More from 'Canada's New Government'

“I think if we’re spending $20 million and we have one out of seven folks in the country that are functionally illiterate, we’ve got to fix the ground floor problem and not be trying to do repair work after the fact”- federal Treasury Board President, defending his government’s cuts to adult literacy programs

OK, and by the same logic, we should be spending our health care money on prevention, not on “repair work after the fact”.

One would think that with a $13.2 billion surplus, this sort of either/or proposition would be unnecessary. The cuts to adult literacy programs will “save” $17.7 million over two years!

These cuts are a cynical symbolic exercise designed for the Conservatives to demonstrate their “fiscal prudence” on the back of marginalized groups in society. The damage caused to people by them will far exceed the benefit caused by “saving” this money, but the Conservatives are betting that most people won’t care, as long as they’re not being personally affected.