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The swans, really?

The six pairs of mute swans were a gift in 1967 from Her Majesty and have become fixtures on the Rideau River. For our centennial, the Queen did not give us a Third World colony to look after. She gave us a bunch of birds.

The capital of Canada has an annual budget of $3.6 billion and 15,000-plus employees. What is so hard about caring for these lovely-necked creatures, who pose gracefully all summer for no pay?

Money? The report going to a city committee next week says the donation of the swans to Parc Safari in Hemmingford, Que., will save $45,000 annually, starting in 2020, and avoid building a permanent home — the jestly named Swantanamo — for $600,000.

$45,000? Pretty sure the mayor spends more on ribbons and scissors in a week. More than anything, though, ditching the birds just makes us look so tacky.

Aside from finances, the state of the flock seems to be the main concern. But, honestly, that’s on us, too, even though predators and Mother Nature have conspired to keep numbers low and the commute to that side of Montreal is a bitch on the birds.

We are now down to five swans, when the minimum flock size, apparently, is 25. There was an option to leave the birds in some kind of supervised Montreal love shack for three to five years — to build up the flock — but, oh no, that would cost $200,000.

(A radical idea: Why don’t we ask Buckingham Palace for another airlift of swans?)

In any case, the recommendation from staff is to give them to Parc Safari, get annual updates — including photos! — install a commemorative plaque at the zoo and pretty much forget this was a historic gift intended to serve as a regal reminder in perpetuity.