Corner Brook -
Gerry Byrne has a sinking feeling the federal government will bring down the axe on the Atlantic Canada Action Program (ACAP).
The Liberal Commons member for Humber-St. Barbe-Baie Verte said the Conservative administration under Prime Minister Stephen Harper has had this community-based environmental stewardship program on the chopping block for the past three years.
During that time, Byrne said government has toyed with ending the program, not renewing its funding commitment until last-minute reprieves.
The long time MP is left wondering if there will be any such reprieve this year.
"There is no doubt about it, there is a big target, an X on the back of ACAP and everyone of its employees from this federal government," Byrne told The Western Star. "Not only they do they want to get rid of everything that was touched by a Liberal, but they also want to get rid of anything that has to do with the environment.
"These organizations have a tendency to embarrass the federal government, not through direct criticism, but because they promote the environment and coastal stewardship, and the government itself is so anti-environment and anti-conservation, their mere presence tends to be perceived by government as embarrassing."
Byrne said ACAP is just one of a multitude of similar programs that government would like to put an end to. His fear that will come to fruition is he said there is an excuse available as to why they can follow through with it.
"That is sort of the Conservative model," he said. "Spend lavishly on political projects and then, when the deficit reaches a point where you have the rationale to destroy everything you set out to destroy earlier.
"They are using this deficit situation to create the political atmosphere to say, 'we'd like to keep ACAP, but we now don't have a choice. We have to cut it because we have to fight the deficit.'"
With a previous study revealing that ACAP leverages a further $7 in partnering funding for every $1 it receives from government, Byrne said its non-existence would create a significant void in the amount of environmental stewardship work in the community.
Unless the funding commitment is renewed, the ACAP project could fold as of March 31, 2010.
