An iPolitics analysis of this year’s grants found that out of the federal ridings to receive Canada Summer Job funding, Liberal ones were the most numerous.

The study found that Liberal constituencies received 24 per cent more approvals than Conservative ridings and 16 per cent more approvals than NDP ridings.

On average 110 applications were approved in a Liberal riding, while an average Conservative riding had only 89 programs being approved for funding. 

Of the ridings which had the most numerous approvals the Liberals and NDP came out on top. All four of the ridings which received 300 or more approvals were represented by Liberal MPs, while seventeen of the eighteen ridings receiving more than 200 approvals were Liberal, while the outlier was NDP.

While MPs are able to recommend and review the applications from their ridings, it is ultimately up to the federal Service Canada to have the final say on who gets granted funding. 

“Justin Trudeau’s government has botched the Canada Summer Jobs program since Day 1. They put in place a ‘Liberal values’ attestation, gave funding to an organization linked to terrorism, bankrolled groups that are actively protesting Canada’s critical energy infrastructure, and are now prioritizing their own Liberal ridings,” said Conservative employment critic John Barlow.

Several controversies have plagued the Liberal handling of the program, including the federal government’s decision to repeatedly give funding to an Islamic organization which has had its charity status suspended by the Canada Revenue Agency after it was discovered the group allegedly funded terrorism.

Also as exclusively reported on by True North, several other controversial Islamic organization were granted funding for 2019 despite some of the groups’ homophobic comments and alleged links to terror groups.

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