NDP MP Ryan Cleary is sounding the alarm about big funding cuts coming to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Cleary told VOCM Nightline with Pete Soucy that federal budget estimates show at least $156-million dollars in cuts coming to DFO. He says that represents 8.6 per cent of the total budget. He says $12-million will be cut to science and sustainable fisheries. Cleary expects the cuts will be even deeper than the estimates when the budget comes down March 29th.
Meantime, in a statement issued this morning a DFO official says the Main Estimates represent a snapshot in time of the government's spending estimates. They say the changes referenced by Cleary can be almost entirely explained by planned sun-setting programs that, should they be renewed, would be in the Budget, not in the Main Estimates.
The revelation of potential deep funding cuts to operating funds within DFO comes as no surprise to the President of the FFAW. Earle McCurdy says regardless, they know cuts are coming in the federal budget. He says it's clear potential cuts would impede the department of doing their core job of science, management and enforcement.
He's concerned cuts will spill over into the policy side, where changes could be made that may be detrimental to the industry, specifically the inshore area. McCurdy fears it will be used as a cover story to try and make the case that those cuts won't be serious, because it's a part of their so-called modernization of the fishery. He says the right place to focus on cuts is the DFO headquarters on Kent Street, not the region's where the real work is done in the department.
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Meantime, in a statement issued this morning a DFO official says the Main Estimates represent a snapshot in time of the government's spending estimates. They say the changes referenced by Cleary can be almost entirely explained by planned sun-setting programs that, should they be renewed, would be in the Budget, not in the Main Estimates.
The revelation of potential deep funding cuts to operating funds within DFO comes as no surprise to the President of the FFAW. Earle McCurdy says regardless, they know cuts are coming in the federal budget. He says it's clear potential cuts would impede the department of doing their core job of science, management and enforcement.
He's concerned cuts will spill over into the policy side, where changes could be made that may be detrimental to the industry, specifically the inshore area. McCurdy fears it will be used as a cover story to try and make the case that those cuts won't be serious, because it's a part of their so-called modernization of the fishery. He says the right place to focus on cuts is the DFO headquarters on Kent Street, not the region's where the real work is done in the department.
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Source: vocm
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