Conservatives kill funding for learning organization

Posted on January 8, 2010 in Education Debates

TheGlobeandMail.com – News – Conservatives kill funding for learning organization: Canadian Council on Learning informed that it won’t receive any more money, plans to continue operations
Published on Friday, Jan. 08, 2010.   Jill Mahoney

The federal government will end funding for the Canadian Council on Learning, an organization established by a previous Liberal government to promote lifelong learning.

CCL told staff Thursday that it had received notice from Human Resources and Social Development that it would not receive federal support past March 31.

“I can’t tell you why they ended our funding because … I’m quite convinced that it’s well understood by everybody that this organization is an impartial organization, that it does no advocacy whatsoever,” president and CEO Paul Cappon said in an interview.

CCL was established by the Liberals in 2004 with a five-year grant of $85-million. Last year, the Conservatives allowed the organization to continue operations for another year, but did not provide any new funding. The federal money comprised 95 per cent of CCL’s budget.

In Dec. 21, 2009 letter, Human Resources and Social Development Minister Diane Finley writes: “…I can assure you that the decision not to renew was not made lightly.”

Read the letter from the Minister

Download this file: < http://beta.images.theglobeandmail.com/archive/00423/Letter_from_Ministe_423401a.pdf >.

CCL, which produces reports on the state of lifelong learning in Canada, plans to continue “dramatically scaled down” operations and pursue funding from other sources, Mr. Cappon said.

“What Canada would lose without CCL would be like being a student without a report card of any kind. And we’d be prevented from knowing how far behind the competition we’re slipping,” he said.

< http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/conservatives-kill-funding-for-learning-organization/article1423912/ >

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