Plebs within the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs have deemed diplomatic missions to Cuba to be pushing a "left-wing anti-globalization think tank" agenda, while it’s almost implied that Avi Lewis is some kind of Al Qaeda sympathizer because some of his reports are covered through Al Jazeera.

Here’s a link to the story that the Toronto Star printed related to this issue . I’ll copy/paste some of the details below, just in case the story disappears.

Getting back to the issue: These are the decisions of public servants and Harper cronies as they decide who gets funds and who doesn’t when it comes to support from the federal government. Messages are supposed to reflect ‘mainstream’ Canadian opinions and philosophy.

Our ‘new’ government is getting very, very stale. And it’s getting very, very insulting.

For some insane reason, these bureaucrats have taken on the opinion of less than one-third of the population of Canada and applied it to all of us. To make matters worse, they are now dictating foreign policy according to speculation about what they think these organizations are all about. They fail to make an effort to actually appreciate a strategy for any of these organizations and their motives.

This arbitrary process is fascist. Plain. Simple.

Now, to be fair and to acknowledge that some of the examples cited don’t deserve funding, I have a proposal: why don’t we stop the tax-free status of all religious organizations because some of them (I don’t have exact numbers, but facts no longer seems to matter in this world of arbitrary McCarthyism) present views that aren’t consistent with my ‘mainstream values’. Some of them represent Right-wing agendas that I think are damaging to the image of Canada. Some of them finance federal government parties that are committed to chaining women to the kitchen, keeping coal and dirty oil as our only source of energy and criminalizing the posession of Vitamin C or the right to choose.

This is what we have to do if we’re going to have a fair and decent government running our lives. If they believe that there are too many institutions on the ‘left’ getting funding from Canadian taxpayers, I believe there are too many institutions on the right that are getting funding as well. Such as the Fraser Institute. The C.D. Howe Institute. Various ‘pro-family’ organizations. The Department of Defense. And so on.

I’ve never thought to call all of this funding into question, but it’s time we did. If the nickels and dimes are going to disappear from the pockets of the hapless left, like they’re actually something to worry about, then we have to cry out for the termination of funding of all political funding for any political position.

Now, is that a realistic position to take on? No. Why? Because a realist will acknowledge that in a democratic and free society, people don’t get the plug pulled on their funding because of their spot on the political spectrum.

And now … here’s a re-print of the Star’s story:

OTTAWA–The federal government has scrapped a travel assistance program to promote Canadian culture abroad, suggesting it catered to fringe groups, the well-off and left-wingers.

The decision yesterday to cancel the $4.7 million program offered by Department of Foreign Affairs effective March 31, 2009, drew sharp rebuke from critics, with one calling it yet another example of censorship by the government.

"For me it shows the Conservatives are choosing censorship once again," said New Democrat MP Bill Siksay (Burnaby-Douglas).

"We saw it first with their attack on film and video production in Canada in Bill C-10 and now they are expanding this attempt to impose their ideological beliefs, their personal taste on Canadian through yet another cultural program in Canada," he said.

Bill C-10 would give the federal Heritage Department the power to deny funding for films and TV shows it considers offensive.

An internal government document obtained by the Toronto Star listed several arts promotion program (PromArt) recipients, complete with anonymous comments.

Topping the list was the Holy F. Music group getting $3,000 to give seven performances in Britain. The accompanying notation stated the "group is actually called `Holy F— Music.’"

Gwynne Dyer, who received $3,000 to give lectures in Canadian foreign policy and defence issues in Cuba in March 2007, was described as a "left-leaning columnist and author who has plenty of money to travel on his own."

In another case, the North-South Institute received $18,000 to help co-ordinate a Caribbean-Cuban conference in Havana in December 2006. The institute was described as a "left-wing anti-globalization think tank.

"Why are we paying for these people to attend anti-western conferences in Cuba?" the anonymous author asked.

Former CBC journalist Avi Lewis, now a reporter with Al Jazeera, was described a "general radical" who could easily afford to travel on his own dime.

A production company, Klein Lewis Productions, co-owned by him and his wife, Naomi Klein, an author and social activist, received a grant of $3,500 to promote the film The Take at films festivals in New Zealand and Australia.

"Klein has sold millions of books, and certainly does not need $3,500 from the government of Canada," the note stated.

Other past recipients include:

• The Canadian Museum of Civilization: $50,000 to take an exhibition of Inuit Art to Brazil.
• The Royal Winnipeg Ballet: $40,000 for a U.S. tour.
• Former Supreme Court justice Michel Bastarache: $3,000 to give a lecture in Cuba on the Canadian Charter of Rights.

Kory Teneycke, director of communications for the Prime Minister’s Office, said Canadians have a right to expect their dollars to be spent wisely on groups and individuals who properly reflect their "mainstream" values.

"There is an understandable and reasonable expectation by Canadians that those who will represent Canada abroad are within the mainstream and those who are receiving government funding to represent Canada abroad actually require that money to do so," he told the Star .

The program was the victim of a cost-cutting review.

"People with narrow ideological agendas or people who are rich celebrities or really very fringe groups, we feel and believe that Canadians support not having taxpayers’ dollar go to send these folks abroad on junkets," Teneycke said.

Liberal MP Denis Coderre (Bourassa) said Canadians don’t want the government unilaterally deciding what is culturally acceptable,

"I am totally disgusted," said Coderre, adding the whole thing "smacks of McCarthyism," referring to former U.S. senator Joe McCarthy’s relentless obsession to root out so-called Communists in the U.S. in the 1940s and 1950s.