Canada Is Botching Great War Centenary

The government has a long list of events and commemorations, to be sure. But there is no new money behind this string of events – government departments, agencies and Crown corporations have been ordered to finance the commemoration costs out of existing budgets. This means that Heritage Canada (lead on the centenary, along with Veterans Affairs), which is already unable to spend enough on culture or television documentaries to meet demand, will have to cut back even further. It means that Veterans Affairs, which is already under fire for its cack-handed way of dealing with PTSD in serving soldiers and veterans, is coming under additional attacks for spending part of its budget on old wars when the vets of recent ones are suffering. And this means that National Defence, which has undergone savage cuts with the troops leaving Afghanistan, will need to dip deep into its operations and maintenance budget to send soldiers to ceremonies.