Toay: January 29
The Art Gallery of Mississauga, whose majority funds come from taxpayers money, closed shop today (and will most likely close tomorrow also).
Imagine if Walmart closed shop, or ABC News anchors stayed home and skipped reporting the news because of: -17 degree temperature.
Or the guys that clear the snow and sprinkle salt on the roads decided that they would be a no-show because of, well the snow.
There was a time when -30 temperatures were par for the course during winter and we could handle it. Many of us still can.
And many have cars, which they drive on diligently clean highways (by taxpayers paid city cleaners) and park in mostly free or city subsidized underground parking lots (i.e. the case in downtown Mississauga).
Those who show up at the museum are not like me: people who walk or take public transport. These have cars. They can drive. They can park, underground.
But beyond the jokes, I've written about the focus on non-Western art and communities at the AGM in recent (3-4) years.
Those raised in warmer temperatures can never get used to this cold. Winter becomes a time for paranoia and panic, and the AGM obliges these mostly non-Western patrons by closing the museum.
Perhaps it is a clever ploy by the AGM's staff to have as many "non-working" days as possible, to reduce the number of paychecks the government has to dish out to these "cultural worners," and to have a lower dollar amount for their next application for a government grant. After all, it's all about the multi-culti, and why not use that ticket, that argument to its max.
It is all about accountability, after all!