Rejection rates for Canada Summer Jobs funding up 12-fold from last year
OTTAWA — Federal officials have rejected requests from more than 1,500 organizations for funding through the government’s premier summer jobs program, a 12-fold increase since the Liberals added new funding criteria that have drawn the ire of faith-based groups.
The government says rejections are up year-over-year to 1,561 this year compared with 126 in 2017.
The rejections could be for multiple reasons, such as not meeting funding requirements, missing details on forms or objecting to the wording of a new declaration that the jobs to be funded, as well as the main activities of groups themselves, respect reproductive rights.
Overall, figures provided by the government show officials are combing through 41,031 eligible applications, a small decline from the 41,716 last year that funded about 69,000 jobs — which the government used during debate Monday as a sign that all was fine with the program, despite concerns from the Opposition Conservatives.