OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday there’s no problem with a Canada Summer Jobs grant that will fund anti-pipeline activism, arguing his government must stand up for the principle of free expression and advocacy. But this year the summer jobs funding program has been swamped in controversy thanks to the abortion-rights attestation added by the Liberal government. Neil MacCarthy, spokesperson for the Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto, said the free speech defence is a tough one to hear now from Trudeau. The parishes and charities in the archdiocese had applied for $1.1 million in summer jobs funding this year, but had their forms rejected over the attestation. As far as he can tell, their grant is controversial this year just because of the attestation.

Source: National Post April 25, 2018 23:03 UTC