I'm afraid I can't speak for the government, although I appreciate their desire to reduce the debt. But we do feel it's “penny-wise and pound-foolish” to cut literacy programs at this time.
We know that jobs are in danger—the jobs of literacy tutors and the jobs of the staff of the coalitions. As I was running through all of the different provincial and territorial coalitions, you could hear all of the different programs that will actually be cut. We are still trying to calculate what the costs of all of this will be and figure it out, but we do know that some “on the ground” programs will not be delivered.
For ABC CANADA, we have real concerns about our Family Literacy Day. The provincial coalitions and territorial coalitions were responsible for sending out about 80% of our materials to groups in the field to use to promote Family Literacy Day, which encourages adults and children to come together to increase their literacy skills. We feel that the effects will just be devastating.