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WORLD NEWSFriday 4 December 2015

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his wife Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau and children Xavier, In crowded Hong Kong, dead
right, Hadrien, and Ella-Grace, left, walk past crowds in Ottawa. Trudeau is being criticized by find no space to rest in peace
opposition parties for using taxpayer money to pay for two nannies who help to care for his three
young children. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP) KELVIN CHAN
Associated Press
Canada’s new PM criticized for using HONG KONG (AP) — In tightly packed Hong Kong,
taxpayer-funded nannies the dead are causing a problem for the living.
After Chui Yuen-sing’s mother died in April, she was
RAOssBoGciIaLtLeIEdS Press lies like his don’t need it. care services so taxpayers cremated and her ashes put in storage while he tried
TORONTO (AP) — Cana- Kate Purchase, a spokes- to find a final resting place. He was willing to wait up
da’s new prime minister, woman for Trudeau, said are not out any additional to 18 months for a pigeonhole-like “niche” in a me-
Justin Trudeau, is being criti- taxpayers will continue to morial building. If none was available, he was con-
cized by opposition parties fund the two nannies, and money, I don’t see that as sidering putting them in mainland China, where his
for using taxpayer money they will be named as part a problem,” Wudrick said. father’s ashes are already stored, or taking an even
to pay for two nannies who of the household staff as per The nannies have been more drastic step that conflicted with Chinese tradi-
help to care for his three the Official Residences Act. hired for $15 to $20 an tion.
young children. Purchase said Trudeau will hour during the day and “Maybe I would have scattered my mom’s ashes
During the recent elec- not expand the staff of the $11 to $13 at night, a fee in a public park,” the retired university lecturer said.
tion, Trudeau criticized the prime minister’s residence. nanny associations say re- “But if I used this method then in my heart I probably
former Conservative gov- “He will be adapting the flects the average rate. wouldn’t feel very good.” ‘’Chinese people think that
ernment for a proposed staff complement to suit Nelson Wiseman, a po- you should be buried in the ground to find peace.”
universal child care benefit his family’s requirements, litical science professor at Chui’s choices highlight the long-running struggle to
that would have applied to given he is the proud father the University of Toronto, find enough space to accommodate both the living
Canada’s wealthiest fami- of three young children. It said Trudeau will weather and the dead in the cramped southern Chinese city
lies, including his own. is an ongoing process and the issue relatively easily as of 7.2 million. Limited land to build on and soaring
Interim Conservative lead- will be finalized in the com- there is still a “halo effect at property prices are colliding with a tradition of visit-
er Rona Ambrose said ing days,” Purchase said in work” after his recent elec- ing grave sites on “tomb sweeping” holidays to burn
Trudeau ought to be pay- an email. tion win, and many are incense and pay respects to venerated dead ances-
ing his own child care bills. Aaron Wudrick, the federal sympathetic to the prime tors.
Trudeau makes more director of the Canadian minister and his wife’s situa- Hong Kong’s aging society means the problem will
than $300,000 Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said tion because he spends so get worse. The number of senior citizens is expected
(US$234,000) a year. Left- he doesn’t think taxpayers much time away from his to rise from 15 percent of the population in 2014 to
ist New Democrat lead- need to be concerned if children. Wiseman also said nearly a quarter by 2024. The number of deaths each
er Thomas Mulair said there is no additional cost. previous prime ministers year will rise from 42,700 in 2010 to 50,300 by the end
Wednesday his party is not “If they’re prepared to shift have used taxpayer mon- of the decade, according to government forecasts.
against Trudeau receiving ... some of the other uses ey to pay for child care In the 1960s, administrators of Hong Kong, which was
help, but he noted that of the staff, to give that and noted that Ambrose, then a British colony, began encouraging cremation
Trudeau has said rich fami- up in exchange for child the Conservative opposi- to ease the strain of a fast-growing population on
space-starved cemeteries. Now, the cremation rate
tion leader, has a chef at has risen to about 90 percent.
To store the ashes, the government builds large struc-
her official residence at tures known as columbaria that have tens of thou-
taxpayers’ expense.q sands of niches for urns as well as furnaces to burn
paper money and other offerings. But supply hasn’t
kept up with demand.
“There’s undoubtedly not enough,” said Lam Wai-
lung, chairman of the Funeral Business Association.
Official attempts to encourage local councils to
build more face fierce opposition, he said.
“When the government holds consultations, residents
of every district oppose building it in their neighbor-
hood. Every area says no,” Lam said.
Part of the reason is that columbaria draw huge
crowds of people during tomb sweeping holidays,
causing big traffic jams and air pollution from the pa-
per offerings being burned.
Families face a waiting list of up to six years for a
government-provided niche, so some turn to private
providers, including more than 120 that have been
deemed illegal.

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