Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates — War of 1812

Fund­ing to the War of 1812 Celebrations

May 28th, 2012

Hon. John McCal­lum:

Can you tell me how much money the gov­ern­ment is spend­ing to com­mem­o­rate the War of 1812?

Mr. Daniel Jean:

Yes. I think it’s $27 mil­lion. It’s over three years.

Hon. John McCal­lum:

Maybe this is a polit­i­cal ques­tion that you’re not pre­pared to answer, but I find it a bit strange that we’re spend­ing $27 mil­lion to com­mem­o­rate the War of 1812, which has lit­tle impact on Canadians—or Cana­di­ans have lit­tle mem­ory of it, that’s for sure—and we’re spend­ing noth­ing on the 30th anniver­sary of the Cana­dian Char­ter of Rights and Freedoms.

Can you say any­thing about that choice?

Mr. Daniel Jean:

I think that would def­i­nitely be a ques­tion for the minister.