FedNor jobs dropped by 30% under Conservatives, NDP MP says
Timmins-James Bay MP says he wants to see northern economic development agency strengthened under Liberals
The New Democrat MP for Timmins-James Bay continues to pick away at government statistics that show the former Conservative government undermined the regional development agency known as FedNor.
Charlie Angus has previously outlined how millions have been cut from FedNor's budget over the past six years.
The latest information concerns the number of full-time jobs.
The number of positions dropped from 120 to 83 over the past six years, Angus said.
It's not possible to escape a noticeable decline in activity on certain projects, he said, citing stalled broadband proposals.
"You can't run a department as diversified as FedNor — with a 30 per cent cut over six years — and not have it affect your programming," he said.
Pulling back?
Angus also noted the cultural food fair, the Foire Gourmand in Temiskaming, experienced a significant drop in funding over the six years.
"I thought maybe it was just a difference of priorities, but when you see the major cuts they've taken over the last number of years, you realize that the priorities are that they're having to pull back from areas they traditionally were engaged in."
As for the source of the information, Angus said it's untainted.
"We can use various parliamentary sources to get government departments to actually produce numbers, so we're not dealing here with a minister or party spin," he said.
"We actually get the documents from the department."
The future of FedNor remains to be seen, said Angus, who has lobbied Science and Innovation Minister, Navdeep Bains, to restore funding to the economic development agency.