Add your name here...

More than a half a million Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medals were minted to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the monarch’s reign, with 60,000 of those handed out to deserving Canadians.  If you weren’t one of the worthy recipients, not to worry.  At least nine are being offered for sale on eBay today by an Ottawa area retailer called “Militaria Express”.  There is no indication whether any of the trinkets came from disgraced Sen. Patrick Brazeau’s personal allotment. 

Each Canadian Senator and MP was given 30 medals to distribute as he or she saw fit.  The rest, almost 50,000 in total, were delivered to others to allocate, including the Canadian Forces (11,000), the RCMP (2,300), municipalities (4,000) and various non-governmental organizations (10,000).  These NGOs include the Monarchist League of Canada, REAL Women of Canada and the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, to name but a few.

I don’t always find myself in agreement with Toronto Sun columnist Warren Kinsella, but it is hard to dispute his recent assessment that the award process is a “fiasco”, a “joke”, a “disgrace” and a “scandal…deserving of further investigation”.

If you really want one of these baubles, I suggest waiting awhile…the current $180 asking price on eBay may well come down.