REALity January 2019
Trudeau’s Phony Revision of the Summer Jobs Program
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has to believe that Canadians who hold religious beliefs are lacking in intelligence. How else can one explain his revision of the Summer Jobs Program?
The revision was supposed to “fix” the problem Trudeau created himself last year. He declared that summer jobs grant applications would be accepted only if the applicant signed an attestation that the core mandate of the organization seeking funding and the job created respected Charter “values”. These values included “reproductive rights [abortion] 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”. There is, of course, no “Charter right” for abortion but Trudeau has an obsession with the subject and does not let facts stand in his way.
Trudeau had mistakenly assumed that reasonable Canadians supported abortion as a woman’s natural entitlement, and that only a few eccentric individuals believed otherwise.
He was shocked, therefore, by the huge firestorm and backlash that this policy created. Even the mainstream, pro-abortion, liberal media condemned the policy as discriminatory and totalitarian.
With a federal election looming in no less than eleven months, in October, 2019, Trudeau had to do damage control in order to deflect any threat to the re-election of his Liberal Party caused by his Summer Jobs application policy.
Consequently, on December 6, 2018, Trudeau announced that the eligibility for grants would be re-tooled to provide that funding would be granted under the program if applicants did not “undermine” or “restrict” the exercise of “rights legally protected in Canada”. That is, the revisions include ambiguities and vague terms, which will inevitably be interpreted for Trudeau’s own purposes should he be re-elected in October, 2019. A few of the other ambiguities in his revised policy include that projects or activities will be ineligible for SJP funding if they “advocate intolerance, discrimination and/or prejudice”. Unfortunately, there is no guidance as to examples of activities that may “advocate” intolerance, discrimination and prejudice so there is no way of knowing how this will be interpreted. Another ambiguity in the revised policy is that funded projects must not “discriminate…on the basis of prohibited grounds such as gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, etc.” How will this be interpreted? The program requires that funded projects may not “undermine” or “restrict” sexual and reproductive health services. How will this be interpreted? Another requirement, under the revised guidelines, is that the employer who receives funding must describe how he/she is providing an environment free of harassment and discrimination (e.g., hiring practices, policies, guidelines). What does this mean?
What has changed with this new policy? Nothing. Trudeau continues to proclaim that abortion is a “Charter” right, which it is not. Homosexual and transgender persons have legal protection under the Canadian Human Rights Act, but such laws do not reflect the views of millions of Canadians who do not regard the laws as moral even if they are “legal”. That is, homosexuals should and do have the rights of all other Canadians. They should not, however, have special rights or status. The human rights legislation giving special recognition to homosexuals was passed by reason of party whips, representing the majority in Parliament, who controlled individual MP’s votes. The conscience rights of individual MP’s and their constituents were ignored by these votes. Why should a federal job funding program force Canadians to agree to the narrow beliefs held by the government, especially when conscience and religious rights are supposedly protected by the Charter of Rights?
Trudeau’s so-called “revised” policy on the requirements for the Summer Jobs Program only re-arranges the wording of the policy, but leaves in place the substance of the original policy. He obviously hopes that faith-based individuals and groups will be misled and will support his party in the 2019 election because of this supposed revision to the policy.
The Reality of Trudeau’s Amended Summer Jobs Policy
The reality is that Trudeau and his lieutenant, Patricia A. Hajdu, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, are standing guard over taxpayers’ money, to ensure the expressions “weakening a woman’s eligibility to access sexual and reproduction health services” and “providing a safe, inclusive environment” will conform to their own personal views. This means that:
- Since there is no law protecting unborn children in Canada, there is no “crime” committed by killing them. Therefore, no pro-life group will be eligible for funding because their efforts will be undermining this status quo. Pregnancy Counselling Centres that help women through their pregnancy to bring the child to birth will not be eligible for job grants because they would be “interfering” with a woman’s so-called right to abort the child. In this regard, pro-abortionists make the absurd claim that pregnancy centres spread “misinformation” under the guise of offering health services. On the contrary, it is pro-abortionists who use deceptive language and euphemisms, and do not provide options for women, but pressure them to have an abortion. The real reason for the objection to pregnancy centres is that the latter reduce the profits for abortion clinics.
- Faith-based groups will be required to both hire pro-abortion, homosexual and transgendered employees, if they receive funding under the Summer Jobs Program, and provide them with a “safe” environment. This will occur even though the lifestyles and ideologies of these employees are profoundly in opposition to the teachings of the faiths of Christians, Orthodox Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, etc. That is, it will have the effect of preventing these faith groups from operating in accordance with their fundamental beliefs, despite the fact that they have protection to do so under the Charter and human rights legislation.
- Organizations counselling and assisting homosexuals to change their orientation and lifestyle, using various types of therapy, will not be eligible for Summer Jobs grants.
It is important to note that, if re-elected, nothing will stop Trudeau from extending this controversial policy to require all those seeking federal funds in all government departments (not just the Summer Jobs Program) to attest and support the Liberal Party’s “values”. This issue is far from over. We know that Trudeau believes he is never wrong, and that any problems with his policies and programs are caused by others who are not as enlightened as he.
Taxpayers should regard Trudeau’s revisions of the Summer Jobs Program with skepticism and mistrust.
We are living in difficult times. It is up to us to protect our individual faith from Trudeau’s treacherous attempt to seize and control us in order to force his own personal ideology on this country. Trudeau may have control of our tax money, but he does not control our minds or our religious beliefs.