SECOND LIBERAL SLAMS JOB CLAUSE
Requirement to attest to Charter called ‘lamentable’
OTTAWA • In a letter to an employer in his Ontario riding, a Liberal MP says his own government is wrongly invoking the Charter of Rights and Freedoms on its controversial Canada Summer Jobs attestation, and calls the whole thing “regrettable” and a “lamentable state of affairs.”
The newly added clause requires applicants for the grant program to declare their core mandate respects “the values underlying the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” and goes on to specifically mention reproductive rights, which means access to abortions.
“In my riding of Scarborough-Guildwood, I am personally aware of a number of organizations negatively impacted,” says the letter from John McKay, who is known to be pro-life.
“I consider this to be a lamentable state of affairs, and have expressed my views both inside and outside caucus in the strongest possible terms.”
The employer, who runs a publishing business and provided the letter on condition his name not be used, had written to McKay four times to express dismay over the attestation.
McKay responded on March 21, and begins the letter by saying the Charter was created with two critical components: to protect the citizen from the state and to provide a mechanism to balance competing rights.
“The converse of these two critical components is therefore that the Charter was not designed for the state to claim protection from the citizen and that it was not designed to promote one right over any other right,” McKay’s letter says.
“It is my view that the current government has inadvertently fallen into the trap of preferencing one right over another and of using the Charter to protect itself from perceived abuse by citizens.
“The attestation clause is a regrettable example of that error. It is my view that applications for government grants that engage in nonpolitical non-activist work should be free of ideological bias and political preference.”
On March 19, the House of Commons voted down a Conservative motion that said non-political, non-activist groups should have access to the summer jobs grants regardless of the attestation. Only one Liberal MP in attendance voted against it, Newfoundland’s Scott Simms, who had previously said he opposed the attestation.
In his letter, McKay says he chose not to attend the vote after conferring with Liberal caucus whip Pablo Rodriguez, whose office is responsible for party discipline on votes.
“I intentionally absented myself from the vote on Monday after much discussion with the Whip’s office,” the letter concludes. “This entire process, in my judgment, is a regrettable error, and I hope it will not be repeated.”
McKay, who is currently travelling overseas, declined to comment on the letter.
This is not McKay’s first clash with his party since Justin Trudeau became leader. In 2014, after Trudeau stated that new Liberal MPs must be pro-choice, McKay was caught on tape musing that the edict may have been a “bozo eruption” and hadn’t been fully thought through.
McKay later apologized and Trudeau made peace with him, calling McKay “a good man and a good friend.”
The Conservative motion caused upheaval in the NDP, after Hamilton MP David Christopherson broke ranks with his caucus to vote in favour. The pro-choice MP told the National Post he felt the attestation “took away Canadians’ right to disagree with the laws that they have to obey.”
Christopherson was punished by being removed from his position as vice-chair of the Commons procedure committee, but NDP leader Jagmeet Singh reversed that punishment after outcry from his caucus.
Last week, Simms told the National Post he was still “in discussion” with the whip’s office over his dissenting vote. Simms chairs the fisheries and oceans committee, while McKay chairs the public safety and national security committee.
Controversy over the attestation has boiled since January, with numerous religious organizations saying they can’t sign the attestation in good conscience — despite the government’s attempt to clarify that “core mandate” refers only to activities, not beliefs or values. Statistics suggest more than 1,400 organizations were rejected over the attestation this year.
Trudeau and Employment Minister Patty Hajdu have stood their ground and made it clear the attestation will not be changed this year. A constitutional challenge launched by an anti-abortion group is scheduled to be heard in Federal Court on June 19.