FFWD Weekly
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City
by Maureen McNameeMore than 80 summer job positions for university and college students are in jeopardy after Calgary West MP Rob Anders rejected a portion of the Summer Career Placement Program grants in his riding.
Anders, a member of the Canadian Alliance, refused to approve 83 out of about 200 grants recommended by Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC), the federal department headed by Liberal MP Jane Stewart which has been the subject of an ongoing scandal over the mis-use of funding.
"He’s grandstanding on the backs of students," says Jaime Frederick, manager of U of C campus radio station CJSW. "I think that’s totally reprehensible."
He found out last week that the station, along with other campus organizations including the student television station NUTV and the Students’ Union (SU), may be denied its SCP grant this year. The funding traditionally helps cover the costs of hiring summer staff.
"We rely on them in the summer when our volunteer base is slightly lower...," he explains.
"We also look at this as an opportunity to train students for the workforce and give them the skills and experience that will help them secure employment once they’ve graduated."
Frederick, who is leading a campaign to inform the public and put pressure on Anders, spoke with the Calgary West MP about the issue last week, and interviewed him on-air. Anders indicated that he would be willing to reconsider his position if 1,000 of his constituents sign a petition supporting the grants.
"We not going to take this sitting down," says Frederick, who already has about one-third of the signatures needed.
However, Anders expects CJSW will be surprised by the number of people who support his decision.
"Generally, I’m taking a stand here for smaller government and lower taxes. I philosophically oppose the idea that one business is paying to subsidize another," he says.
He explains that he had no problem supporting a grant for the "institute in Spruce Cliff that deals with physical and something or other" disabled people, which he describes as a non-profit group on the far side of need and hardship, but says he cannot support subsidizing organizations that compete with the private sector, a category which for him includes CJSW, NUTV and a summer camp at Mount Royal College.
Anders also objected to positions which he felt weren’t "meritorious" enough, such as the SU’s application for a conference co-ordinator.
He says any student can get a job, and it doesn’t have to be related to their studies to be valuable – he lists off his own experience as a dishwasher, landscaper and in construction. "These are not all career related, but nonetheless they paid the bill."
Frederick says Anders’s statement that CJSW competes with private companies is false – the station is limited to less than four minute per hour of advertising, which doesn’t compare with the standards for commercial radio.
"We are mandated by the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) not as a competitor, but as an alternative to commercial broadcasters."
In addition, he points out that the SCP program is only a partial subsidy, and that the students who are employed through the grants pay taxes themselves.
"The opportunities we’re offering students – speaking on CJSW’s behalf – the jobs are related to careers in broadcasting or perhaps arts administration," he says, noting that many students who have worked at the station have achieved success in related industries.
Toby White, president of the University of Calgary SU, also defends the program. For example, he says, the conference coordinator position would have involved assisting the SU in planning and organizing a national conference for university and college SUs, which it is hosting next year.
"It’s a pretty big undertaking," he says. "I would have been a really good work experience for someone going into that field – tourism or hotel management. It’s a lot of work planning a conference of that size."
And although the SU will miss the help, he adds that it won’t suffer as much as some smaller organizations, such as Student Legal Assistance (SLA), a student-run organization which provides free legal information and representation to Calgarians unable to afford legal advice.
SLA traditionally receives funding for between three to five students, providing hands-on experience for students that might otherwise spend the summer filing legal documents, but this year, Anders rejected funding for four of the five positions recommended by HRDC.
At HRDC Calgary, manager Steve Windlinger says grants are considered based on whether the application is career-related, and the pay per hour.
"The intent of the program is to provide wage subsidies for the employer so they can hire students for the summer," he explains.
He estimates that HRDC receives about twice as many requests as it recommends for approval, and those approved must receive concurrence from the MP in the riding involved. In the Calgary West riding, Windlinger says Anders refused to OK about $176,000 of the total $496,000 in grant funding recommended by HRDC – all requests from for-profit organizations were denied, as well as some others.
Although the odd applicant has failed to get approval from an MP in the past, Windlinger says there has never been such as high number of rejections.
HRDC’s next step is to advise the main office and the department about the rejections. "The minister has the right, if she so desires, to change the decision," he says.
However, if she doesn’t, the funding can be made available to other ridings.
"We have a long waiting list."
Meanwhile, if not for Anders, CJSW would have had two student employees in place as of last Monday. Frederick encourages residents of Calgary West to sign the petition as soon as possible to show Anders they support the program. "We’ve got to get on this quickly."
The petition is available at Melodiya Records on 17th Avenue S.W., Karma in Marda Loop, and at CJSW. For more information phone Frederick at 220-3904 or e-mail him at jbfreder@ucalgary.ca.
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