Slipped into an article about Excite Canada firing 41 percent of its employees, was the seed of a intriguing story: the death spasms of the Canadian women's portals.

When CANOE launched the first CWP—Lifewise—with a lavish gala in early 2000, the future looked bright. But in less than a year, all the original staff were gone (including the executive producer, who decided to try her luck with Telemedia).

By mid-December, Lifewise was being updated by one overworked editor working on the site part-time. (Lifewise has since been relaunched by CANOE's team in Montreal).

Less than a month ago, Excite Canada's sister site, Springboard.ca, shutdown before even launching, taking with it 40 jobs.

In ten days, Telemedia's offering—MochaSofa.ca—is poised to a enter a market much less ferocious than first expected.

Unfortunately, all these closure have nothing to do with producing quality content. They are the result of exuberant spending and reactionary cost-cutting, and there's nothing federal grants can do about that.

Nearly one-fifth of the federal government's (desperately needed) $500-million grant to the arts is devoted to "digitizing key cultural content and promoting the creation and use of new media and multimedia Canadian content".

While the grant is spread over three years, and the fact sheet is absent of any details, it could put money straight into the pockets of Net-connected Canadians.

Now, how will I spend my share, roughly a whopping $2.77 a year for three years?