This line-item is basically a smokescreen for cutting all sorts of other important things (like the research tax credit, SR&ED; various social programs; the budget for our national broadcaster, the CBC; and the salary of the Chief Electoral Officer):
http://www.reddit.com/r/canada/comments/rjrfn/the_budget_5_b...
Amusingly this particular cut was actually a private member proposal from the NDP (the left-most mainstream party).