Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and Grandiose Announcements today issued a press release titled "Canada supporting entrepreneurs in Ukraine".
Well, that's nice, I thought... obviously they're fresh out of entrepreneurs to support here at home, so lets read up on this.
Hmm... looks like we're going to be supporting the agricultural sector, noted for being dominated by a handful of Ukrainian billionaires... but no, we're not helping those guys; we're going to support the "small and medium-size enterprises", because they create the jobs and so on.
Alrighty then, I guess you're giving our tax dollars to a good cause, sort of, maybe... although it would seem there are plenty of countries with greater needs than Ukraine. Let's not quibble about that.
How many dollars are we sending, by the way? Don't think I see that number in the press release.
Oh lookee! At the bottom of the page, under "Other Products", there's a link to a backgrounder. Click on that, and voila!
We are supporting Ukrainian entrepreneurs in the small and medium size ag sector to the tune of $3.8 millions over five years!? WTF is that?
Three quarters of a million a year? How many small and medium businesses is that going to help? C'mon Baird, you're embarrassing us! The loan officer at the local bank probably writes more business in an afternoon, and she doesn't send out press releases announcing how great she is!
Just to put our largesse in perspective, the International Finance Corporation which is administering our gift, last year committed $355 millions to Ukraine.
Hey, they just got an extra .02%! That could make all the difference!
Those guys must work hard to hold back their laughter when they see the Canadian delegation walk into the room.
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