Stephen Harper is turning back the clock and attacking Canada’s minorities by reducing their representation in the public service, while also threatening their health, settlement and education funding that is dependent on long-form census information, Liberal MPs said today.
“New Canadians and other minorities are directly threatened by Stephen Harper’s decision to cut workplace diversity and the census,” said Liberal Multiculturalism Critic Justin Trudeau. “Diversity is a reality in Canada and multiculturalism is a core Canadian value, but the Conservatives don’t want a public service that reflects the public they serve.”
Yesterday, Treasury Board President Stockwell Day and Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney ordered a review of workplace diversity in the public service with the goal of reducing initiatives to better reflect Canadian society. This will further marginalize minority groups in the public service, which are still underrepresented, despite efforts to better reflect the diversity of Canadians.
“You can’t fund what you can’t measure – that’s why the Conservatives are cutting the census,” said Liberal Treasury Board Critic Siobhan Coady. “Cutting the long-form census means less money for seniors, less for education, less for health care – and will harm the most vulnerable Canadians the most.”
By axing the mandatory long-form census, fewer Canadians from minority groups will be counted, which means they will no longer exist in the eyes of government when it comes to determining funding levels for government programs like health and education.
“Cutting the census and workplace diversity are symptoms of a larger problem with this government: putting ideology ahead of facts,” said Ms. Coady. “They’re cutting the census because they don’t want to see the country as it is. They’re cutting workplace diversity because they don’t care if the public service is as diverse as the country is.
“Once again, the Harper Conservatives have shown that they do not represent the broad, progressive centre of Canadian society,” she concluded.
