Dryden pledges $2 million for jobs for disabled people
Last Updated: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 | 12:44 PM ET
CBC News
Dryden, the federal social development minister, made the announcement while campaigning in St. John's South-Mount Pearl, a riding where the Liberals made gains in the 2004 general election.
- RIDING PROFILE: St. John's South-Mount Pearl
Dryden said the timing of the announcement was not necessarily related to the current election campaign.
"It was one of those things where election calls come at certain times, that weren't exactly of our planning," he said.
"Sometimes things get hung up because of election calls ... The business of employability of persons with disabilities, of employers, doesn't stop just because an election campaign does start."
Campaigning with Liberal candidate Siobhan Coady, who is trying to unseat Conservative incumbent Loyola Hearn, Dryden met people such as Mark Percy.
Percy has been working at a Shoppers Drug Mart store for five years, a job he landed through Avalon Employment, one of 19 groups in the province that help people with disabilities find work.
Coady said she invited Dryden to meet with Avalon Employment staff because they are anxious about whether the operation's funding would be extended.
"They were concerned about it, and I asked him specifically to come and give them assurances that it will continue under this government."
Coady was not the only candidate in St. John's South-Mount Pearl to highlight an issue through Dryden's visit.
New Democrat Peg Norman showed the media a vacant, dilapidated house, owned by a co-op that helps people get affordable housing.
The co-op, however, cannot afford to make the house fit for occupation.
Norman blamed the federal Liberals for cutting funding to social housing.
"They can't get someone to live in here because the house needs so much work," Norman said. "That is the direct result of the cuts to social spending by the Liberals."
The housing co-op says it would take about $8 million to upgrade the 400 homes it owns across the province that are in need of repair.
