My thanks to Ross at the Gazetteer for the following story.
I support the food bank and I want and ask others to do the same, especially around this time of year. To hear a Minister of the Crown, come out and deny that it is his personal responsibility to help feed children is sickening. I can understand how a heartless government like Steven Harpers can pass the buck on poverty to others (Public Policy on poverty is a provincial not a Federal responsibility in Canada).
But most of us have some empathy and want to help out, and many thousands support our neighbours who are hungry. james moore has been touted by some to be a successor to harper when he finally leaves. From Mr. moore's statement below he will be worse than harper.
First, there was this story from CKWX' Sara Norman:
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It appears the federal government won’t be helping BC get out of the top spot when it comes to child poverty.
“Is it my job to feed my neighbour’s child? I don’t think so.” That from Federal Minister of Industry James Moore who is also the Member of Parliament for Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam. He says it’s the responsibility of the provinces to deal with child poverty, and Ottawa has no plans to step in....
Then, there was this response from Mr. Moore via that Newswatchy aggregatorish-type guy.
where he says the quote is out of context.
While thanks to the magic of technology here is the actual quote. or you can go here (I suspect that the quote link will be taken down by the radio station very soon, (they are supporters of the Federal Government and will not want this quote to stay up long) Notice how moore laughs at the idea of helping feed children. (His comments are at the end of the tape which is about 1: 10 seconds lon)
The mainstream media is reporting that moore has apologized and is accepting that apology. I do not. Here is the apology from the press:
I support the food bank and I want and ask others to do the same, especially around this time of year. To hear a Minister of the Crown, come out and deny that it is his personal responsibility to help feed children is sickening. I can understand how a heartless government like Steven Harpers can pass the buck on poverty to others (Public Policy on poverty is a provincial not a Federal responsibility in Canada).
But most of us have some empathy and want to help out, and many thousands support our neighbours who are hungry. james moore has been touted by some to be a successor to harper when he finally leaves. From Mr. moore's statement below he will be worse than harper.
First, there was this story from CKWX' Sara Norman:
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It appears the federal government won’t be helping BC get out of the top spot when it comes to child poverty.
“Is it my job to feed my neighbour’s child? I don’t think so.” That from Federal Minister of Industry James Moore who is also the Member of Parliament for Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam. He says it’s the responsibility of the provinces to deal with child poverty, and Ottawa has no plans to step in....
Then, there was this response from Mr. Moore via that Newswatchy aggregatorish-type guy.
where he says the quote is out of context.
While thanks to the magic of technology here is the actual quote. or you can go here (I suspect that the quote link will be taken down by the radio station very soon, (they are supporters of the Federal Government and will not want this quote to stay up long) Notice how moore laughs at the idea of helping feed children. (His comments are at the end of the tape which is about 1: 10 seconds lon)
But on Monday, he issued a statement that backtracked categorically.
"Caring for each other is a Canadian ethic that I strongly believe in — always have and always will. Of course poverty is an issue that concerns me, and concerns all Canadians," he said.
Moore said that "all levels of government, indeed all members of our society" need to show compassion for those in need.
"Great work has been done to tackle poverty and the challenges associated with poverty. And while more work is needed, I know the cause of fighting poverty is not helped by comments like those I made last week.
"For that, I am sorry."
A careful reading of his comment is that he is still feels he is not responsible for helping others in need, His comment reflects that he believes governments need to show compassion, but it does not reflect that he personally needs to show compassion (conservatives seem to like to pass the buck, rather than take personal responsibility, moore is no exception in this regard.)
His comments also reflect that he is sorry that his comment made the cause of fighting poverty harder (I suspect he has only apologized since the press picked up the original story otherwise he would not have attacked the reporter when she broke the story to say that she had taken the quote out of context.) james moore is another conservative politician who would not know the truth if it was starring him in the face . I believe that he is still heartless and does not deserve to be an MP representing me.
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