Budget gives $13.4M to broaden list of nominees

OTTAWA — An unexpected line item in Tuesday’s federal budget reveals the government will spend $13.4 million to reform the way Canadians are inducted into the Order of Canada to bring the award “closer to all Canadians.”

Finance Minister Joe Oliver said that, among other things, the eight-figure sum would help spur Order of Canada nominations from the country’s “underrepresented sectors.”

Since its establishment in 1967, the Order has been criticized for disproportionately recognizing elite artsy swells while ignoring those who do the heavy lifting of Canadian progress — business leaders, community builders and the like.

Most notably, Coach’s Corner host Don Cherry has reached his 80th birthday without being invested into the Order, despite a resume seemingly riddled with award bait: NHL coach, CBC alumnus, longtime TV personality and regular Canadian Forces booster.

Novelist Margaret Atwood, meanwhile, has held the honour since 1973.

Rideau Hall said this week it was looking at ways to increase public awareness of the country’s highest civilian honour. For starters, it proposed giving the award a slicker website to drive nominations.

“There has always been a desire to increase nominations from certain regions of the country, under-represented sectors of activity and a more equal gender representation,” said Rideau Hall spokeswoman Marie-Pierre Belanger.

In 2011, a Postmedia News analysis of recipients found that an increasing percentage of the new Orders handed out went to artists and authors while the ranks of politicians and entrepreneurs receiving the award declined.

The analysis also revealed some strong regional disparities. Far fewer Orders went to nominees from the Conservative heartland of Western Canada than to those in Atlantic Canada, on a per capita basis. Atlantic Canadians, on average, were twice as likely to be inducted into the Order as those in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba or Saskatchewan.

Alberta alone has a population nearly 50 per cent greater than the four Atlantic Provinces, but its residents have received 35 per cent fewer Orders of Canada, the analysis of more than 5,800 awards found.

Of late, the Order’s most controversial nominee has been abortion pioneer Henry Morgentaler, who was selected in 2008. At the time, abortion opponents pointed to the Morgentaler honour as evidence of a liberal bias in the selection committee.

Anyone, Canadian or foreign, can nominate a Canadian for consideration for the Order. The nominations are vetted by an advisory committee chaired by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Beverley McLachlin.

It is unclear which new criteria the government favours for choosing recipients, although Rideau Hall has been experimenting with alternative award criteria of late.

To mark the 50th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s ascension to the throne, for instance, the Governor General delegated the selection process for recipients, in part, to trade associations, lobby organizations and other non-governmental groups dubbed “partner organizations.”

MPs, senators and provincial politicians were also allowed to choose their own list of recipients to receive some of the 60,000 medals.

Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott gave medals to two antiabortion activists who had been arrested for protesting at abortion clinics. One of them was in jail at the time the medal was delivered. Jenni Byrne, the manager of the 2011 Conservative election campaign, was among those receiving the Diamond Jubilee medal.

At the time, Rideau Hall refused to disclose who nominated her or any of the other recipients.