Treasury Board President John Baird abandons adult education

For Immediate Release 

(OTTAWA)  – Sukh Dhaliwal, Member of Parliament for Newton—North Delta, calls on Treasury Board President, John Baird, to explain his assertion that there is no point in helping those that are functionally illiterate to learn how to read.

In an interview Mr. Baird stated, “I think if we’re spending $20 million and we have one out of seven folks in the country that are functionally illiterate, we’ve got to fix the ground floor problem and not be trying to do repair work after the fact.” 

Mr. Dhaliwal has responded that, “in an era where we are trying to create a knowledge economy it is shocking that the President of the Treasury Board would say that it is pointless to teach functionally illiterate adults how to read.  Canada has a long tradition of promoting adult education going back over a hundred years with initiatives such as the Antigonish movement and the pioneering work of Rev. Moses Coady and the work of the Frontier College in Western Canada and its commitment to helping everybody understand the printed word and put it to use.” 

Mr. Dhaliwal added that, “as an individual who immigrated to Canada and pursued post-secondary education I am appalled that the Treasury Board President would callously dismiss the aspirations of those immigrants who come to Canada at a later age and who are striving to learn the language of their adopted country.  These programs not only help those individuals that are learning to read and write, it strengthens the social and economic fabric of entire communities.  The Minister obviously believes this is pointless.”

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Contact:
Kyle Harrietha
613-266-9859