“Many young people struggle to find their first job after graduation. How can the federal government help them?”

“Mr. Speaker, my colleague’s speech was very interesting. I always learn something new about Quebec when she speaks. I want to continue to learn more about the communities she represents. I know she has always wanted to learn more about the communities I represent. My question may be simple, but it is sincere. After graduation, many young people in our communities struggle to find their first job. How can the federal government help them?”

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“Young people face the highest unemployment in 25 years, while high rents and food costs make life unaffordable. I want the House to adopt this committee report on youth jobs and follow its recommendations. The government must cut taxes and red tape, fund job placements, fix employment insurance for seasonal workers, and report back to Parliament on whether job training actually leads to real work.”

“Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time this evening. This evening, we are continuing the discussion on the jobs crisis facing our youth. Young people continue to experience Canada as a place where it is hard to find a good job and even harder to build a good life where they can have the financial security enjoyed by their parents and grandparents. Getting a first employer to take a chance on them can be very difficult. We argue monthly in the House about the latest job numbers, but there is no question that youth unemployment is up and is in fact at its highest point in more than 25 years, excluding the pandemic. We also have a 29-year low in youth workforce participation. Young people are facing a tough labour market at a time when they have never needed more income to afford a home, a family and a good life. I attended the Vancouver Island Economic Alliance’s summit last week. The 2026 economic update was so well done but so discouraging. It estimates that labour force participation among island youth aged 15 to 25 fell from 65% in 2021 to 62% in 2026. VIEA also reports that the share of islanders aged 15 to 25 fell by about 4% between 2016 and 2024, while the share over 65 grew by about the same amount. Future growth will depend on generating more value per worker through higher productivity. Those figures cannot tell us what any individual young person is doing. There was an excellent panel on youth employment during the VIEA state of the island economic summit in Nanaimo last week, and at it, the three panellists did their absolute best to make light of the situation. One quipped, “Who said being a stay-at-home 25-year-old isn’t a career?” Another pointed out that it is pretty hard not to take every chance possible to engage in the workforce, given the cost of everything. The third panellist came to Canada from a country that he described as unsafe and impoverished and noticed that these days, “Canada sometimes feels like home.” When I listened to these young people trying to make light of their situation, it really impacted me, because these days, when I ask young people what they want to do for a career, an answer I now get frequently is “whatever makes the most money”. Young workers tell me that they cannot wait for an ideal job or a stable schedule. They need paid work now because they need it to cover rent. They need it to cover transportation costs to get to work, and they need to do all of that before they figure out how to eat. This morning at committee, one of our local food bank people came to talk to committee about the increase in food bank use in our region. It is so distressing to hear of the increase in the number of young people needing to use food banks. It is a direct result of how difficult it is to find the kind of work that will pay for rent and transportation and still leave enough for food. The Vancouver Island Real Estate Board reported a benchmark price of $798,400 for a single-family home in Nanaimo in September 2026, requiring a household income in the $165,000 to $200,000 range for it to be affordable. For most young people, that number is so high that it is virtually meaningless. The average rent for a studio apartment in Nanaimo as of October 26 is between $1,500 and $1,700. Average rent for a basement apartment in Ladysmith is running over $1,350 a month. That rent is considered affordable at a salary range between about $55,000 and $68,000 a year. That is hardly an entry-level job these days. Conservatives are trying to be constructive. To that end, we proposed the Conservative youth jobs plan, which includes a recommendation to build homes where the training and jobs are. Workers need housing near jobs, especially given the high transportation and fuel costs, and we need to make sure that those homes are affordable. I am pleased to see that the report we are discussing here today enshrines several of the concepts in our Conservative job plan in its formal recommendations, recognizing the need for stable funding for student workplace programs and more funded placements for young people facing financial barriers or living in regions with high youth unemployment. Funded placements can help employers assess a new worker and also let that new worker test whether a career is right for them. The report also recommends reducing tax and regulatory barriers to job creation and recognizing work across sectors, including in natural resources and manufacturing. VIEA’s economic update counts about 40,000 people employed in construction and about 18,000 in value-added manufacturing on the island. These are employment counts, not vacancies. What they show, though, is why training should connect to industries already employing people in our region. We call on the government to reduce both taxes and red tape to allow for productivity growth, which we believe will in turn help with youth unemployment. We need a climate where there is opportunity for people to start and grow a business, one that includes paid entry-level trades placements for young people, including those having trouble getting their first opportunity. We should measure whether the government’s announcements in this area lead to actual apprenticeships or whether they lead to ghost jobs, false opportunities and dead ends. The government’s own data validates these fears. Last spring’s economic update reported that more than 100,000 new apprentices registered in 2024, but only about 34,000 completed an apprenticeship. These are different cohorts, but the numbers highlight the need for registration targets to be matched with completion and employment results so that we can know whether these programs are effective. The committee recommends judging training programs by their effectiveness and shifting money away from programs that are not preparing young people for work. This would help Parliament see whether participants finish training and move into jobs, if the report is adopted and turned into real accountability. An apprentice may have to leave paid work for blocks of classroom training, to care for a relative or for other reasons. We need to recognize the dignity and value of all work and a firm respect for all sectors of the economy. The report recommends reviewing income support and adapting employment insurance to fit the way that many young people work today, including when they have to piece together shifts across employers or rely on seasonal work. That would fit Vancouver Island very well, where tourism and construction follow the seasons. Someone trying to finish an apprenticeship should be able to manage the weeks when the paycheques stop. The report also asks the government to consider youth employment opportunities when setting immigration levels, with attention to entry-level openings and affordability. Why we need to legislate that the government needs to do workplace planning is beyond me, but here we are. Young people are as diverse as Canada. The 15-to-24 age group includes full-time students looking for summer work and young people who have left school and need a full-time job. A program that works for one will not necessarily work for another, which is why we need a variety of programs and a thoughtful approach to this work. In addition, young people should get the chance to help shape these employment programs through meaningful consultations, and the results should be reported both by region and by the circumstances that affect access to that work. This is an issue that needs continuous monitoring. Parliament should receive regular reports on the share of young participants who complete training and remain employed in their field a year later. Parliament should pay attention to rates of youth unemployment, and we should be speaking about this topic far more in the House. That would show our youth whether the government’s trade target is becoming a real route into work. That is what we need at this time. We owe it to youth in Nanaimo—Ladysmith and across Canada to ensure that training can lead to a job that makes it possible to stay in our communities and that makes it possible to build a life that can include a home, a family and all of the opportunities we had.”

“Young people need help getting jobs right away. I urge the member to bring these ideas to his government colleagues. I am ready to work with him to turn our jobs plan into real policy.”

“Mr. Speaker, I can see from the length of my hon. colleague’s question that this is a topic he is genuinely interested in. I am pleased to see someone from the government taking this topic seriously. I would urge him to take to his colleagues the ideas that he has expressed, because our youth need the kind of support that the Conservatives are offering through the jobs plan that they are proposing. They need it as soon as possible. I would be happy to work with the member anytime to see our proposals and plans implemented into policies that will help youth in my communities and across Canada.”

“I will work with the member to push the government to use youth skills to fix 24 Sussex Drive, but a committee decides that. Young people spend too much time on screens and need more chances to learn trades and shop class in school.”

“Mr. Speaker, one of the things I love about our communities on Vancouver Island is that we have an incredible array of creative suggestions. I want to thank the member for that one. Unfortunately, that will not be up to me. That will be up to the committee that is planning the renovation of 24 Sussex. I would be delighted to join with the member in pursuing this proposal and encouraging the government to make use of the skills and creativity of our youth in every way possible. I would add one more thing. Part of the concern we have about our young people right now is that they spend so much time on screens, and they are not developing gross motor skills, except in their thumbs. I would love to see more youth getting the opportunity to learn shop and trades in school.”

“We want education and job training to match what employers need, so young Canadians can get good jobs here at home. I want the member to tell us what her community is doing to make that happen.”

“Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for the excellent work she does representing her constituents. One of the first things I did when I became shadow minister for jobs is spend a bit of time travelling around and talking to people in different regions. I spent some time in the member’s riding, and she set up some great engagements for me as part of that trip. I know she has been a champion of recognizing and appreciating trades work. Some of the recommendations we have put forward have been about doing more to align education and training with the needs of the labour market and training Canadian young people for jobs here in Canada. I wonder if the member can share a bit about the work happening in her riding to achieve that.”

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“I want to encourage young people to work in the skilled trades. My community, and Vancouver Island University, are great places to learn these skills.”

“Mr. Speaker, thank you so much for the time you spent in my community learning not just about trades, but about all the things that our young people are interested in. As the member knows, I am in the trades since I am a goldsmith. I look for every opportunity I can to encourage people to learn to do things with their hands because I find that very satisfying. We have an incredible university in my community, Vancouver Island University, and I would encourage anyone who is interested in the trades to look into my community as a place to learn.”

“The Speaker and the other Speakers are welcome to visit my riding anytime to see our communities.”

“Mr. Speaker, I want to ensure that the Speaker and all of his hon. colleagues as Speakers understand that they are welcome to come to my riding anytime. I would welcome them to see our communities.”

“Canada faces a youth unemployment crisis. The youth unemployment rate is 14 percent, and 48,000 young people lost their jobs last month. We need to support the Conservative plan to fix this. We must cut taxes and red tape to grow the economy, train youth for jobs that actually need workers like the skilled trades, build homes near those jobs, and fix our broken immigration system.”

“Mr. Speaker, I am thankful for the opportunity to speak about this motion tonight. I 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. As 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. However, as I was born in Quebec City, I have a conflict of interest. I want to talk about this debate today regarding youth employment. Young 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. We 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. One 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. I 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. 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. I 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. He knows just how much respect I have for him. He balanced the Quebec government’s budget. I would encourage him to follow his own example to balance the federal budget. I 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. As we know, he has a Ph.D. in economics, which is no small feat. The reality is that a young person’s first job marks the first step toward adulthood, and it is something they remember forever. That is why it needs to be a great opportunity and a great experience. Right now, however, the youth unemployment rate in Canada is very high. We are talking about 14%. That is more than twice as high as Canada’s current unemployment rate of 6.5%, which is on the rise. We need to be cautious. That said, among young people 15 to 24, the rate stands at 14%. Over the past month, 48,000 youth jobs were lost. 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. 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. Whenever 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. There were plenty of jobs available. Those were different times. The unemployment rate was 5.3%. In 2025, it rose to a little over 8%, and now in 2026, it is around 10%. Specifically, for those aged 15 to 19, the unemployment rate is 12.5%. In Ontario, the unemployment rate is 22.6%. In Alberta, the youth unemployment rate is 24.1%. 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%. Every generation has its challenges. I will not make anyone cry about my generation today. I 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. At the same time, we hope that our children and grandchildren will have the same opportunities, which, unfortunately, is not always the case. To close on the issue of unemployment, among those without a high school diploma, the unemployment rate is at 17%. We need to tackle the issue of youth unemployment head-on. As 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. It should be a good experience, and young people should be able to have that opportunity. The Conservatives have a four-point plan. First, we must free up the economy. The 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. It 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, which 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. We need to give them more freedom to operate. We also need to fix the training system. The programs we have right now are too cookie-cutter, in our opinion. We need programs that are much better tailored to our needs. I am thinking of the Canada student financial assistance program in particular. We believe that we should focus on jobs where there are needs, jobs for which employers are actively seeking workers. Let us be very honest. In 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. We can all agree on that. I should point out that, when I was young, skilled trades were not held in particularly high regard. Today, we need these jobs, and 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. Those workers must not be overlooked. On the contrary, they deserve to be valued, just as all forms of work deserve to be valued. We also need to build housing where the jobs are. We often hear businesses in regions outside the major urban centres described as being “remote”. In reality, it would be just as accurate to say that the urban centres are remote from those regions. It 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. A region should not be put down that way. I see that my colleague from Marc-Aurèle-Fortin agrees with me. He is nodding his head. To share a little story, when I was the leader of the provincial Action démocratique du Québec, or 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. We therefore have to overhaul training, build housing where the jobs are, and fix our immigration system. Unfortunately, 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.”

“The government needs to listen to businesses instead of making one-size-fits-all programs. Job markets are different in each area. For example, Montreal has much higher unemployment than Chaudière-Appalaches. We must fix youth unemployment regionally, not nationally.”

“Mr. Speaker, the more things change, the more they stay the same. We are currently on the evening shift. That is where we find ourselves in 2026. In all seriousness, the MP and Parliamentary Secretary’s question is quite relevant. The federal government absolutely must listen to businesses and respond to their needs. All too often, the government introduces one-size-fits-all programs, assuming that a single approach will work for everyone, but that is not the case. Take immigration and employment issues, for example. The unemployment rate is much higher in Montreal than in Chaudière-Appalaches. In Chaudière-Appalaches—the right side of the St. Lawrence River—the unemployment rate is 2%. When I say “right”, I am exaggerating a little, but there are quite a few Conservative MPs across all constituencies. It is clear that, if we want to tackle the issue of youth employment, we must do so on a regional, not national, basis.”

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“It is getting harder for young people to get a first job. Starting work late means they miss out on money, experience, and skills for better-paying jobs. Can my colleague explain the long-term harms of entering the workforce late?”

“Mr. Speaker, my colleague spoke eloquently about the importance of a first job. I have fond memories of my own first work experiences. It is becoming increasingly difficult for young people to get their first job. When they are late entering the workforce, they acquire less experience and have less financial resources. They also have fewer opportunities to gain the skills they need to get better-paying jobs. Can my colleague explain the long-term consequences of entering the workforce late?”

“Young people need the chance to get their first job. During COVID, the government gave young people $2,000 a month to stay home. Businesses could not compete with that to hire them. Conservatives were right to oppose those payments.”

“Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague first and foremost for his excellent French. I do not know if anyone has seen him play the piano, but it is impressive. On top of that, he penned the biography of Quebec’s future premier, the current Leader of the Opposition. What young people need is to be given the chance and the privilege to experience the happiness of getting their first job. Unfortunately, I must bring up the sad memory of what happened during COVID. I know that we were flying by the seat of our pants, we all understand that, but it was too bad to see young people being given money to stay home. They received $2,000 a month. I am sure that all members heard from business owners and job creators who said that young people wanted to work, but that if they were getting $2,000 a month to stay home, employers could not compete with that. We pointed out at the time that this was a mistake. It was not easy to stand up against something that a lot of people clearly liked, but we did it, and it was the right thing to do.”

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