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Rick Mercer Blasts Communistic Prep For Communism Memorial

"This is not how grown up countries act."

While few could be too opposed to a memorial to millions of victims of communism, Rick Mercer is taking issue with the "bizarre" process behind one that will be built in Ottawa.

The satirist's latest rant concerns the Memorial to the Victims of Communism, an estimated $5 million project on land that could be worth as much as $30 million and was previously reserved for a Federal Court building.

Mercer begins by questioning the sheer size of the proposed memorial, calling it "weird" that it will be bigger than Ottawa's National War Memorial and cover a whole downtown city block.

"This was the brainchild of two cabinet ministers, Jason Kenney and then John Baird," he said. "These boys, they have big egos, so this is not just any monument. This is going to be huge."

Mercer also accused Kenney and Baird of handling things "behind closed doors" and keeping important details secret.

"The entire thing is shrouded in so much mystery it's like they've taken inspiration from the communist countries the memorial is condemning," Mercer said.

And, for a federal government that loves to talk about transparency, Mercer finds it odd that two cabinet ministers were seemingly able to decide to make the War Memorial a "poor cousin" without consultation.

"This is nothing but a nervous government trying desperately to cement themselves in history before it’s too late," he said. "This is not how grown up countries act."

And he's not alone in criticizing the project.

Earlier this month, The National Post ran an extensive story that described the memorial as a "$5.5 million symbol of political bullying."

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