Garnett Genuis, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan
“Canada is facing a jobs crisis. The government should not raise payroll taxes, and it should not cut grants for students at career colleges. The minister attacked these colleges unfairly. The government needs to apologize for her comments, take them back, and teach her how important these schools are.”
“Mr. Speaker, I am following up on questions I asked earlier about jobs. We face an ongoing jobs crisis in this country, most notably underlined by the latest job numbers, which show a 29-year low in workforce participation. That is, a smaller percentage of Canadians are in the workforce today than at any time in the last 29 years. In the midst of that, we see continuing hints by the government that it intends to increase payroll taxes, to increase the tax on jobs, and my earlier question was about whether the government intends to do that and why it is teasing the possibility of increasing the tax on jobs. Conservatives are opposed to increasing the tax on jobs. We think this is the worst kind of tax, and certainly during a jobs crisis, increasing the tax on jobs is a terrible idea. Meanwhile, my question highlighted the fact that the government is attacking vocational institutions by arbitrarily cutting off student grants to students at vocational institutions. This is notable because last week in the House, the minister responsible for jobs launched an absolutely vicious attack on career colleges on the floor of the House of Commons. It was really a shameful display from a minister of the Crown showing complete ignorance of the important role that vocational career colleges play in this country. It is shameful that the minister who is supposed to be responsible for jobs would say the things she said. Here is what has happened. A few bad actors, in many respects masquerading as career colleges, have been allowed under the government to abuse the system and take advantage of immigration programs. There have been bad actors who have abused the system, and there has been a failure of enforcement in that regard. However, in response to that, the government has tried to tar all career colleges with the same brush, ignoring the fact that many career colleges do excellent work, are well regulated and provide critically important career-relevant training programs to Canadian students to prepare them for Canadian jobs. We recognize on this side of the House that union training halls, not-for-profit colleges, universities and private vocational colleges are all part of an important training ecosystem that is working to prepare Canadian young people for Canadian jobs. The government’s decision to arbitrarily cut off students who are learning career-relevant skills at private vocational institutions is not right and not defensible. It has been hard for us up to now to understand why the government is doing this, but the ignorant and vicious attack on career colleges from the Minister of Jobs and Families that we heard last week in the House underlines exactly why we have this problem. It is because the minister has refused to engage with career colleges, refused to talk to students who are at those institutions and refused to understand the work they are doing. The minister and the government should be ashamed of themselves. At a time when we desperately need trades workers, when we desperately need the right training that aligns with the needs of the labour market, and when vocational institutions are very much engaged with private sector companies to prepare young people for the jobs that exist in this country, we have a government that is arbitrarily cutting off students at career colleges. This is going to have a negative effect on young people, especially from middle- and low-income backgrounds, who are trying to get relevant labour market skills. I want to ask the government if it will apologize for the outrageous display from the minister, ask her to rescind those comments and educate her about the issue.”
Mr. Speaker, I am following up on questions I asked earlier about jobs. We face an ongoing jobs crisis in this country, most notably underlined by the latest job numbers, which show a 29-year low in workforce participation. That is, a smaller percentage of Canadians are in the workforce today than at any time in the last 29 years. In the midst of that, we see continuing hints by the government that it intends to increase payroll taxes, to increase the tax on jobs, and my earlier question was about whether the government intends to do that and why it is teasing the possibility of increasing the tax on jobs. Conservatives are opposed to increasing the tax on jobs. We think this is the worst kind of tax, and certainly during a jobs crisis, increasing the tax on jobs is a terrible idea. Meanwhile, my question highlighted the fact that the government is attacking vocational institutions by arbitrarily cutting off student grants to students at vocational institutions. This is notable because last week in the House, the minister responsible for jobs launched an absolutely vicious attack on career colleges on the floor of the House of Commons. It was really a shameful display from a minister of the Crown showing complete ignorance of the important role that vocational career colleges play in this country. It is shameful that the minister who is supposed to be responsible for jobs would say the things she said. Here is what has happened. A few bad actors, in many respects masquerading as career colleges, have been allowed under the government to abuse the system and take advantage of immigration programs. There have been bad actors who have abused the system, and there has been a failure of enforcement in that regard. However, in response to that, the government has tried to tar all career colleges with the same brush, ignoring the fact that many career colleges do excellent work, are well regulated and provide critically important career-relevant training programs to Canadian students to prepare them for Canadian jobs. We recognize on this side of the House that union training halls, not-for-profit colleges, universities and private vocational colleges are all part of an important training ecosystem that is working to prepare Canadian young people for Canadian jobs. The government’s decision to arbitrarily cut off students who are learning career-relevant skills at private vocational institutions is not right and not defensible. It has been hard for us up to now to understand why the government is doing this, but the ignorant and vicious attack on career colleges from the Minister of Jobs and Families that we heard last week in the House underlines exactly why we have this problem. It is because the minister has refused to engage with career colleges, refused to talk to students who are at those institutions and refused to understand the work they are doing. The minister and the government should be ashamed of themselves. At a time when we desperately need trades workers, when we desperately need the right training that aligns with the needs of the labour market, and when vocational institutions are very much engaged with private sector companies to prepare young people for the jobs that exist in this country, we have a government that is arbitrarily cutting off students at career colleges. This is going to have a negative effect on young people, especially from middle- and low-income backgrounds, who are trying to get relevant labour market skills. I want to ask the government if it will apologize for the outrageous display from the minister, ask her to rescind those comments and educate her about the issue.
