April 21, 2018
Imagine a country where those who call for fairness are punished. Imagine a land where you are publicly shamed if you ask that everyone’s rights be respected. Well imagine no more, for this is Justin Trudeau’s Canada!
On April 16th, Mr. Scott Simms, liberal MP from Newfoundland, was shamelessly chastised by his own party for standing up against discrimination in government policy.
At issue is the 2018 Canada Summer Jobs grant. This grant enables non-profit organizations, churches, camps, and small businesses to hire summer students to provide services to their local communities. Without the grant, many worthy summer programmes could not take place.
However, the liberal government introduced a new requirement for 2018. All applicants must sign a legal attestation that certifies that their group accepts abortion, transgenderism, and homosexuality. If you feel that you cannot sign for religious or conscience reasons, then your funding is axed.
Not surprisingly, many organizations that hold to the sanctity of human life and real marriage were barred. This especially impacted the religious community. Others who simply disagreed with the idea of such an attestation were also barred. So far, it is estimated that over 1,400 applicants have been actively discriminated against. (See our other petition against the discriminatory Summer Jobs grant attestation.)
On March 19th, conservative MP Karen Vecchio brought forth a motion to challenge the attestation in the House of Commons. This motion was supported by conservative MPs.
We at CitizenGO petitioned all 183 liberal MPs to vote for the motion. However, those same MPs were told to oppose it – no matter what. (This is what is called a “whipped vote”.) Only one liberal MP, Mr. Scott Simms, had the courage of his convictions to stand up for all Canadians.
“I thought the attestation was an insensitive measure to those who felt strongly about this, whether they were pro-life or pro-choice,” Mr. Simms said. “I thought it could have been handled better.”
Mr. Simms has heard from many of his own constituents in Newfoundland, who told him that the attestation would violate their Christian beliefs.
“To me, that’s a lack of respect. If I was to say to someone, ‘Look, don’t worry about it, just tick the box or whatever’ – some people have a core fundamental belief that they don’t believe in this,” Mr. Simms commented. “It…is not right.”
Now the “whip” has struck Mr. Simms from the hand of his own liberal party. As of this Monday, Mr. Simms was removed from his position as chairman of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans. Along with the loss of power and position goes the loss of an $11,900 salary. That, along with the public shaming he has faced, is no small sacrifice!
“Yes, they removed me from the committee because of my vote,” Mr. Simms confirmed.
We are calling on prime minister Trudeau to reinstate this courageous and conscientious man to his former position and salary. We believe Mr. Simms made the right decision, and we think that Mr. Trudeau should honour his right to vote his conscience in parliament on this matter.
Please join us in signing the petition and sharing it with your friends and family. We hope that this petition will not only provide a message of rebuke to our prime minister, but that it will be an encouragement to Mr. Simms.
Read More HERE
