Winnipeg Free Press Newspaper Archives Aug 14 2015, Page 4

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 14, 2015, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A4 Handcrafted by Ontario Mennonites & Amish 124 ROBLIN BLVD. E. IN WINKLER • 204.331.1415 New Style D INING TA BL ES with BENCHES MON TO THU 10 – 5 : 30 • FRI 10 – 8 • SAT 10 – 4 TENT SALE AUG. 19- 31 All Your Favourites All Day Long Smitty’s Canada Limited would like to congratulate Robert, Kaely and the entire Dyck Family on the GRAND OPENING of their fully renovated Meadowood Smitty ’ s Restaurant in Winnipeg, Manitoba LOCATED AT: 150 Meadowood Drive Phone: ( 204) 256- 1242 Hours of Operation: Restaurant Monday - Saturday: 7: 00am - 11: 00pm Sunday: 7: 00am - 10: 00pm Lounge Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday: 9: 00am – 1: 00pm Tuesday, Thursday: 9: 00am – 2: 00am Sunday: 9: 00am – 12: 00am A 4 winnipegfreepress. com Vote Canada WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015 OTTAWA — Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau pledged to end the funding gap for First Nations education over the next four years. The promise, made during a campaign stop in Saskatoon Thursday, is the first directed at indigenous Canadians in this election. “ I believe all children have the right to a high- quality education,” Trudeau said from a podium at a Saskatoon hotel. “ Unfortunately, in Canada that’s not how things are.” The pledge includes an immediate investment of $ 515 million in kindergarten to Grade 12 on- reserve education, a figure that will be repeated annually over the next three years. In the fourth year it will rise to $ 750 million. Another $ 500 million will be spent immediately on infrastructure to build new schools and repair damage to existing ones. Another $ 50 million would be invested in the Post- Secondary Student Support Program, which provides financial assistance to help indigenous students attend post- secondary schools. “ First Nations students are falling behind,” he said. “ Canadians know that’s just not right.” Trudeau pointed out the funding gap for First Nations education on- reserve compared with schools off- reserve has led to poor outcomes for indigenous children, who are behind their peers off- reserve when it comes to reading, writing and math. In 2011, the graduation rate for people living on- reserve was just 35.5 per cent, compared with 78 per cent for all of Canada. Several studies have shown the impact of these outcomes, including high unemployment. The Centre for the Study of Living Standards in 2009 found if First Nations were able to bring educational attainment to that of the rest of the population, the average annual GDP in Canada would increase more than $ 179 billion because of greater employment and lower government spending on income support and other social services. Nationally in 2012- 13, there were more than 113,053 First Nations students funded by the federal government, including 21,261 in Manitoba. In Manitoba, that is more than in all school divisions except Winnipeg School Division. NDP MP Charlie Angus told the Free Press Thursday he welcomes the Liberals’ attention “ to the hugely important issue of First Nations education” but said he and everyone else should be skeptical of their record. “ I would look under the hood at all of these promises before I bought them,” he said. Angus said the Liberals have made a lot of promises and haven’t said how they will find the money to pay for everything. He said in the past, when the money wasn’t there, indigenous issues were often the first to get cut. Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde said in a statement the Liberal promise was “ positive” but said the AFN would produce a comprehensive review of all the party promises before the end of the campaign. The Harper government in 2014 attempted a major overhaul of on- reserve education with a First Nations Education Act that was developed with the Assembly of First Nations. It would have invested $ 1.25 billion in First Nations education core funding over three years and set minimum standards for on- reserve schools, including curriculum, attendance and teacher certification. Another $ 500 million was pledged for education infrastructure. The legislation was shelved months after it was introduced when a backlash from chiefs across the country, who said they hadn’t been properly consulted, led to the resignation of AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo. Atleo had backed the legislation. The funding for education was also shelved. In this year’s federal budget, there was $ 200 million over five years for First Nations education core funding. There was still $ 500 million for construction and renovation of onreserve schools. mia. rabson@ freepress. mb. ca Numbers tell the story in Manitoba . 58: Number of bandoperated schools in Manitoba. . 916: number of teachers employed at band- operated schools in 2014- 15. . 15,615: enrolment at band- operated schools in 2012- 13. . 5,438: enrolment of on- reserve students in provincial schools. . 208: enrolment of on- reserve students in private schools. . $ 277.8 million: federal funding for band- operated schools and on- reserve students attending provincial schools in 2012- 13. . 17 per cent: Manitoba’s share of federal funding for First Nations schools in 2012- 13. . At 17 per cent, Manitoba First Nations could benefit from $ 88 million of the promised annual Liberal funding for the next three years, and $ 127.5 million of the $ 750 million in year four. — Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada Boost for native education Trudeau pledges to eliminate funding gap By Mia Rabson Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau O TTAWA — Top members of Stephen Harper’s campaign team, including the most senior staffer currently in the Prime Minister’s Office, were among those told in 2013 Sen. Mike Duffy didn’t pay back his own contested expenses. But the circle of key advisers kept their lips sealed, even as cabinet ministers told the House of Commons Duffy had “ shown leadership,” or that chief of staff Nigel Wright “ was the only one involved.” Ray Novak, Harper’s current chief of staff, had been told in a direct email his predecessor, Wright, was preparing to repay $ 90,000 in Duffy’s Senate claims. Among all of Harper’s aides, Novak is the longest serving and closest to him personally. “ I think her approach works,” Wright wrote only to Novak and PMO lawyer Benjamin Perrin on March 23, 2013, about a conversation with Duffy’s counsel. “ I will send my cheque on Monday.” The email was filed as evidence in court Thursday during Wright’s second day of testimony at Duffy’s trial. The former Conservative senator has pleaded not guilty to 31 counts of breach of trust, fraud and bribery. Novak’s name appears as the recipient, the sender or a person copied on more than 100 emails about Duffy exchanged in February- April 2013. Novak, who is travelling with Harper, refused to speak to reporters. Campaign spokesman Kory Teneycke said Novak never saw the email in question, nor was he aware of a conference call Wright’s office sought to set up with Novak, Perrin and Duffy’s former lawyer that same week. “ This wasn’t a file that Ray was ever managing or particularly a part of, and he was unaware,” said Teneycke. Duffy’s current lawyer, Donald Bayne, launched into a methodical examination of Wright’s statements to police, as well as emails he exchanged with Duffy and others in Harper’s office and the Senate. There were some prickly exchanges between Bayne and Wright as each betrayed moments of frustration or irritation. Bayne is trying to emphasize it was Wright and his team — not Duffy — who devised the scheme to have the senator say publicly he had mistakenly claimed living expenses for his Ottawa- area home. He honed in on language Wright had previously used, such as “ pressuring,” “ forcing,” or “ browbeat,” to make the case Duffy was not the instigator of any bribery or any fraud on the government. “ I was persistent, and eventually he agreed,” Wright said of getting Duffy to tell the public he had repaid his expenses. “ What you call agreement, I would suggest, sir, is capitulation. It’s not agreement when you have to force someone to do something,” Bayne retorted. The emails introduced by Bayne also contain more indications of just how wide a circle of key aides were in the loop about the plan to have someone else repay Duffy’s expenses, in exchange for him telling the public he had done it. PMO lawyer Benjamin Perrin was one of the figures most actively involved in striking an agreement with Duffy and his then- lawyer Janice Payne that would see him publicly say he had repaid his expenses. Current party lawyer Arthur Hamilton also dealt with Payne. “( Perrin) could not tell me about funds and agreed I should ask you about the status of funds,” Payne wrote to Hamilton on March 21, 2015, four days before Wright drafted his cheque. The party had also paid for Payne’s legal fees. Stephen Lecce, a member of Harper’s campaign war room and the deputy communications director at the PMO, helped put together the media lines around Duffy’s supposed repayment. Lecce had been copied on scenarios that outlined the party might be prepared to pay Duffy’s expenses, which had originally been estimated at $ 32,000. “ The party is open to keeping Sen. Duffy whole since it is clear that any overpayments were innocently received,” reads an email from Wright on Feb. 21. At a campaign stop Thursday at a farm outside of Regina, Harper continued to focus on his own ignorance of the repayment scheme. Harper said he was told Duffy was going to repay the expenses and would “ explain his own story on that.” — The Canadian Press Key advisers in loop, trial hears . Email implicates PM’s current chief of staff . Outlines plan to repay Duffy’s expenses JUSTIN TANG / THE CANADIAN PRESS; ADRIAN WYLD / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES ( RIGHT) Former chief of staff Nigel Wright ( from left), Mike Duffy and current chief of staff Ray Novak were front and centre at Thursday’s proceedings. By Jennifer Ditchburn and Kristy Kirkup EDITORIAL / A10 A_ 04_ Aug- 14- 15_ FP_ 01. indd A4 8/ 13/ 15 8: 57: 51 PM