Government documents confirm what communities and organizations in Northern Ontario have known all along, FedNor has been receiving cuts over the past several years. In addition to cuts documented elsewhere, the governments’ own documents show that FedNor was cut by 1.2 million dollars in 2012-2013, 2.4 million dollars in 2013-2014, by 5.6 million dollars in 2014-2015, and there are planned reductions of 5.6 million for 2015-2016.
Charlie Angus says the Government needs to make a commitment to restore FedNor’s budget.
"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." FedNor plays a crucial role to diversify North Ontario's economy and invest in infrastructure, yet it is buried within the much larger Science and Innovation ministry. Angus is concerned that FedNor is the only economic agency that is not standalone.
“Repeated cuts and stalled projects at FedNor shows why it is so important that we finally establish FedNor as a standalone economic development agency to ensure greater independence, transparency and accountability. 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.”