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Adjournment Proceedings

2026-04-23 Sitting 109 Showing 1–2 of 2

A debate where the Conservative opposition raised concerns about job losses and their impact on young people, while the Liberal government defended its policies and optimism for the future. The discussion featured some partisan sparring but stayed mostly focused on the substantive issue of youth employment.

Official Hansard ↗

Anthony Housefather

Liberal 6:50 p.m.

“I'm filling time with kind words and not saying anything anyone could pin down later. I think the government should spend money to fix this. I want to cheer for a program that spends money in my riding. If I talk a lot maybe it will make me look good.”

Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I do not share the pessimistic outlook of my colleague on this issue or others. I do believe that we want to make sure every young person in this country has the chance to find gainful employment, because young people are the drivers of Canada's future economic growth, and everybody has a right to live in this country with opportunities. I want to talk about some of the opportunities that we are providing right now. For example, a career often starts with a summer job. Since 2019, the Canada summer jobs program has helped more than 600,000 young people find a summer job. Over 75,000 of those jobs were created last year, and up to 100,000 opportunities will be available for young people this summer. All told, we are supporting over 175,000 opportunities for youth and students this year under the student work placement program and the youth employment and skills strategy, which includes Canada summer jobs. We need to make sure we support young people getting into our skilled trades. I was the parliamentary secretary for labour a few years ago, and one of the most important things we all know is that we need to build more homes and build more transmission lines to power AI. We will be building ports, rail and pipelines to move critical minerals. We cannot do that if we do not have electricians, carpenters, plumbers and bricklayers. We also need millwrights and many more tradespeople, and we need them right now. This is where an enormous opportunity lies for many young Canadians. We are investing nearly $1 billion annually in apprenticeship support through loans, tax credits, employment insurance benefits during in-school training, project funding and support for the Red Seal Program. In November, when we presented budget 2025, we updated the government's plan to make a generational investment in young Canadians, prepare them for good jobs and renew Canada's workforce. To train the newest generation of Canadian builders, budget 2025 expanded the union training and innovation program with $75 million over three years. This will boost union-based apprenticeship training in the Red Seal trades and make sure there are Canadian workers to help build major infrastructure and millions more homes across the country. Since 2017, the union training and innovation program has invested $278 million to modernize training equipment, strengthen union training centres across the country and support skilled trades training opportunities for more than 173,800 individuals. This is a critical time, but Canadians are meeting this moment with strength and conviction, and the Government of Canada is looking right now to help Canadians unlock Canada's economic potential. Through 2033, over eight million jobs will become available in Canada, and we are taking action to make sure that people get these jobs and that young people are prepared to meet the demand.

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Anthony Housefather

Liberal 6:55 p.m.

“We eliminated the carbon tax you asked for. We're building projects everywhere. We're doing many things. We always listen. Our budget will give young people opportunity. Let's keep doing that.”

What they said. What they meant.

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