Editor, The News:
The Liberals have turned the Canada Summer Jobs program into a complete mess.
Forcing organizations to violate personal values to attest to Liberal party values is a clear violation of the Charter and it looks as though it has finally admitted it.
Minister Patty Hajdu’s statement that she is willing to alter the process for next year is an admission that this was an unacceptable course of action.
But, this begs the question: if the Liberals admit they’ve done something wrong, why wait a year to fix it?
Why can’t they fix it this year?
It simply isn’t good enough for the Liberals to say they will look into changing the application process next year when over 1,500 applications were denied this year for refusing to sign the Liberals values test.
As a result, many students are out of jobs this summer and the organizations that were denied may not be able to help care for persons with disabilities, refugees, or provide day camp for children in need.
It is also a concern that the Liberals will apply the same values test to Canadians receiving other services, including organizations that receive charitable status from Canada Revenue Agency.
Given his actions, it is clear that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau doesn’t respect the rights of Canadians to hold beliefs and opinions that are different from his own.
When given the opportunity to vote to have this attestation removed from the application, the Liberals, including MP Dan Ruimy, voted against it.
I would’ve hoped that our local Member of Parliament would’ve shown more respect for Canadians than his leader.
Mark Bogdanovich
Maple Ridge
Editor’s note: Mark Bogdanovich is associated with the Conservative Party, and was chair of the local constituency office’s candidate nominating committee for the 2015 federal election.