The New Democratic Party called out the Conservative government over cuts to FedNor for years and a Northern Ontario NDP MP is worried the majority Liberals will continue down the Tories' path.
Timmins-James Bay MP Charlie Angus issued a release Tuesday afternoon, calling on the Liberals to restore funding to the regional development fund.
"We’ve been saying for years these cuts to FedNor exist, while the previous government pretended otherwise, but, we now have their own documents to prove it. We need to stop the cuts and stalled projects that have become commonplace in FedNor,” Angus said in the release.
Angus claims FedNor’s budget was cut by $9.2 million between 2012 and 2015, and a further $5.6 million is planned for this fiscal year ending Mar. 31, 2016.
FedNor falls under the Science and Innovation portfolio and is the only regional economic agency under the roof of another ministry. . Angus repeated long-standing calls to make FedNor a stand-alone agency.
“Repeated cuts and stalled projects at FedNor show why it is so important that we finally establish FedNor as a stand-alone economic development agency to ensure greater independence, transparency and accountability," Angus said in the release.
"I respect the work of the new Minister but when I see planned cuts for this year, it tells me that this is government is not listening to the issues that are relevant to our region.”
