Ottawa is limiting the number of Remembrance Day wreaths for MPs to display at cenotaphs to two in minimizing the spending. Abigail Bimman reports. <\/p>\n
The federal government is limiting the number of Remembrance Day wreaths for MPs to display at cenotaphs to just two, while the Veterans Affairs Minister\u2019s office tells CTV News the move is not part of the government\u2019s spending review and potential cuts. <\/p>\n
CTV News obtained an email sent to MP offices by Veterans Affairs Minister Jill McKnight, saying \u201cVeterans Affairs Canada is pleased to continue the Wreaths for Parliamentarians program in 2025, with a revised format.\u201d <\/p>\n
It goes on to say every MP will get two wreaths with a red ribbon that says \u201cCanada.\u201d MPs may order more wreaths, but \u201cadditional costs are the responsibility of the requestor.\u201d <\/p>\n
An order form attached to the email notes those additional wreaths cost $115, plus shipping costs that \u201cwill vary depending on quantities and delivery location.\u201d <\/p>\n
For MPs representing large geographical ridings, as many as two dozen wreaths can be needed for display at various cenotaphs and ceremonies in their regions during Veterans\u2019 Week (Nov. 5-11) and Remembrance Day, which could add up to a couple thousand dollars.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt almost brings me to tears to think that \u2026 there\u2019s a government in this country that doesn\u2019t think that\u2019s enough of a priority to make sure that those wreaths are provided,\u201d said Blake Richards, Conservative critic for veterans\u2019 affairs. <\/p>\n
Richards says Conservative MPs will pay for additional wreaths as needed out of their MP operating budget but doesn\u2019t think that should be the case. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea of not having a wreath at a Remembrance Day ceremony because the government doesn\u2019t want to pay for it, that\u2019s sad,\u201d Richards told CTV News in an interview. <\/p>\n
Richards says this move is part of a \u201ctroubling pattern\u201d from the Liberals, citing a similar attempt to limit Remembrance Day wreaths in 2017, and a slow rollout of the National Monument to Canada\u2019s Mission in Afghanistan, which was announced in 2014 (when the Conservatives were in government), but isn\u2019t expected to be finished until 2028. <\/p>\n
Government departments have broadly been asked to find 15 per cent savings by 2029. A spokesperson for McKnight tells CTV News the new wreath limits are not part of that review. But a statement provided by Veterans Affairs Canada does not make the reasoning clear. <\/p>\n
A department spokesperson tells CTV News the wreath program \u201cwas updated to more equitably distribute wreaths across regions\u201d and changes are meant to \u201cright-size the program while better supporting Veteran causes in communities across Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n
The department did not answer what was wrong with the program that prompted \u201cright-sizing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ottawa is limiting the number of Remembrance Day wreaths for MPs to display at cenotaphs to two in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[712,49,48,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-184016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}