of heaven and the arms of 52 virgins.
Humanity has always been misled by the same predators on all sides to commit the worst crimes against each other, always in the names of various "faiths" and beliefs, now called "competitiveness".
Ed Deak.
the real ODB
49 weeks ago
had enough yet?
" ...the Revolution begins when we lose our fear".
alpuddlepants
49 weeks ago
Lying for clarity
Canada is an international embarrassment, it is now run by a bunch of brainwashed religious weirdos who are led by brainwashing harper. Harper should do us Canadians and just change the name of his country. Canada is not what is now.
Hakuin
49 weeks ago
There is a simple explanation
Let he who can see, see: http://www.cmalliance.org/resources/archives/downloads/simpson/missionary-messages.pdf
HYUFD
49 weeks ago
LAC is being cut like every
LAC is being cut like every other department, including defence which Harper's government announced was being cut in March. However, Mulcair's NDP now either leads the Tories or would deprive them of their majority in alliance with the Liberals according to the latest polls so the cuts may not last much beyond the next election.
ThinkDifferently
49 weeks ago
LAC did this to themselves and finally got caught...
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2012/06/06/Archives-Canada-Cuts/
I wrote a very long comment on this a few days ago and considering I actually lived through working with these people and their system I'm sorry to say but they brought it on themselves.
Good for Myron to have listed the mandate of LAC. Too bad LAC didn't follow them. I read Myron's bio. He's very young and clearly new at this game. It's nice to see people still have ideological pride...however, if he ever set foot in LAC in Ottawa they would eat him alive. Too many history and non-history people have worked there with the sole purpose of maintaining Canada's history. This department has been operating on a very different tainted level. Of course it is a shock to anyone and everyone who, from the outside, thinks the feds are ruining history....love all the comments here about book burning, fascism etc. Please save it. LAC really has got into this mess on their own...and the people who caused it have either retired (a few of the 'advisors' are part of that deal) or they have got history jobs in other departments. This is the reason they are basically looking to outsource their responsibilities to the rest of the government. Don't cry for these people and don't get so worked up about the loss of canadian history....you would scream if you really knew how little LAC has kept what you think it should keep. For a long time records managers in the fed govt have been doing this job on their own without LAC. Things will probably run better now. And LAC still continued to hire people - not for the department but for the 'reason' to boost their management levels. Money should have been spent on the TDR - which has been in discussions for 6 years but they could not focus on actually making it happen because they did not want to pay for it. That would mean less money for flying around the world on conferences in Europe. They weren't going to stop having fun and actually doing their job. This has shown up in the last five years of budget analyses and that is what has brought them to this. They were given ample forewarning and they ignored it. Government history is being held throughout the fed gov. and probably far more accessible. And for those who really want to blame the Harper govt, this whole mess started with the Chretien government. Money was thrown in all directions and nothing was accounted for. Some of the core sections had petty cash in the thousands, to blow off however they felt. Most petty cash is for stationary supplies and not over $1,000. Not the free-wheeling LAC. They were told to rein in their spending and they refused. I am sure that if anyone asks someone in LAC they will profess incredulity. However, they all know what the problem is, and where it has been coming from and for how long. This is no surprise and the reason one of the main higher level management people got out within the past year - they knew it was coming and got out to avoid the blame they deserve.
Patricia-Anne-M...
49 weeks ago
Canadian treasure
How sad to read about the financial cuts to LAC. This resource documents the story of our country. What a loss this will be!
anthonyshrubb
49 weeks ago
value
Men like Harper and the men and women who make up his goverment are usually very indifferent to things like the libraries and archives mainly because they do not understand ,or comprehend there value.Like most free market conservative ideologues,they know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
anthonyshrubb
49 weeks ago
value
People like Mr.Harper and the men and women who make up his goverment do not understand and can not comprehend things like libraries and archives i do not know if its their world view (limited) or their freemarket ideas but this i do know after living under the equally obdurate and wilful Harris gov't that the conservatives of today, know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.