However much today’s federal budget cuts spending by, remember this, it won’t be enough.
Not when we have four federal logos lined up as sponsors for Amnesia RockFest 2013. This concert in Montebello, Quebec actually has 11 government agencies listed as sponsors once you add in the three provincial groups and assorted municipalities or agencies.
Heritage Canada, Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions and a generic Canada wordmark show three different levels of direct federal involvement. The CBC’s BandApart french radio service is a fourth level of federal sponsorship for a concert that includes Alice Cooper, The Offspring and Marilyn Manson among many others.
It dubs itself a punk rock festival. Weird. I thought punk was about doing it yourself, getting away from the man, not taking as many government grants as you can muster.
But this is Canada where even this type of festival, if it has the right connections, gets government money.
So when you hear about how drastic the cuts in the budget are just remember, they didn’t cut enough. It doesn’t matter how little federal money went into this program, multiply it by the hundreds of others across the country and you find piles of real money.
When did it become the job of the government to fund concerts like this? Where in the constitution does it say that the federal government shall fund pop concerts?
We have too many government agencies, too many programs and too much spending. Period.
H/T FOFF