Federal Government Forced to Restore Summer Job Cuts
Canadian Federation of Students Monday, March 05, 2007
OTTAWA–
Students won a partial victory last week when the federal government announced that it was restoring most of the funding for the Canada Summer Jobs program. Instead of the 50 percent cut announced in the fall, the government has quietly restored almost 90 percent of the budget.
“We’re happy to see Stephen Harper abandon his student job reduction strategy,” said Amanda Aziz, National Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students. “Summer jobs are not a luxury—they pay the bills.”
Beginning in summer 2007, the Canada Summer Jobs program will replace the Summer Career Placement program started in 1996. In fall 2006, the federal government announced a $55 million cut to the program, which could have resulted in approximately 25,000 fewer summer jobs for students. The Canadian Federation of Students immediately organized dozens of meetings with Members of Parliament and Senators to explain the program’s importance and to lobby for its restoration.
On March 1, it was announced that the budget for the new program will be $85.9 million, $11.6 million less than was spent in 2006 on summer job subsidies for mostly not-for-profit employers.
“This is only a partial victory for students and their families because the program is not fully restored. It is unacceptable for the government to cut millions of dollars from any program without even conducting a formal study or public consultation,” added Aziz.
I am glad to see this program mostly restored. Having worked/volunteered extensively in the non-profit sector, I know how important this program is to this sector. I do, however, believe that the Federation should have tried to be a little less partisan in their release. I very much doubt that Harper had any kind of “student job reduction strategy” or anything similar. These kind of statements are what turn off the media from coverage of the Federation and it ultimately distracts from the message. The very fact that I am witting this shows that I have been distracted from the message – that the CFS claims credit for this announcement.
Source: CFS – Media