Denise Savoie
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NDP FILLS THE POLITICAL LEADERSHIP GAP ON LITERACY: SAVOIE
OTTAWA – NDP MP and Literacy Advocate Denise Savoie (Victoria) stood in solidarity with Canada’s literacy community, and pledged to answer their call to action on the Conservatives’ short-sighted cuts to adult literacy programming.
Literacy advocates, practitioners, and learners rallied in cities across Canada today to raise awareness about the real-life impacts of the Conservative cuts announced last week, which threaten to devastate on-the-ground delivery of literacy projects.
“I am overwhelmed by this extraordinary rally of literacy advocates to defend their passion,” said Savoie. “This is not a lobby group meeting behind closed doors – it is a strong display of resolve by ordinary Canadians, who have heard enough lip service about how politicians believe in literacy. They desperately need action.”
Savoie noted that the NDP has answered that call by securing a Parliamentary review of the cuts to literacy and other social programs at the Standing Committee of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD). The motion calls on the Human Resources Minister, senior departmental staff, and affected stakeholder groups to appear before committee to assess the impact of the cuts.
“From the outset, I feared that these cuts would affect Canada’s most vulnerable, and that has been confirmed,” continued Savoie. “We can keep calling on the government to listen to Canadians, or we can use the tools we have as politicians to force them to listen.”
Savoie dismissed a Liberal motion passed by the HRSD committee yesterday, which called on the government to restore adult literacy funding to the levels of the former Liberal government.
“One dollar per Canadian per year didn’t cut it when the Liberals were in power, and it won’t be enough now. Today’s literacy stats are the same or worse than they were in 1994. Clearly we have to do more than revert to the sad old status quo.”
Savoie will push for the committee to recommend a pan-Canadian strategy on lifelong learning that goes beyond simply restoring the Conservative cuts, to a federal commitment to long-term funding, leadership, and collaboration with provinces and territories to address Canada’s literacy and learning challenges.