Government Benches: Vital Language

Provincial Economy Dept: A whopping $43 million in federal funding is being cut from resettlement services offered in Canada s most populous and diverse province. The news has generated a sense of panic and foreboding among the volunteers and staff at agencies that provide vital language training and other support skills for migrants, according to The Star. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney claims the decisions were apolitical, taking into account new settlement trends in other provinces and reviewing which agencies delivered the best value for money or had the biggest caseloads and returns of defective Christmas gifts typically aren t allowed on Boxing Day, but this would be a good time for the Conservative government to rescind a muddled decision that will shortchange Ontario s ethnic communities and hobble the provincial economy. Ontario is bearing the brunt of cutbacks across Canada, absorbing more than 80 per cent of the funding reductions, while other provinces notably Alberta, which just happens to have heavy representation on the government benches will come out ahead. Quebec, too, will largely escape the budget axe. The big losers will be ethnic communities in Toronto that rely heavily on agencies that lay the groundwork for integration and citizenship among newcomers. As reported in the news.
@t budget axe, resettlement services