Sample letter for your MP re Canada Summer Jobs program
The Conservative motion calling for the Liberals to basically stop the attestation requirement for the Canada Summer Jobs program, was defeated on March 19. The vote was 207 to 93.
Thank you for sending letters to your MPs!
Only one Liberal MP voted in favour of the motion: Scott Simms.
Also voting in favour were Green MP Elizabeth May and NDP MP David Christopherson.
The following letter can be sent to your Member of Parliament.
- Find your Member of Parliament here and copy their email address: http://www.ourcommons.ca/Parliamentarians/en/members
- Click on “Send email to your MP” above. It will open a new email in your default email program.
- Paste your MP’s email into the To box.
- Copy and paste the letter below into the email.
- Feel free to change as you see fit to make your own customized letter. Personalized letters carry more weight!
- Don’t forget to add your name, address, and phone number at the bottom.
Dear ________
Please vote NO on the motion introduced in Parliament on March 1 by Conservative MP Karen Vecchio (Elgin-Middlesex-London). It wrongly attempts to undermine the new attestation requirement for the Canada Summer Jobs program. The motion will come to a vote on March 19, and reads:
“That, in the opinion of the House, organizations that engage in non-political non-activist work, such as feeding the homeless, helping refugees, and giving kids an opportunity to go to camp, should be able to access Canada Summer Jobs funding regardless of their private convictions and regardless of whether or not they choose to sign the application attestation.”
The Conservative Party has wrongly interpreted the attestation and is acting in bad faith. Not only are Conservative MPs exploiting the issue in order to attack the Liberal government, they are unnecessarily denying summer jobs to potentially thousands of students.
It’s clear from the new guidance issued by the Liberals in January that almost any organization is eligible to apply for Canada Summer Jobs – including most groups who still mistakenly believe they aren’t eligible. (Please see this background document for the correct interpretation of the attestation requirement, and a critique of the Conservative Party’s bad faith as shown in the March 1 debate: http://www.arcc-cdac.ca/csj/docs/con-party-bad-faith.pdf).
Conservative MPs have failed to reassure their constituents of their continued eligibility, and instead have turned the issue into a political weapon against the Liberals at the expense of students hoping to obtain summer jobs. It unconscionable that youth looking for valuable work opportunities over the summer will be deprived of that because of the Conservative Party’s political shenanigans.
Please vote No on March 19, and please do whatever you can to ensure that youth are not denied summer employment unnecessarily because of the Conservative Party’s false characterization of the attestation requirement for the Canada Summer Jobs program.
Thank you for listening. Sincerely,
