NDP REALITY CHECK: Conservatives’ Freedom Road duplicity exposed

In less than 24 hours the Conservative Party of Canada has both promised to fund the long-overdue all-weather Freedom Road to Shoal Lake 40 and broken that promise.

First a former Conservative MP, free from the Ottawa Conservative message lock-down, broke spoke out against her party’s policy and demanded Government support for Freedom Road:

“This is necessary to honour the people of Shoal Lake for their sacrifice. Really it’s the right thing to do.” – Joy Smith (Kildonan-St. Paul), CBC, August 10, 2015

Hours later it seems the hopes of Shoal Lake 40 residents had been answered when Joy Smith herself confirmed federal Government commitment to support:

"Greg Rickford called me just a short time ago and said, 'Yes, the government was going to do that.'” – Joy Smith (Kildonan-St. Paul), CBC, August 10, 2015

Hours later Rickford was put in his place by Conservative operatives in Ottawa and in a short statement the hopes of Shoal Lake 40 had been dashed:

“The Harper government supports the Freedom Road in principle” – Conservative Party statement in lieu of local MP Greg Rickford (Kenora) comment, Canadian Press, August 10, 2015

After a century of isolation, decades of inaction and 15 years of living under boil water advisories, the people of Shoal Lake 40 deserve more than empty words and they want change. Tom Mulcair’s NDP will bring that change.

Tom Mulcair will usher in a new era of nation-to-nation relationships with Indigenous communities.

An NDP government will provide the federal funding for Freedom Road.