Liberal has no regrets about backing Tory motion

OTTAWA • Liberal MP Scott Simms does not regret voting with the Conservatives over a controversial change to the student summer jobs program — even though it ended up costing him his job as chair of the Commons fisheries committee.

“I knew what was coming,” the veteran Newfoundland MP said Thursday.

“So that’s the way it works, I guess, and I have no regrets.”

The Liberal government is now requiring organizations seeking federal funding through the Canada Summer Jobs program, which created nearly 69,000 temporary jobs last year, to attest to their respect for sexual and reproductive rights — including abortion — as well as other human rights.

Employment and Social Development Canada later clarified this was not meant to target beliefs or values, but still made it mandatory to check off a box on the application form confirming their agreement with the stipulation.

Many churches and other faith-based organizations said they were being forced to choose between their spiritual values and grants that helped them run summer camps, soup kitchens and other activities that had nothing to do with abortion.

Simms said he knew he would face consequences when he voted for a Conservative motion last month urging the Liberal government to allow groups engaged in “non-political, non-activist work” to access the federal jobs grant, even if they didn’t express respect for abortion rights.

He said he was told it would be a whipped vote — meaning Liberal MPs were to toe the party line — but that he stood in favour of the motion anyway, because he believed the Conservatives had crafted it in a straightforward way and that the Liberals had gone too far.

“This to me was a personal issue,” he said.

“I just felt that it was an insensitive thing to do and we should have stepped back and worded it differently.”

The decision to change the eligibility criteria stemmed from a controversy last year when officials approved tens of thousands of dollars for anti-abortion groups in at least two ridings.

Simms said he does not think organizations should be using federal funding to hire summer students for those kinds of activities, but the Liberal government was being overly broad in how it tried to solve the problem.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vowed during the 2015 election campaign that he would allow backbench MPs to vote against party lines, with three exceptions: legislation implementing platform promises, confidence matters, such as those involving the budget, and any votes dealing with “shared values,” including issues involving the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. A spokeswoman for Trudeau would not comment.

Nor would chief government whip Pablo Rodriguez.

“Committee membership changes are considered internal related matters which we do not comment on,” said his chief of staff, Charles-Eric Lepine.