In the news today...

I read an article this morning on CBC.ca regarding plans to create a National Portrait Gallery. Apparently various cities across Canada were submitting plans and competing to have the National Portrait Gallery but the competition has since been canceled by the Harper government. As of right now, the paintings are being kept in the Library and Archives Canada, and although it appears LAC has put forth a concentrated effort to make some parts of the collection available online, in my opinion, like books, some things are just better seen in person. The enormity and details of paintings cannot be adequately expressed on a computer screen. Paintings are also meant to be seen, not hidden away in a storage facility, only to be occassionally displayed in an exhibition. The cancellation of the National Portrait Gallery is a grime foreshadowing of what will happen to arts, culture, and heritage under the Harper government.