The Conservative government announced they are eliminating funding from 66 social programs tarted by previous Liberal governments, despite last year’s $13.2 billion surplus. These cuts, totaling $1 billion (with another $1 billion to be extracted through unidentified “tighter management”), include environmental programs, funding for medicinal marijuana research, museums, court challenge opportunities, programs encouraging Canadians to volunteer, and helping aboriginal people to quit smoking, among others.
In an attempt to bring down the federal debt, Stephen Harper and the Conservatives are taking away necessary social programs. When campaigning in last year’s election, one of the Conservative latforms was fiscal responsibility. The government may gain voters’ for keeping campaign promises, but if Harper takes his mandate too far, the party will end up losing precious votes. Human rights aid and assistance for aboriginals should not be seen as trimming the fat. The Conservatives re planning to rearrange the distribution of funds; it will be interesting to see what specific programs
they deem more worthy of receiving the $1 billion. When questioned regarding the cuts, the government claimed that they based their decision on their campaign platform. Some service providers have bemoaned the lack of consultation throughout the process, but the Conservatives have responded by sayingthat voters were consulted at election time and they chose to the onservative’s platform. While these cuts may satisfy the Conservative’s vehemently anti-tax base, it
likely won’t help them to secure votes in cities or Quebec areas they’ll need if they’re hoping to win a majority next time around.
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