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TwitterOTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday there’s no problem with a Canada Summer Jobs grant that will fund anti-pipeline activism, arguing his government must stand up for the principle of free expression and advocacy.
That may surprise the religious organizations who have been battling the government for months over the same summer jobs grants, thanks to a new clause that requires them to attest their “core mandate” respects reproductive rights, defined as the right to access abortions.
The issue dominated a fiery question period in the House of Commons Wednesday, as the Conservatives hammered Trudeau over the fact the British Columbia-based Dogwood Initiative was approved for federal government funding that, according to a job posting, will be used to hire an assistant to “help our organizing network stop the Kinder Morgan pipeline and tanker project.”
The summer jobs grant is normally a feel-good program that allows MPs to prioritize groups in their ridings to get funds to hire students. Dogwood spokesman Kai Nagata said the group has received summer jobs funding every year since 2010 — including when the previous Conservative government was in power, though their applications have always gone through Vancouver and Victoria ridings held by Liberal and NDP MPs.
But this year the summer jobs funding program has been swamped in controversy thanks to the abortion-rights attestation added by the Liberal government. Conservatives blasted the Liberals not only for approving grants to fund anti-pipeline activism, but also for what they called the government’s hypocrisy.
Dr. David Suzuki speaks at a Special Chiefs Assembly / Conference on Climate Change and the Environment in Winnipeg, Tuesday, November 29, 2016. Some Manitoba chiefs took part in a ceremonial signing of The Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods ORG XMIT: JGW102
“There is nobody who believes that the Prime Minister is committed to free speech when he punishes all those in this country who do not agree with his personal point of view,” said Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, describing the grant as “taking tax dollars from people who are out of work in the energy sector and giving it to people who are trying to block a project in the national interest.”
Trudeau responded by defending the right to advocacy — but defended the attestation as well.
“The commitment that this government has made to stand up and defend reproductive rights and the rights of women at every single opportunity is one that sticks in their craw,” he said. “We will not apologize for ensuring that women’s rights are protected across this country.”
He also argued Conservatives had sought to defund left-leaning organizations and label environmentalists as eco-terrorists.
“We remember the Stephen Harper years that so many of the members opposite were part of where anyone who dared disagree with official government position was persecuted, marginalized, had their funding yanked, shut down,” he said. “We will always support the right of Canadians to express themselves.”
The government has always insisted the attestation refers only to actions, not values or beliefs. But the vague phrase “core mandate” meant many faith-based organizations felt they couldn’t sign it without violating their consciences — even after the government issued a clarification of it on Jan. 23.
There has been vocal dissent in the Liberal caucus over it, and even pro-choice NDP MP David Christopherson protested it by saying it “took away Canadians’ right to disagree with the laws that they have to obey.”
The number of summer jobs applicants remained about the same this year, but rejections skyrocketed over the attestation, with 1,561 rejections compared to just 126 last year. The government expects to fund nearly 70,000 student jobs.
“These workplaces will represent an enormous variety of industries, causes, and types of work, none of which are taken into account in the application process, so long as the employer can confirm that the core mandate does not undermine human rights,” said a statement from Employment Minister Patty Hajdu’s office.
Neil MacCarthy, spokesperson for the Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto, said the free speech defence is a tough one to hear now from Trudeau. The parishes and charities in the archdiocese had applied for $1.1 million in summer jobs funding this year, but had their forms rejected over the attestation.
“We would expect that the principle of freedom of speech would apply equally to all Canadians on all issues,” he said. “The only consistency on this file seems to be inconsistency in the way it has been communicated, interpreted and implemented.”
It won’t be clear how much money Dogwood gets this year until after the summer, as it depends on how long each job is filled for. Hajdu’s office said records show Dogwood has actually received more money in Conservative years than Liberal ones.
Nagata said their job description really hasn’t changed much year-over-year; it depends which issues are prominent on the environmental file. As far as he can tell, their grant is controversial this year just because of the attestation.
“We’ve basically copied and pasted the same applications every year, I can’t recall anything changing on our side when the government changed,” he said.
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