Mr. Speaker, on the same day on which we honour four RCMP officers, victims of a disturbed individual, I heard from a mother of a 32 year old man suffering from schizophrenia. He is doing well but relies on the Link Up program in Toronto, which for 12 years has helped people of all disabilities deal with employment barriers.
Link Up will close in two weeks. Why? Because HRSDC, as an answer to its billion dollar boondoggle, has rigid new guidelines that are killing community programs. Welcome to boondoggle chapter two. With the new rules, non-profits fight over contracts with other non-profits and better resourced private companies are winning competitions.
Not funding Link Up is outrageous. Shock waves are rocking the entire voluntary sector.
The government is so eager to stop civil servants from doing anything wrong that it makes it virtually impossible to do anything right. The human resources minister should listen to the community and announce a moratorium on this policy as the standing committee begins its investigation.