Reaction to Trudeau’s summer jobs policy

Editor’s Note: There was a great deal of commentary and response to Justin Trudeau’s pro-abortion, pro-LGBQT ideological litmus to receive Canada Summer Jobs program funding. Below is a sampling of reaction to the government policy.

“The language is overbroad … it infringes the fundamental right of freedom of religion and conscience in a way that is not justifiable.”

University of Saskatchewan law professor
Jason MacLean

“I think it’s offensive to some Canadians because it’s saying: ‘if you hold these values, you are not worthy of any government funding even if the work that you’re doing supports the Charter, supports the general values that Canadians hold. It seems to be driving a wedge on something we needed no wedge drawn on.”

NDP MP Nathan Cullen, (Skeena—Bulkley Valley) who later apologized for his statement, saying he was “sorry for the harm my comments” and that he and his party were “fiercely pro-choice.”

“Liberals should remind themselves that their values are not the only values that count.”

Globe and Mail columnist John Ibbitson

“The way in which the new application requirement has been rolled out, as well as the PM’s statements about it, does (and should) raise concerns• even for a pro-choice feminist like me.”

Chatelaine writer Rachel Giese

“The idea that Trudeau’s tolerant is the most childish fantasy in Canada. He brooks no opposition to his views.”

GlobalNews.ca’s Charles Adler

It is deeply troubling to me that all who are involved (in the jobs program) are being forced to endorse a particular set of values prescribed by the government.”

Toronto Cardinal Thomas Collins

“But the reality we’re going to have a tsunami of government programs being re-evaluated as to whether or not various organizations get government accreditation, government licenses, government funding, you name it. It’s draconian where we’re headed.”

Barry Bussey, director of legal affairs for the Canadian Council of Christian Charities

“Lots of people have long argued to defund churches and their organizations, even to withdraw charitable status. That certainly has not been a mainstream Liberal position, however. In defending their side, many Liberals seem to be proposed something revolutionary without quite realizing it.”

National Post columnist Chris Selley

“The Charter protects citizens from governments that would seek to infringe on their freedom of belief. It is Justin Trudeau who is offside with Charter values, not those who hold pro-life convictions.”

Senator Betty Unger (Conservative, Alberta)

“Funding should not be used as a tool to silence critics … no government should set itself up as the arbiter of moral values.”

Eric Lorenzen,
vice president of communications for LGBTory

“But the Trudeau government’s demand that local faith organizations kneel and kiss the PM’s ring in order to receive job grants is a whole other level of obnoxiousness … It is such a gross violation of Charter protections you would think the Liberals – who claim to be the Charter’s best guardians – would see their error immediately.”

Edmonton Sun columnist Lorne Gunter

“Liberals will relish being portrayed as defenders of a woman’s right to choose – even if the rights of their political opponents are infringed … The freedom of expression of applicants to the summer jobs program is also guaranteed under section 2 (of the Charter).”

National Post columnist John Ivison

“In the name of tolerance, the Trudeau government is being intolerant to a huge swath of society…”

Calgary Herald columnist Licia Corbella

“Canada is the only Western nation without any law regulating abortion. Successive governments have avoided crafting such legislation for fear of dividing the country, but the Liberals have discovered an easier solution: simply make people believe that a law already exists. (One, incidentally, that just happens to match Liberal ideology exactly).”

David Millard Haskell, associate professor of religion and culture at Wilfrid Laurier University

“They remain unequivocal about the attestation, so, it’s sort of like saying, ‘You’re welcome to apply, if you decide to agree with us and check off this attestation.”

Julia Beazley, director of public policy at the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada

“(T)he federal Liberals published ‘supplementary information’ to explain how applicants can still get the money. Which demonstrated again how clueless this government is about the fundamental freedoms at stake. The employment minister, Patricia Hajdu, thinks that private citizens, small-business owners and churches want to find a fig leaf that will enable them to swear the government’s loyalty oath on abortion. She cannot seem to understand that they find it unjust and unconstitutional for the government to force them to say something that they don’t believe, or discriminate against them when they profess what they do believe.”