Thank you, Madam Chair, and good morning, Mr. Minister.
I recently met in Toronto with a number of community agencies--dozens of them in fact--unanimously very, very concerned and distressed about the cuts announced by your government. They're concerned because there was very poor communication. People were not consulted before the cuts were made. Some of them found out about cuts to their organization by looking on a government website. There seemed little concern about the impacts of these cuts.
And the cuts seemed to be particularly targeted to the not-for-profit sector in our society and some of the most vulnerable groups--the volunteer sector, literacy. Four in ten Canadians struggle with literacy. These programs are going to be affected. Women's programs are targeted. Now we see the word “equality” disappearing from the website of the Status of Women along with a 40% cut in their budget. We now see that for-profit organizations are going to be allowed to seek money from the Status of Women, so I wonder if the Royal Bank is now going to be eligible for grants from the Status of Women, as long as they don't seek equality. Immigrants are targeted and youth.
I'm very concerned about the cuts and the impact on our communities right across the country. And I have to say, for a party that campaigned on the issue of a democratic deficit and the need for a new democracy, squelching or reducing democracy by cutting advocacy programs and the ability of community organizations--some of the most marginal voices--to be able to speak up and challenge the government on issues of concern is very, very troubling. I think it's troubling to silence some of the most marginal voices in our society.
It's easy to always hear from the very powerful but less easy to hear from some of the people who are most marginal. And I include the court challenges program because without those resources some of the most marginal people would not have access to their full charter rights.
I've heard arguments today about economic efficiency, which of course we all support, and about the need to pay down the debt, which of course we all support, but a $13.2 billion surplus, the entirety of which goes to pay down the debt, doesn't make sense. This is at the same time as we continue to subsidize the oil and gas industry to the tune of $1.4 billion. It seems bizarre to target the most vulnerable sectors.
Mr. Minister, why is your government trying to silence some of the most marginalized groups in our society by denying the funding they need to survive?