Federal budget cuts announced Monday are going to hurt Yukoners worse than many other Canadians, Yukon MP Larry Bagnell said this morning.

Federal conservatives have announced cuts totalling a billion dollars over the next two years. Many of the programs and initiatives being cut are more important in the Yukon than other parts of Canada, he said.

'This is a very sad day for a lot of Yukoners.'

The MP has been hearing from many Yukoners who he describes as 'incredulous and enraged.'

Affordable housing is one of the programs that will be hit by the cuts, said Bagnell.

'Anyone looking for housing in the Yukon recently (to rent or buy) knows it's very difficult to find affordable housing.'

Tourism was also hit.

'Their cutting $5.7 million from the Canadian Tourism Commission, and the Yukon is one of the only areas, or perhaps the only area, where tourism has the highest number of private sector employees (per capita).'

That means, said Bagnell, that the Yukon has the most to lose from a cut to the international tourism promotion offered through the commission.

The cut to GST rebates for foreign visitors will also hit Yukon harder than most regions.

'That affects our ability to attract conventions convention organizers look at (taxes) when looking at what country to have their convention in.' Bagnell added some individual tourists look at taxes also.

Literacy programs were also on the chop block, said Bagnell.

'As a former president of Yukon Learn I was very distressed by the cut in literacy programs .... How can you survive in today's world without literacy.'

Bagnell pointed out, that like many of the other cuts, cuts to literacy programs would hurt the most vulnerable people in society, and Yukon first nations.

'This is another area that will disproportionately affect aboriginal people,' he said.

An aboriginal leader Bagnell spoke with also decried the cuts to women's groups, he recounted.

'He said women were just beginning to make good progress and to have that funding cut is a step backwards.'

One Yukoner told Bagnell the cuts 'abandon the most vulnerable of Yukon women homeless women and first nation women were often beneficiaries of support, the programs or lobbying efforts.'

The feds will make $5 million in administrative reductions from Status of Women Canada, say reports. The Yukon Status of Women Council works to raise awareness and advocates for women's issues.

People are 'saddened, dismayed and angered,' by the cuts, said Bagnell.

He said cuts to aboriginal stop-smoking programs will also hit the Yukon hard, especially since more than 60 per cent of Yukon aboriginal people smoke in some communities.

'Not only local aboriginal people, but Yukoners who are not aboriginal are also upset.'

Health Canada stats shows a reduction of three per cent in aboriginal smokers since the program began.

It's a small reduction but enough to justify the program, he said.

Health care savings by having less people smoke is well worth the investment, said Bagnell, adding to cut those programs is 'short sighted.'

Bagnell said the feds have also cut $10 million from the Canadian Volunteerism Initiative, which could have a serious impact on the Canada Winter Games that will rely heavily on large numbers of Yukon volunteers.

'It sends a bad signal for our support for volunteers. They are often helping the most needy in our society our youth, our women's groups and aboriginals.'

'Almost every Yukoner is a volunteer for one or more associations,' said Bagnell, describing volunteers as a characteristic at the heart of Yukon culture.

Bagnell himself was instrumental in starting the Yukon Volunteer Bureau.

The feds also cut $4.6 million from the Museum Assistance Program (MAP), a cut Bagnell calls 'totally inappropriate.'

'Museums are one of the poorest funded organizations in the Yukon and across Canada. They need more money not less . It's an insult to the museum workers who have worked to preserve Yukon history and heritage.'

Patricia Cunning, the executive director of MacBride Museum, agrees.

'MAP is the only federal program dedicated exclusively to museums and it's one of the few areas across all the funders we go to where you are able to access money to do work on your actual collection, the back of house part.'

Cunning said museums often have a hard time getting money to do the work needed to prepare and maintain collections. Most government funding sources, she said, are geared to capital projects.

Cunning applied to MAP for three years and was successful twice. In total, the MacBride Museum has received $70,000 from the program.

'It's a $9 million program they've cut it by 25 per cent,' she said. The feds' $4.6 million cut will be divided over the next two years.

Cunning and Bagnell both mentioned that cuts to Service Canada will also affect museums' ability to get funding for student workers over the summer. Previous cuts have already cost Cunning two of her four summer staff and less workers means the museum is open for fewer hours.

The part that Cunning finds difficult to understand is why museums are on the cutting block at all, especially when many, like MacBride, are doing their job better than ever. Attendance at MacBride Museum is up 20 per cent over the last two years.

Cunning said the territorial government has also reduced its support for museums by funding more organizations with the same amount of money. That diluted funding, combined with federal program cuts and an increased demand from the public, is putting increased pressure on museums to secure funding, she said.

'We do a tonne of programs.'

MacBride has nine curriculum linked programs and 175 public programs that attract over 3,500 people.

'People are really using the museum a lot more,' Cunning said.

'We keep doing more things, we keep increasing our attendance, we keep increasing our earned revenue and at the same time governments are reducing the core amount of funding available and we have to have that funding.'

'Governments say that they support museums; that they support the role that we play in the tourism economy, in the culture sector and our social role in Canada but they are simultaneously reducing funding.'

Besides disappointment at the nature of the cuts, Bagnell was also disappointed with the way the cuts were announced.

'There was no consultation. These cuts just came out of the blue where as in the past when governments have been forced to cut back for fiscal reasons at least there was consultation.'

'People were astonished that about a billion dollars in cuts were announced the same day as the government announced a $13 billion dollar surplus, so it's not like they were in need of cash.'

Bagnell said the cuts seem to primarily affect the most vulnerable in society. He also repeated the comments of an aboriginal leader who was upset the government announced a $13 billion surplus but could not afford to fund the $5 billion Kelowna Accord.

'This has huge affects. In the Yukon this will be just devastating for some groups.'