Feds Withholding Aboriginal-Targeted Cash: Liberal

Feds Withholding Aboriginal-Targeted Cash: Liberal

Friday, September 11, 2009 at 14:11

The Liberal critic for Indian Affairs says the Conservative government is sitting on millions of dollars in funding for Aboriginal people.

Labador MP Todd Russell says $75-million was alloted in the 2009 federal budget for Aboriginal skills and training programs.

He says that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is not using this money for job creation or for skills development for Aboriginal Canadians.

“My message to aboriginal Canadians specifically and Canadians generally is, how can you trust a prime minister, Mr. Harper, who sits on $75-million dollars in funding for Aboriginal people, when his own finance minister said the money would have to be spent in 120 days to be effective?” Russell says.

A spokesperson for the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development says they are announcing programs for Aboriginal people in the near future.

They say the Conservative government is working diligently to spend the money in the budget.