Sorry about that SARS thing... here, have a potato!

Thats the most whacked thing I have heard of lately. Where exactly will the 0.0279 per concert goer be provided? Hopefully Noonan will never in charge of the toilets.

Every province in Canada was asked to provide food for the food pavilion at the concert. PEI is providing potatoes, which will be baked and served with Alberta beef. Money collected from the sale of the food will go to the SARS relief fund. There will also be Malpeque oytsre for sale.
Since Toronto is one of the biggest markets for PEI produce, the effort is seen both as an act of charity and a promotion.

I forgot to mention..it’s 125,000 potatoes - not 100,000 bags of potatoes, as reported in the link.

Well that makes better sense. Thanks for clearing up.

One question. The press release says:

The P.E.I. Potato Board and the provincial government are paying for the potatoes and shipping costs.

Is there a flow through of federal funds for this?

I wonder if Bud The Spud will handle the delivery for this one.

A flow through of what?

You mean, did the feds kick in?

No.

There are at least three federal/provincial funding paths: gross annual transfers, specific project partnership like with this and the third class, like the Labour Market Agreement (name?), which provide standing funds for activities in a class without going back to the feds to get approval every time. I was wondering if there was dipping into that class of fed cash.

I think it’s a great idea!

But why stop with the Stones concert?! All the provinces should get together and have a summer travelling food show that would be sort of like this Australian “Taste Festival” my sister was telling me about. Like this big inter-provincial farmer’s market, with racks of beef and pork and lamb, salmon and trout and maple syrup, lobsters, oysters, potatoes, grapes and apples…. jesus, I’m so hungry. And bring on the Tragically Hip, Bruce Cockburn, the Be-good Tanya’s and Jane Siberry for Peter while we’re at it.

Good idea. We are too isolationist in our personal experiences of nationalism in Canada. Being Canadian in Alberta, Ontario and the Maritimes are each slightly different things. Bugs me when I go to Ottawa that all the money is spent on the cultural brick and morter there but there are not regional branches of the Naitonal Art Gallery, Museum of civilization, etc. Start with food and go. Fill the Trans-Canada with flatbed semis moving bakers, Pevey amps, statues and story-telling grannies all over the place.