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This year, with the new attestation, the government received 42,647 applications. Fifty-five were withdrawn, but 1,561 were rejected — suggesting that more than 1,400 applications were rejected for protesting the attestation.

After the rejections, that leaves 41,031 eligible applications in 2018, representing a 1.7 per cent decrease from the number of eligible applications in 2017.

The increase in total applications is not overly surprising, given the effort by the Liberal government to expand the program. In 2016 it started doubling the amount of money going into Canada Summer Jobs, with the aim of funding around 70,000 placements each year.

These numbers do not include the groups who refused to even send in an application this year. The Roman Catholic Diocese of London, Ont., for example, said it had planned to apply for $35,000 in grants but would take a stand against the attestation by not applying.

Groups who dissented on the attestation were told they could resubmit within ten days with the full, unmodified attestation. Many re-applied with a cover letter asking for religious accommodation, and have not yet heard a final answer. However, the government has said it is not backing down on the attestation requirement.

Some of the rejected groups had been receiving summer jobs grants for well over a decade, and are now having to draw up contingency plans to fund their summer programming such as day camps.

MPs are now getting the list of eligible applications for their riding, ranked by how well the applicants line up with the government’s stated priorities for grants. MPs can reorder the lists for their riding, but rejected applications aren’t included on the list.