Discussion · Orders of the Day
Garnett Genuis Conservative
“Our job numbers are very bad. Workforce participation is at a 29-year low, and youth unemployment is at 13%. All parties agreed on a report with good solutions to fix this. I want to know why the government will not use those solutions.”
“Mr. Speaker, let us highlight the dire situation we are in. It is one that the member is desperate to gloss over. We have the worst workforce participation situation in almost 30 years, according to the latest job numbers. We are at a 29-year low in terms of workforce participation in this country. We lost 110,000 jobs in the last two months alone. Unemployment is up to 6.5%. In particular, youth unemployment is up to 13%. That is significantly higher than it has been in the past. It is much above the sustained pre-pandemic averages, for example. Basically, what we hear from members’ offices is that it is good enough. It simply is not good enough. We should be providing hope and opportunity to young people and all Canadians. Instead, we have this 29-year low in workforce participation. This unanimous all-party report contains constructive solutions. Why will the Liberals not adopt some of those solutions?”
Mr. Speaker, let us highlight the dire situation we are in. It is one that the member is desperate to gloss over. We have the worst workforce participation situation in almost 30 years, according to the latest job numbers. We are at a 29-year low in terms of workforce participation in this country. We lost 110,000 jobs in the last two months alone. Unemployment is up to 6.5%. In particular, youth unemployment is up to 13%. That is significantly higher than it has been in the past. It is much above the sustained pre-pandemic averages, for example. Basically, what we hear from members’ offices is that it is good enough. It simply is not good enough. We should be providing hope and opportunity to young people and all Canadians. Instead, we have this 29-year low in workforce participation. This unanimous all-party report contains constructive solutions. Why will the Liberals not adopt some of those solutions?