This view breaks the statement into its steps and names what each one does.
Mr. Speaker, Greeting · 12 wordsI am thankful for the opportunity to speak about this motion tonight.Greeting Aside · 30 wordsI want to highlight the fact that everybody in Canada, if not the world, is welcome in Louis-Saint-Laurent—Akiawenhrahk, because obviously Quebec City is the most fantastic city in the world.Aside Claims · 31 wordsAs Prime Minister Harper used to say, each and every Canadian should have two cities in their heart. The first is where they were born and the second is Quebec City. Aside · 14 wordsHowever, as I was born in Quebec City, I have a conflict of interest.Aside Procedure · 11 wordsI want to talk about this debate today regarding youth employment.Procedure Claims · 26 wordsYoung Canadians are currently facing a serious crisis. It is important to recognize that the teenage years are not exactly the best years in one’s life. Reasoning · 34 wordsWe try things out, we discover ourselves a little and discover life. We face challenges that are sometimes a bit sad. Sometimes we succeed and sometimes we fail, but that is part of life. Claims · 77 wordsOne of the great things about being a teenager, especially in our late teens on the cusp of becoming a young adult, is our first job. We all remember our first job. I would say it is the first step toward adulthood. It is a time when we stop being completely dependent on our parents, although, of course, we are always emotionally attached to them. We start making money. We start working. We start making some money. Anecdote · 109 wordsI will always remember how, in June 1980, I was working at the Brunet pharmacy at Place L’Ormière which, by the way, is still in business.1 When it changed hands about 10 years ago, I went to see the new owners to tell them that the pharmacy gave me my first job, and they were happy to hear it. Receiving that first paycheque at the age of 15, 16 or 17 is a big deal. In my day, in 1980, seeing a three-digit figure on a paycheque was really something. Earning $4 an hour and receiving a three-digit paycheque was fantastic. Those are memories that stay with a person.Anecdote Claims · 29 wordsI am sure that my colleague, the member for Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, who is also the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance and a former Quebec finance minister, remembers that.2 Thanks · 10 wordsHe knows just how much respect I have for him.Thanks Claims · 6 wordsHe balanced the Quebec government’s budget.3 Reasoning · 14 wordsI would encourage him to follow his own example to balance the federal budget. Aside · 32 wordsI am sure that he, too, remembers his first cheque, although it may have had four digits on it. Maybe he started working at a bank when he was 16, who knows.Aside Claims · 36 wordsAs we know, he has a Ph.D. in economics, 4which is no small feat. The reality is that a young person’s first job marks the first step toward adulthood, Unearned certaintyand it is something they remember forever. Reasoning · 14 wordsThat is why it needs to be a great opportunity and a great experience. Claims · 36 wordsRight now, however, the youth unemployment rate in Canada is very high.5 We are talking about 14%. That is more than twice as high as Canada’s current unemployment rate of 6.5%, 6which is on the rise. Reasoning · 5 wordsWe need to be cautious. Claims · 104 wordsThat said, among young people 15 to 24, the rate stands at 14%. Over the past month, 48,000 youth jobs were lost.7 In Quebec, the situation is not necessarily any better, since the youth unemployment rate is twice as high as that of people 30 to 54.8 In short, from coast to coast to coast, and particularly in Quebec, we are facing a youth unemployment crisis. Members will recall that everyone had a job right after COVID-19. Businesses, coffee shops and plants everywhere kept saying that they were hiring. Some restaurants were even closed on Monday evenings because they could not hire enough staff. Anecdote · 26 wordsWhenever I ordered my coffee at the drive-through of a well-known national chain, I always thanked the lady or gentleman for being there to serve me.Anecdote Claims · 93 wordsThere were plenty of jobs available. Those were different times. The unemployment rate was 5.3%.9 In 2025, it rose to a little over 8%, 10and now in 2026, it is around 10%.11 Specifically, for those aged 15 to 19, the unemployment rate is 12.5%.12 In Ontario, the unemployment rate is 22.6%.13 In Alberta, the youth unemployment rate is 24.1%.14 Almost one in four young people is unemployed. Sadly, it reminds me of 1982-83, when youth unemployment was over 25% and interest rates were hovering around 21% or 22%.15 Every generation has its challenges. Aside · 10 wordsI will not make anyone cry about my generation today.Aside Anecdote · 50 wordsI think of my father’s generation. He was told that they were going to put a helmet on his head and that he had to go and kill the Nazis to save humanity. Let us just say that it was much more demanding for my parents’ generation than for mine.Anecdote Reasoning · 23 wordsAt the same time, we hope that our children and grandchildren will have the same opportunities, which, unfortunately, is not always the case. Claims · 20 wordsTo close on the issue of unemployment, among those without a high school diploma, the unemployment rate is at 17%.16 Reasoning · 10 wordsWe need to tackle the issue of youth unemployment head-on. Claims · 27 wordsAs I said earlier, people take great pride in taking that first step in their adult life, with a paycheque with three digits or sometimes four digits. Reasoning · 16 wordsIt should be a good experience, and young people should be able to have that opportunity. Claims · 6 wordsThe Conservatives have a four-point plan. Promise · 7 wordsFirst, we must free up the economy. Claims · 33 wordsThe government keeps bragging about wanting to speed up major projects and cut red tape, but the fact remains that, after 11 years of Liberal governance, Canada is lagging behind in this area.17 Promise · 69 wordsIt is crucial that we unblock major projects. We must fully develop our natural resources. We must also enable all of our research chairs to achieve their full potential. We must put an end to anti-resource laws. We must lower taxes to accelerate production and leave more money in businesses’ pockets so that they can grow, rather than forcing them to send money to Ottawa or to the provinces, Claims · 26 wordswhich leaves them with less money. They know how to create wealth. It is not the government that creates wealth. It is businesses that do that. Promise · 17 wordsWe need to give them more freedom to operate. We also need to fix the training system. Claims · 12 wordsThe programs we have right now are too cookie-cutter, in our opinion. Promise · 11 wordsWe need programs that are much better tailored to our needs. Claims · 12 wordsI am thinking of the Canada student financial assistance program in particular. Promise · 20 wordsWe believe that we should focus on jobs where there are needs, jobs for which employers are actively seeking workers. Procedure · 5 wordsLet us be very honest.Procedure Claims · 30 wordsIn the past, we used to say that education is an investment. That is still true. Earning a university degree, whether at the undergraduate, master’s or doctoral level, remains important. Procedure · 6 wordsWe can all agree on that.Procedure Claims · 18 wordsI should point out that, when I was young, skilled trades were not held in particularly high regard. Promise · 5 wordsToday, we need these jobs, Claims · 39 wordsand young men and women can have amazing careers and lives with core trades that are essential to our economy. I am talking about plumbing and electrical work. People can do multiple tasks to build homes or build infrastructure. Promise · 6 wordsThose workers must not be overlooked. Claims · 18 wordsOn the contrary, they deserve to be valued, just as all forms of work deserve to be valued. Promise · 10 wordsWe also need to build housing where the jobs are. Claims · 15 wordsWe often hear businesses in regions outside the major urban centres described as being “remote”. Reasoning · 19 wordsIn reality, it would be just as accurate to say that the urban centres are remote from those regions. Aside · 45 wordsIt may sound a little pretentious to describe them as being far away, but the distance from Montreal to the Gaspé Peninsula is exactly the same as the distance from the Gaspé Peninsula to Montreal. I checked. It is the same distance in both directions.Aside Reasoning · 9 wordsA region should not be put down that way. Aside · 15 wordsI see that my colleague from Marc-Aurèle-Fortin agrees with me. He is nodding his head.Aside Anecdote · 68 wordsTo share a little story, when I was the leader of the provincial Action démocratique du Québec, 18or ADQ, I was in Matane when there was talk about opening a CEGEP in Montreal. I said that a CEGEP was going to open in Matane and that people from Montreal would come to Matane, because people from Matane go to Montreal, and the distance is the same both ways.Anecdote Promise · 17 wordsWe therefore have to overhaul training, build housing where the jobs are, and fix our immigration system. Claims · 72 wordsUnfortunately, for the past 10 years, Canada has pursued a one-size-fits-all approach to immigration. We opened the door like that with no respect for the immigrants themselves. Never forget that immigrants are the first victims of the kind of disrespectful immigration we have had for the past 10 years. Therefore, it is a cocktail of proposals that includes liberating the economy, overhauling training, repairing immigration and building housing to fight youth unemployment.
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