Garnett Genuis

“Mr. Speaker, if anyone should be apologizing, it would be the member across the way. I had to listen through four minutes of the member saying something that is, to be kind, a stretch of one’s imagination in terms of reality, if I can put it that way. If I were to tag onto his ending comments, one of the things I would highlight that came out of the spring economic budget for all Canadians was the investment and the commitment the Prime Minister and the government have made to a fantastic program, which is the Red Seal program. Members can think of the dozens of trades, skilled trades, that are out there. We have a government that is going to increase the numbers to somewhere between 80,000 to 100,000 Canadians. A vast majority, I would suggest to members, are young Canadians. Where do we think they are going to get the skills from? They are going to get the skills from the workforce and post-secondary institutions. When we think of the reality of numbers and of recognizing the importance of our post-secondary institutions and, I must say, many of our secondary facilities across Canada, I think it is a very powerful statement of reality that the government has made the commitment to. The member opposite makes reference to young people on the issue of jobs. Of course jobs are important. There is no doubt about that. As a government, since we were elected back in the last federal election, just over a year ago, we have had a net increase of jobs, at 150,000 plus. That is even at a time when we have had to deal with Trump tariffs in trade. We have still been able to get a net increase of 150,000-plus jobs. That does not mean we have stopped there. We continue to build that stronger and healthier economy by a number of initiatives that the government has brought forward, because we understand the value of jobs. The member talks about youth unemployment. The member opposite was working for Stephen Harper when his leader was a part of the cabinet of Stephen Harper and when youth unemployment, back in 2012, averaged over 14% that year. Contrast that to the last year, where it is under 14%. Unlike the Conservatives back then, who actually cut things like summer youth programs, we continue to maintain them and, at the end of the day, look at expanding programs like our Red Seal program, which is going to get more youth working. Of course we are concerned about youth unemployment. I believe that the government’s actions have shown that. Of course we are concerned about overall unemployment. What does the member think is one of the driving factors for our Prime Minister, the cabinet and, in fact, the entire government caucus in pushing to build major projects? This attracted literally a half a trillion dollars of potential investments back in September when the Prime Minister hosted a summit for the world to come and talk about investing in Canada, which is historic amounts of money. This is not to mention the amounts of projects there are, working in collaboration with provinces and indigenous people, to build a stronger and healthier Canada for all.”