Fwd: Re: SSHRC Grants

[Michael J. Sidnell]

Though I hesitate, Candrama, to add to the noise in the hall, I suppose I 
really do have to have to forward this correspondence about the 
recently-posted email that "purported" (to use Ted White MP 's word) to 
come from him.  Michael


Date: Sun, 26 Nov 2000 14:38:57 -0500
From: "Michael J. Sidnell" <m.sidnell at utoronto.ca>
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en] (Win98; U)
X-Accept-Language: en
To: ElectTedWhite at aol.com
Subject: Re: SSHRC Grants

Thanks Ted White for your prompt reply.  It is not clear-- I mean this 
sincerely-- what you mean by saying that "as a Member of Parliament" you 
cannot confirm or deny the accuracy of the message I received over your 
name.  Do you mean that an MP is too busy to know what communications he or 
his staff send out?  Or that, as an MP, you are privileged and so not 
responsible for your utterances?  Your use of “purported" suggests that you 
are disinclined to accept the message as authentic.  But you don't say 
whether you agree or disagree with its substance, which is, of course, the 
issue.  Your response does suggest, however, that you will not confirm what 
is, in fact, your view, in case that should cause you or your party some 
kind of embarrassment.

As to your challenge, I shall also assume that it is genuine– that you are 
naive, not disingenuous, in asking (peremptorily, alas) for a detailed 
assessments of research projects of which you give only the briefest 
titles.  WHY can you not see that some information about each project, 
beyond the title, would be necessary for anything but a knee-jerk 
response?  Consider this: it will enlarge your 
self-understanding.  Consider also that many of the research titles you 
list indicate an historical or foreign dimension to the study in question; 
and that you are really and truly puzzled that the experience of any other 
time or place could  be thought relevant to this country and the present 
day.  You would probably find it worth the effort to consider how the study 
of medieval fishing practices, human reproduction elsewhere, 
gender-relations, cults, education or sub-cultures  in Vancouver, would 
be-- if well conducted --  relevant to us here and now.  Examples from the 
past and elsewhere may even help us to “place” and understand Ted White’s 
policies and political practices.  It is always interesting to know where 
an MP takes his bearings from.  If the past and elsewhere are not relevant 
to your understanding of our present, what does guide your approach to 
public policy?  And, particularly, what concrete and specific proposals 
have you to make research agencies more accountable in the use of public 
funds.  Do you have any such ideas that you are willing to acknowledge?

Michael Sidnell

ElectTedWhite at aol.com wrote:
>
>Nov 25/00
>
>Good Afternoon Mr Sidnell
>
>I am responding to your email containing text which is purported to come from
>a letter written by me about the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
>Council (SSHRC). For the record, the policy of the Canadian Alliance with
>respect to ALL grants using taxpayers' money is to require a higher degree of
>accountability than has been apparent under past administrations.
>
>With respect to the text itself, as a Member of Parliament I am unable to
>either confirm or deny that the text originated with my office.  In addition,
>I am also unable to confirm whether or not it is in context, and whether or
>not it has been altered before or during email transmission.  This is because
>Members of Parliament are bound by privacy considerations.  Any confirmation
>or denial, or any correction to rectify changes which may have been made to
>an original text, may or could lead to the publication of private information
>and the identification of persons who may not wish to be identified.
>
>The above having been said,  I have taken a specific phrase from the text you
>sent to me, and I would ask you to contact the person who sent you the
>message in order to pose the following question:  (Please note the commitment
>from me which forms part of the question)
>
>Please describe in detail, so that I can publish the information in a display
>advertisement, in the North Shore News, for the benefit of my constituents,
>the ways in which each of the following SSHRC grants "have contributed to the
>understanding of Canadian society or the challenges we face as we enter the
>21st century", exactly why the projects were of value to taxpayers, and in
>what ways the results of the studies have been applied to make Canada a
>better place in which to live.  In addition, please provide details of any
>grant which YOU have received, the name of the study, and your answers to the
>question above:
>
>$100,000 for "First intermediate period settlement and burial patterns at
>Mendes in Lower Egypt (Delta) and relations with Upper Egypt and the Levent".
>
>$2,267,350 for "The history of the book in Canada".
>
>$62,000 for "An investigation of the motivations underlying undergraduates'
>alcohol consumption behaviour".
>
>$50,900 for "Cabarets, nightclubs and burlesque: investigating the subculture
>of erotic entertainment in postwar Vancouver".
>
>$35,200 for "Figure skating and the representation of gender and sexuality in
>sport"
>
>$38,600 for "History and aesthetics of television medical dreams in North
>America"
>
>$23,740 for a study of "Mass Media pornography"
>
>$86,726 for "The use of time by teenagers and young adults: an international
>comparison
>
>$33,800 for "Governing through alcohol"
>
>$515,000 for "The impact of race and gender on social cohesion, in light of
>globalization".
>
>$365,000 for "Policies and practices for computer use in Canada's schools".
>
>$16,000 for an investigation of "attacks on aristocratic behaviour in 18th
>century Britain".
>
>$88,000 for "A study of freshwater fisheries in medieval Europe".
>
>$21,000 for "Black military service and social change in North carolina,
>1862-71: changing perceptions of black masculinity".
>
>$20,000 for a study of "the changing mode of reproduction among the resettled
>foragers of Kedah, Malaysia".
>
>$75,000 for a study of "The cults of Boiotia".
>
>$125,000 for "The Tell Madada archaeological project: investigations of urban
>life in the semi-arid highlands of central Jordan".
>
>$40, 222 for "Understanding rural household, farm and village;
>reconceptualizing the dynamics of gender relations in Iran".
>
>$79, 500 for "The archaeology of human origins in the Danikil depression,
>Eritrea".
>
>$65,200 for "Visual representation and social practice in classic Maya
>households".
>
>$78,000 for "Isotopic studies of infant feeding practices in archaeology".
>
>$43,000 for "Neo-Paganism and the extreme right then and today: continuities
>of the new religions of Weimar with the new right in Germany".
>
>$77,000 for "Behaviour and biology of early Southern African populations".
>
>I look forward to a prompt, detailed, and informative response so that I can
>arrange for publication of the information prior to Christmas.
>
>Yours truly
>Ted White, MP
>
>
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