Louis Henault/Dreamstime.

By Curtis Galbraith

Agriculture

Federal Conservatives attack Liberal government after cut to 4-H Canada funding

Jun 5, 2024 | 12:00 PM

Federal Conservatives have been blasting the federal government after a funding cut to 4-H Canada.

Grande Prairie-Mackenzie M.P. Chris Warkentin says the government reduced the group’s funding from $1 million a year to $650,000.

Warkentin was a member of 4-H when he was younger.

“(I) credit 4-H as being the one of the real motivators for me to improve my leadership skills and to first learn to public speak.”

“I can tell you that this is an unbelievable move by the federal government. The federal government seems to be able to find money for everything and waste money on all kinds of things.”

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Warkentin calls the cut this “unconscionable.”

“I don’t know why they have decided to do this. I don’t know why they have decided to start cutting with this organization being the only organization that I can think of that has seen any reduction in funding, but they have decided that.”

“We, as the Conservative party, will continue to fight tooth and nail to get this funding reinstated.”

Warkentin says this is a tiny part of the federal budget.

“While we do believe that the budget needs to be balanced, we know that the small amount, the miniscule amount that this represents in terms of the federal budget, it is just unimaginable as to why they would go after 4-H and not so many other places of waste that we know exist within the federal government.”

Conservative Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Agri-Food and Food Security John Barlow says in a statement from the party that, “Trudeau is continuing his nine-year-long attack on our farmers and producers.”

Barlow went on to call the cut “a slap in the face to our youth in agriculture,” adding the Prime Minister and Liberal government “don’t care about our farmers.”