Liberals’ “values test” a threat to freedom in Canada
NDP MP David Christopherson gets it. Liberal Labour Minister Patty Hajdu apparently just can’t.
Christopherson broke party ranks and voted for a Conservative motion in late March demanding the government scrap its “values test” for Canada Summer Jobs funding. Even with Christopherson’s support, the motion was easily defeated.
“If the law is an ass, you have a right to say so,” Christopherson argued. “You have to obey the charter. You have to obey the laws. You don’t have to bow and scrape. You don’t have to say ‘I love the law.’”
There might never be a more succinct statement of what it means to be a citizen than those five short, clear sentences. Alas, their brevity and clarity have had no noticeable effect on the labour minister as she oversees the summer jobs program that provides federal dollars to help churches, charities, non-government organizations and small businesses hire students.