Anglican Communion News Service

The Anglican Church of Canada's national council has approved a motion asking Church members to join in a fast in solidarity with people affected the Canadian Health Service Transfer (CHST).

The date of the fast is 1 April, Holy Week Monday, and the day of implementation of the CHST. The decision to commend the fast to Canadian Anglicans was made in March by the Council of General Synod, the Church's governing body in between meetings of General Synod.

The CHST is federal legislation which combines funding for health, post-secondary education and social assistance into one block fund. The Bill of which it is a part cuts $7-billion from the total federal transfers for these three areas.

The motion before the Council of General Synod came from the Church's Ecojustice Committee which commended the idea of the fast and of an Alternative Federal Budget drafted by the Ecumenical Coalition for Economic Justice and released last month. The Anglican Church is a member of the Ecumenical Coalition.

The committee also asked Council members, who come from across the country, to take information on the fast and the Alternative Budget back to their home constituencies and to encourage as much local participation as possible.

In a report to the Council , the Ecojustice Committee said it strongly believes that there are alternatives to the budget cuts proposed by the federal government which affect disadvantaged people.