神秘的加拿大特供礼品店
Foreign Minister John Baird, left, offers a gift to Mustafa Abdel Jalil, chairman of Libya's National Transitional Council, in Tripoli in late 2011. Ministers and other senior government officials who exchange gifts with foreign dignitaries have their own official store of Canadian items to draw on. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press/Pool) 加拿大首都的魁北克部分,有一家专门面向加拿大政治精英的礼品特供商店或称礼品银行(Gift Bank ),它位于魁北克省加迪诺市的一栋政府办公楼的四楼,与渥太华隔河相望,这里没有排队购买印有皇家骑警头像咖啡杯的普通百姓,这里的纪念品都属高端,仅供给政府部长级官员、大型国有企业的老板或最高法院的法官。 在这家不对外开放的商店里,礼品琳琅满目多达上千种,从银袖扣到因纽特人用鸡血石雕刻优雅的熊和鲸鱼样子的钢笔套,以及各省和地区特色的礼品应有尽有,且多是手工制作。单件礼品的价格上限为五百加币,目前库存总价为12万。 更多的信息在加通社的这篇报道中: And internal records of withdrawals from the shop over the last three years reveal something of the gift-giving habits of Canada's top politicians. Seventeen cabinet ministers have shopped there since 2012, none so often as Joe Oliver, now Canada's new finance minister. Oliver returned to the shop eight times for 62 gifts over three years, taki...