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Press Releases 2007MY CANADA ! SHUTS DOWN WITHOUT GOV'T HELP May 2, 2007 While brand new Liberal group gets $200,000, established settlement agency closes
( Richmond Hill , ON ) - PC Citizenship and Immigration Critic Frank Klees today pointed to another victim of Dalton McGuinty's political slush fund approach to spending taxpayers' money - My Canada! Integration and Settlement Services, which is closing because of a lack of funding.
"Dalton McGuinty's political slush fund has left this organization out in the cold," said Klees. "Instead of funding an established organization like this, Dalton McGuinty gave $200,000 to an organization that had only been around for three weeks and is run by provincial Liberal supporters."
Klees joined My Canada! Executive Director Hashim Ali today in Richmond Hill as Mr. Ali closed the offices of his organization. Despite several requests for help from the provincial government to fund immigration settlement services, the organization has not received the $36,000 they need to stay open.
In contrast, the McGuinty Liberals used an end of year Ministry slush fund to hand out $200,000 to the Iranian-Canadian Community Centre only three weeks after it was formed. It is an organization that is not known in the community and that has no track record of providing services. All seven members of the board of directors are Liberal Party donors and included the Liberal candidate for Richmond Hill and the Riding Association President.
"This money was given without any sort of paper work or application process and isn't going to help newcomers to Canada ," said Klees. "In contrast we have an organization that could be helping right away that didn't get an opportunity for funding. This is yet another reason why the Auditor needs to investigate this McGuinty slush fund."
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For more information: Frank Klees (416) 325-7316
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Frank Klees continues to question Minister Colle "Why do we have Mr. Hashim Ali here, who has a history of providing services and was denied funding, and $200,000 of taxpayers' money is sitting in a shell account attributed to an agency where seven of the directors are all closely aligned with the Liberal Party?" York Region News Caroline Grech May 3, 2007 |
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© 2008 Frank Klees, M.P.P. All Rights Reserved |
