Ottawa Won’t fund students summer jobs
unless employers support abortion
The Liberal government of Justin Trudeau will ban any employer from receiving summer job grants for students if the employer doesn’t first sign an “attestation” that they agree with abortion and transgender “rights.”
The new criteria were sent to all MPs and was made public when the Canada Summer Jobs Program opens December 19, 2017.
In order to receive federal Canada job grants, employers must attest that: “both the job and the organization’s core mandate respect individual human rights in Canada, including the values underlying the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as other rights. These include reproductive rights and the right to be free from discrimination on the basis of sex, religion, race, national or ethnic origin, colour, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression. “
Conservative MP Brad Trost was first to publicly raise the alarm in a twitter and Facebook video in which he denounces the Liberals for discrimination. “In practical terms, this means you have to be with the Liberal Party position on abortion, gay marriage, transgendered rights, all sorts of legislation in the House of Commons, otherwise you will be an ineligible employer for this program,” Trost said. “That’s wrong, that’s discrimination.”
Canadians “are allowed to have different political beliefs than the government of the day and they shouldn’t have their funding be cut off because they disagree with the government,” he added.
“The second problem with this is it automatically excludes all faith-based organizations that are traditional on their values of human life and sexual morality. That includes millions and millions of Canadians,” Trost said.
Conservative MP Bev Shipley (Lambton-Kent-Middlesex) issued a video statement saying: “Simply put, it would appear that if your organization has a pro-life belief contrary to the Liberal government’s mandate, you would not be approved for funding under this year’s Canada Summer Jobs program. This is wrong.”
Shipley said Canadians “have always had the privilege of holding a different political view than that of the government of the day. This new requirement will directly affect all program applicants who do have a different core value than the Trudeau government.”
Conservative leader Andrew Scheer’s spokesman Jake Enwright said the opposition is concerned about infringing the basic rights of Canadians and the Trudeau’s heavy-handedness in dealing with those that disagree with his government. “Canadians should be very concerned that the government of Canada is basing its funding decisions on whether or not you hold a certain belief,” Enwright told LifeSiteNews. The Charter “exists to ensure that the government does not discriminate against you based on your beliefs,” he added. “It’s not the government’s tool for protecting itself, it’s your tool to protect you from the government.”
Campaign Life Coalition condemned the new policy, saying it will be a problem for “organizations, non-profits, and small business owners whose core values include a traditional view of sexual morality and the sanctity of human life.” CLC national president Jim Hughes said, “The Trudeau government is engaging in ideological coercion by demanding that employers who believe killing children before birth is wrong, attest that they support so-called ‘reproductive rights.’ For the government to deny federal funds to pro-life employers for their summer students, while encouraging grants for pro-abortion organizations, is directly discriminating against millions of Canadians.”
CLC charges the Liberal government with “compelling and coercing Canadians to renounce their deeply held religious and moral beliefs” with power of the purse.
CLC said it hopes “the voices of opposition will grow to bring unbearable pressure to bear on the government to repeal this discriminatory and coercive policy.” It also launched a petition against the policy, calling for its reversal.
Jack Fonseca, senior political strategist for Campaign Life Coalition, excoriated the Trudeau Liberals for their blatant anti-Christian bias. “This is a jaw-dropping act of discrimination against faith-based employers and non-profits. Although the Trudeau Liberals have signaled many times they have special contempt for Christians, this new policy requires a massive negative reaction from all faith-based communities in Canada – Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh,” he told LifeSiteNews.
Non-profit groups, small businesses, and public sector employers can apply for funding through Canada Summer Jobs program to create jobs for students from 15 to 30 years of age.
Formerly, it was up to individual MPs to assess and approve funding applications from groups in their ridings.
The Trudeau government already decreed last year no Liberal MP could approve Canada Summer Job funding for pro-life groups. Moreover, Liberal Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour Patty Hajdu said at the time through spokesman Matt Pascuzzo that she would change the program to make sure no pro-life group would be approved in the future. “We have been unequivocal in our support for a woman’s fundamental right to choose,” Pascuzzo said then.
Alliance for Life Ontario and the Canadian Center for Bioethical Reform were among pro-life groups cut off from Canada Student Job funding in 2017. Campaign Life Coalition also receives funding and The Interim has benefited from the program in the past, also.
-With files from LifeSiteNews
