Evidence of meeting #6 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was young.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair (Robert Morrissey (Egmont, Lib.)) Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Good afternoon.
I call this meeting to order.
Welcome to meeting number six of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities.
Pursuant to the motion adopted on Thursday, September 18, 2025, the committee is meeting on youth employment in Canada.
Madame Gill, is it the interpretation?
Bloc
Marilène Gill Bloc Côte-Nord—Kawawachikamach—Nitassinan, QC
No, it's not about that, Mr. Chair.
I just want to know if the technical tests were able to be done for the witnesses.
Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Yes.
Today’s meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the Standing Orders. Members are appearing in the room and also appearing virtually.
Before we begin, I would just ask you to follow some of the guidelines. There is a card in front of you that gives you some instructions. Make sure your devices are muted or put on silent mode. As well, please refrain from touching the boom on the mic when you're speaking, because it can cause popping.
Mrs. Gill, do you have a comment?
Bloc
Marilène Gill Bloc Côte-Nord—Kawawachikamach—Nitassinan, QC
Excuse me, Mr. Chair.
On a point of order. There's no French interpretation.
Bloc
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Is that good, Madame Gill?
Okay. Thank you.
I was on the instructions about making sure your devices are muted or silenced while in the committee. Please refrain from touching the mic, because it can cause issues for our interpreters.
These are some general comments. I would like to remind participants of the following points. Please wait until I recognize you by name before speaking. For those participating by video conference, please use the “raise hand” icon at the bottom of the screen if you want to get my attention. As well, for those participating virtually, you can choose to participate in the official language of your choice by clicking on the globe icon at the bottom of your screen and choosing the language you wish to participate in.
Again, as you've seen, if there are issues with translation, please get my attention and we'll suspend while they're corrected.
Before we move on to our witnesses, there's one housekeeping matter I wish to address with the committee. The clerk circulated a press release for this study. Would members like to adopt the press release as circulated? We did not receive any feedback.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
We also have to approve a budget of $58,500 for this particular study. It covers all our hearings and the report process.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
We will move to the formal part of the meeting.
I would like to welcome our witnesses. We are going with one two-hour panel today with five witnesses.
From Axiom Group Inc., we have Perry Rizzo, president and chief executive officer.
From the Community Economic Development and Employability Corporation, we have John Buck, president and chief executive officer.
From the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec, we have Alexandre Gagnon, vice-president of public affairs, labour and regional vitality; and Stéphane Pageau, senior adviser, labour and public affairs.
From Réseau des carrefours jeunesse-emploi du Québec, Rudy Humbert is in the room, and he is president and chief executive officer.
From Treasure Mills Inc., we have Robert Johnson, president.
Each presenter will have five minutes to give opening comments, and then we'll proceed to the questioning process. As you get close to your five minutes, I'll ask you to wrap up. When you see my hand, I'm expecting you to wrap up quickly.
We'll start with Axiom Group Inc. and Mr. Rizzo.
Perry Rizzo President and Chief Executive Officer, Axiom Group Inc.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for inviting me to be an important witness here for this issue.
Axiom Group was formed in 1987. We're a Canadian-owned company located in a suburb of Toronto, in Scarborough, Ontario. Through hard work and over many years, we've grown the company to over $200 million with facilities in Canada, U.S. and Mexico. We employ in excess of 650-700 employees globally.
This is probably the most important subject matter that I've come across in a long time. I'm devoting some time, and I've made some notes, so I want to get right into it.
In terms of addressing the root cause of low employment, Canada's employment problem is not temporary; it's structural. A decade of declining productivity has left businesses less competitive, reducing our ability and willingness to create jobs. Unless we reverse the productivity decline, job growth will remain stagnant.
In terms of the importance of job creation, I don't want to hear about housing or other issues. I want to hear about jobs, jobs, jobs, and more jobs. Job creation is the singularly most important aspect of our economy, and we need to get serious about creating jobs.
Regarding the environment, the business risks and low investments in Canada, why is that happening? Well, there are low risks for banking mandates. There is very little support from the banks in Canada. There is restricted access to growth in capital, high taxation, an uncompetitive situation and operating costs eroding our returns on investment. The layered federal-provincial-municipal policies create a high-cost environment and discourage expansion. The result is fewer opportunities for Canadian workers and a weaker economy overall.
There are challenges for Canadian entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs face diminishing incentives to innovate, to hire and to expand. Our socio-economic policies and regulations are eroding competitiveness, leaving Canadian business owners questioning the payoff and why we take risks. When risk-taking is punished and not rewarded, job creation stalls.
What is the impact of social policies and work incentives? Current policies often reward non-productivity and disincentivize work. We have to stop those types of policies. Hard-working Canadians should be rewarded. You strive to succeed. You strive to create jobs, and you strive to create a better Canada to contribute to the overall success.
Burdened with high tax [Technical difficulty—Editor] of contributing and will face fewer consequences. The imbalance creates a culture where [Technical difficulty—Editor].
Liberal
President and Chief Executive Officer, Axiom Group Inc.
In comparison with Canada, in the United States entrepreneurs are rewarded and workers see clear rewards for effort: higher returns, lower taxes, stronger incentives and greater support for investment. In Canada, higher taxation, rigid policies and limited paybacks discourage both entrepreneurship and capital investment. The result is that talent and investment flow south, while Canada lags further behind.
In terms of Canada's competitive landscape, Canada's economy is hampered by systematic barriers, oligopolies, large ratios of government employment to private sector, heavily unionized markets and uncompetitive tax structures, which all combine to make Canada one of the lowest-productivity countries in the world, and we continue to lose our rank on productivity overall. Research—including reports from the University of British Columbia, which I have—confirms that the government-driven policies have eroded Canada's competitiveness globally.
In terms of the need for long-term strategic planning, irrespective of political stripe, Canada is operating without a long-term economic strategy. Canada really needs to develop a strategy that transcends one political term, in my opinion. A five-year term, it doesn't matter. What's important to Canada is that core objectives should be clearly identified by the parties, and they should last for the next 10, 15 or 25 years for long-term investment. Canada is operating without a long-term economic strategy. Short-term political priorities and fragmented socio-economic policies have replaced coherent planning. Without a strategic vision, productivity will continue to decline, as investment will dry up.
Those are my opening statements. I have additional information that I'm willing to share during questions.
Canada needs a long-term strategic plan. I've gone through many economic cycles since we started the company in 1987. I've faced many challenges, but I believe the last 10 to 15 years, or the last 10 years, have been extremely concerning. When other CEOs I talk to feel demotivated and are [Technical difficulty—Editor] not going to help job creation and job growth. We're tired of feeling like we are some type of problem. I work 16-hour days—from 7:00 in the morning to 7:00 in the evening, a 12-hour day is normal for me—plus Saturdays and Sundays, if necessary. Waking up at three o'clock in the morning and driving to meetings is normal. We work hard to create jobs and employment. We risk a tremendous amount of time, effort and human and financial capital to develop new innovations and technologies for Canada, with limited investment or contribution from all levels of government. So—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Thank you, Mr. Rizzo. You've gone over.
We are losing you from time to time, but it's fine now.
Mr. Buck, go ahead for five minutes.
John Buck President and Chief Executive Officer, Community Economic Development and Employability Corporation
Mr. Chair and honourable members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to contribute to this critical study on youth employment.
My name is John Buck, and I am president and CEO of the Community Economic Development and Employability Corporation. Our mandate is to strengthen the economic vitality of the official-language minority community in Quebec.
While my focus today is on the official-language minority community in Quebec, I think the challenge we face and the solutions we are advancing have clear relevance for youth across Canada.
English-speaking youth in Quebec represent 256,835 individuals, aged 15 to 29. They make up 20.5% of the English-speaking population, compared with 16.3% for francophones. English-speaking youth are younger and more diverse—43% identify as visible minorities, compared with 17% of francophone youth.
Statistics point to serious youth employment challenges. The employment rate is 56.1% for English-speaking youth—nearly six points lower than that for francophones. The unemployment rate is 14.4%, compared to 9% for francophones. On educational attainment, nearly half, or 49.6%, have only a high school education or less. English-speaking youth consistently lag behind their francophone peers in vocational and technical training.
These figures point to a concerning trend in school-to-work transitions. Many youth leave education without market-ready skills, take longer to secure meaningful work or are underemployed in part-time or unstable jobs. The 2024 Deloitte report “Failure to Launch”, commissioned by The King's Trust Canada, reminds us of the wage, tax revenue and long-term productivity losses this situation represents.
The challenges are significant: skills mismatches between what schools provide and what employers need, weaker job networks for English-speaking youth to connect with the labour market, and regional disparities, where in places like Gaspésie or Nord-du-Québec unemployment for English-speaking youth is far above the provincial average.
At CEDEC, we are taking coordinated action on three fronts. First, in applied research, CEDEC has launched a comparative international study of best practices in linking education and training to labour market demand. We are examining models in Canada, the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany and Scandinavia. We will release preliminary findings this November and share them with the Government of Canada. I would be pleased to provide them to this committee. The findings will inform our workforce development strategy. However, lessons learned will extend beyond Quebec, as issues such as underemployment, skills mismatches and challenging school-to-work transitions are common across provinces.
Second, we are developing the collaborative economic development ecosystem. This community-based mechanism brings together public, private and civil society actors dedicated to strengthening workforce development and labour market participation. Key objectives include better connecting job seekers, training institutions and employers; enhancing collaboration and collective accountability to produce job placements, lower unemployment and higher incomes; and improving labour market intelligence so that youth, educators and employers make better decisions.
Third, on practical implementation, CEDEC is about to roll out the employment assistance services capacity development initiative, or EASCDI. The EASCDI links a coordinated continuum of employment assistance service providers across the province. It embeds timely labour market information, an AI-based provincial talent placement platform, and a robust performance measurement framework that ties all of our work to producing tangible outcomes. For youth, this means better access to career pathways, stronger employer connections, and services that help them not only to find a job, but also to build sustainable careers in Quebec.
In closing, I wish to underline three points. Labour market outcomes for English-speaking youth lag significantly behind those of their francophone peers in Quebec. Inaction means lost income and productivity and weaker social cohesion. CEDEC is applying innovative, evidence-based solutions through research, ecosystem development and the deployment of the EASCDI.
By linking workforce development directly to labour market participation, we can ensure that English-speaking youth get good jobs, build future-oriented careers and fully contribute to our shared economy.
Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Thank you, Mr. Buck.
I'll now hand the floor over to Mr. Gagnon, from the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec.
Alexandre Gagnon Vice-President, Public Affairs, Labour and Regional Vitality, Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My colleague, Mr. Pageau, will be presenting the remarks.
Stéphane Pageau Senior Advisor, Labour and Public Affairs, Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec
Hello everyone.
Thank you for inviting us to appear before the committee.
My name is Stéphane Pageau. I'm senior adviser for workforce and public affairs. With me is Alexandre Gagnon.
With a vast network of 120 chambers of commerce and nearly 1,000 member businesses, the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec, or FCCQ, represents nearly 45,000 companies active in all sectors of the economy throughout Quebec.
Unemployment is a constant concern for the FCCQ, to the extent that the unemployed worker pool is still the major source of labour used to fill Quebec's 100,000 vacant positions, provided that these workers' skills and mobility line up with the jobs available.
After analyzing the youth unemployment situation, we made a few observations. First of all, Quebec's situation differs significantly from the situation elsewhere in Canada. Canada's overall unemployment rate is lower than Quebec's. Among young people from 15 to 24 years of age, the unemployment rate is 11.4% in Quebec compared to 14.6% in Canada.
From a more historical perspective, our average has held for the past 25 years. Right now, our average is still roughly the same. For example, from 2000 to 2005, the average was 14.1%. In the following five years, it was 13.6%, 13.2% and 10.5%. These percentages are also comparable to the current unemployment rate among young people 15 to 24 years of age in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD, countries.
However, a closer look at the situation reveals increased unemployment among male students. For example, if we compare students to non-students, we see a 1.6% increase among students and a 0.2% increase among non-students. For men, the increase is 3%, but for women, it's 0.5%.
This situation is definitely a concern, particularly for male students. It also leads us to wonder about the reasons for it and how it might negatively affect student retention.
Among the reasons given, let's begin with the current economic slowdown we're experiencing, as you are aware. Rising unemployment is a reflection of the current economic outlook, and young people are the hardest hit because they lack a firm foothold in the labour market. What we're seeing is a relatively normal increase considering Quebec's overall economic situation.
The second hypothesis put forward to explain the possible reasons for unemployment is artificial intelligence, which affects entry-level positions. A study by one Quebec institute showed that young people were more vulnerable because they primarily occupy entry-level positions. We are also seeing that the declining number of vacant positions in Quebec mainly concerns—at least to a greater degree—the retail sector, which posted a 51.7% drop in the past two years, along with the restaurant and hospitality sector, with a 58% drop. This concerns part-time jobs, which are often filled by students, and jobs that require a high school diploma or less.
The third [Technical difficulty—Editor] temporary foreign workers. At the FCCQ, we believe that this causal link is incorrect for three main reasons.
First, unemployment differs fundamentally from one region of Quebec to another. The unemployment rate in Chaudière-Appalaches is 3.6% and in Gaspésie and the Magdalen Islands, it's 9.2%, which puts the median rate at 4.6%. This means that in half of Quebec's regions the unemployment rate is 4.6%, which tells us that a relatively large number of young people are working.
Now let's talk about the temporary foreign worker program, or TFWP. Eighty-five per cent of the jobs filled under this program are full-time jobs, and 60% of them require a college diploma, which is not the case for student job seekers. This creates a situation where the restrictions applied under the TFWP are driving down production for businesses, which are forced to turn down contracts and reduce work shifts.
That's why we're calling for a moratorium on TFWP restrictions. In the longer term, the unemployment issue will come up again, considering that 1.4 million jobs in Quebec will need to be filled by 2033. We definitely need to plan for the future and broaden our approach to the unemployment issue, since temporary foreign workers will necessarily be called on to work.
In conclusion, I'd like to add that the youth unemployment issue is definitely being monitored, mainly as it concerns young male students. For the time being, however, it is not a serious cause for concern.
I should also mention that the temporary foreign worker issue is still important—if not fundamental—to the productivity of Quebec businesses. For clear idea of the situation, we need to adopt a longer-term perspective.
My colleague Mr. Gagnon and I will be pleased to answer your questions.
Liberal
Rudy Humbert President and Chief Executive Officer, Réseau des carrefours jeunesse-emploi du Québec
Mr. Chair, honourable members, today, all the conditions needed for a perfect storm of youth unemployment have come together. Three forces have converged: a trade war that is weakening our economic sectors and slowing investment, a technological revolution that is disrupting entry-level jobs, and inadequate public policies that are failing to keep pace with the speed of social and economic changes.
Every year, more than 150,000 young people walk through the door of a youth employment centre, or CJE. They often lack an adequate social safety net and struggle with economic, academic, psychological or social barriers. Their journey is fraught with challenges and, for many, CJEs are their last hope.
Our message is clear: Responding to youth unemployment is not just a matter of numbers or placements. We need to tackle structural causes and inequities, and focus on dignified, sustainable and meaningful pathways. Young people today, in all their diversity, are vulnerable. Unemployment is not just a statistic; it's a human reality that is undermining our social cohesion and collective future.
Here are some alarming facts. First, the youth unemployment rate ranges from 12% to 20%, which is more than double and sometimes triple the national average. The current economic downturn disproportionately affects young people, who have absorbed 80% of the job losses. Finally, more than 10,000 Quebec students are leaving school every year without a diploma.
Nearly one in two young people are also experiencing food insecurity, and thousands are sleeping on the street every night. All in all, young people are disillusioned; over half of them feel that all hope for humanity is gone.
These numbers are not just data. Behind them are faces, stories and often, a cry for help. How can we set our young people on a path to employment, education or engagement if they no longer believe in the future?
Based on these realities, we propose to create a project built on three pillars to give young people a future. The first pillar is prevention: We have to act early, before exclusion and school drop-out rates become irreversible. Second comes universality: This means giving the same rights and opportunities to all young people, fighting discrimination and reviving trust in institutions. Lastly, it's about dignity through guidance and support, training, work experience and citizen engagement.
In 2025, addressing youth unemployment is impossible without taking a serious look at the impact of artificial intelligence. As AI takes off, businesses are hiring fewer entry-level employees. That's a problem. How can someone become an experienced employee without the opportunity to begin a career and get that first job, the one that opens the door to the workforce? Although young people between 15 and 24 years of age make up only 13% of Quebec's workforce, they represent 24% of workers vulnerable to automation. The big question that young people everywhere are asking is this: “In a working world transformed by AI, where will I fit in?”
On the one hand, artificial intelligence will inevitably automate a number of repetitive tasks and therefore kill jobs, mostly jobs held by young people. However, it doesn't end there: Most occupations could potentially be transformed. New skills are becoming critical, including creativity, critical analysis, human connection management and the mastery of digital tools. At the same time, new jobs will emerge that require different skills. That is precisely where the risk of exclusion lies for young people who have no access to training or reskilling.
That's why investing in artificial intelligence should also mean investing in human and social support during the transition. It is vital that young people receive training that prepares them to drive AI rather than be driven by it. We need to support employers, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, or SMEs, so that they can incorporate these tools into their activities without making the inequities worse. Finally, we need to implement public policies that guarantee an equitable distribution of the benefits arising from increased productivity.
Ethical issues are fundamental. If the benefits of AI are concentrated in the hands of a few, social and economic polarization and youth unemployment could accelerate. If we choose to use these benefits to improve quality of life, for example, by reducing work time, funding youth training or driving social innovation, AI would become a tool for generating shared prosperity.
It is therefore imperative that we rethink our tools. The Canada-Quebec labour market agreements contain a major structural flaw. These essential mechanisms are often ineffective for young people for a number of reasons. First, they include bureaucratic red tape that diverts time and energy away from direct support. They define eligibility criteria from too narrow a perspective, which excludes thousands of young people in need in the process. They also lack the flexibility that young people require to innovate and adapt to changing realities. Ultimately, they siphon off budget funds at a time of skyrocketing needs.
The time has come to reinvent these agreements, not as mere administrative mechanisms, but as true catalysts for action designed with and for young people.
Our first recommendation is to guarantee that labour market and workforce development agreements include funding for youth. In this regard, it is important to come up with funding arrangements which ensure that these funds achieve a maximum impact for young people with minimal losses caused by red tape.
Second, we need to promote success in school and the school-work transition. That means we need to support programs like the École au Carrefour that get youths who dropped out back into school again. We also need to secure workforce integration pathways and adapt employment insurance to young people struggling with precarious or atypical situations.
We also need to promote innovation and participation by increasing the number of pilot projects and encouraging innovative approaches to employability, or by supporting entrepreneurship and youth business succession initiatives.
Lastly, federal policies need to include a youth perspective by systematically consulting young people and their representative organizations when the time comes to develop and evaluate employment-related programs.
In conclusion, beyond numbers and partisan debates, we need to give young people reason to believe in their future and their ability to contribute fully to society.
Youth unemployment is a collective challenge. It demands ambitious, coordinated solutions adapted to local realities and underpinned by a solid partnership between government, community organizations and educational and economic stakeholders.
Through their involvement on the ground, their expertise and their capacity for innovation, CJEs are ideal allies of the federal government.
We therefore want to underscore again that we are interested in collaborating with the committee, and with Parliament more broadly, by joining forces to build a nation where every young person is able to find fulfillment.
Thank you for listening and for allowing me to share these thoughts with you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Thank you, Mr. Humbert.
We now have Mr. Johnson from Treasure Mills Inc., for five minutes, please.
Mr. Johnson, go ahead.
Robert Johnson President, Treasure Mills Inc.
Thank you for inviting me to the committee. I haven't taken the same time everyone else has taken with regard to preparing a five-minute speech, with regard to all the various details, but what I can tell you is that I'm the owner of a company called Treasure Mills. We are in the bakery business. We make kids' snack foods. We are located in Aurora, just north of Toronto.
One of the biggest things I see in youth and people is that skill sets.... We have a massive immigration policy with so many people who show up, day after day, who do not have the skills, yet I think it keeps other young people from obtaining the jobs. At the same time, a lot of the youth who come into the workforce simply go to universities or various trade schools and come out with very little.... They seem to have the skills that have been referred to and reflected in various people's comments today.
I think the other biggest thing is innovation. We are lacking productivity, as Mr. Rizzo has indicated, and I would agree with 100% of the comments he outlined earlier on the taxation, the government, the percentage of people employed in the government and the waste that exists. Our productivity is going down constantly. I find that a lot of the programs the government supports do not necessarily drive efficiency or drive what is necessary in plants. It wants to constantly focus on innovation, but innovation that may not necessarily drive what is a necessity today in order to bring about higher productivity where a company needs it, as it's driven around certain mandates that are outside of what the corporate company needs.
At the same time, I think there are tremendous opportunities when you look at transferring businesses and stuff like that. I have heard over the years that people want to keep companies in Canada but the taxation and the process and way we are taxed makes it very difficult to keep a company in Canada, or transfer it to your youth or into your family, with respect to things. I think there is the opportunity to increase people's skill set. I think there are opportunities to.... We look at where we are spending our money as a government, and what are we putting forward? We seem to lack the necessity to execute on our human resources across Canada.
We should be one of the richest countries in the world, yet we seem to allow various minority groups to influence all decisions, instead of, as Mr. Rizzo says, having a 10-year plan that drives a consistency regardless of the stripes of the various political parties, that is cohesive, and that drives the betterment of Canada. When we don't have that constant betterment of Canada and there are various small institution groups that influence everything, it drives costs through the roof, with respect to things.
I think there is a tremendous opportunity to improve our health care systems and drive more and more people and educate more people to participate in various other types of trades and skill sets that people can have. I would look at our immigration policy, which I think has also plagued our country in various ways with respect to that. I think the challenge today with regard to youth is having them have ability, or have more knowledge and more understanding. There is a significant lack of skills when it comes to trade skills. All the youth seem to go to university, but they come out of school and they really do not have the skills, whether it be in engineering or various things, to do various jobs. There is a massive lack of tradespeople, and it doesn't seem to be supported by institutions and schools as it used to be many years ago.
I realize AI is coming and doing things, but there are certain things AI will not be replacing, and I think a lot of those are also in the trades fields. How can Canada help youth, who can make better money than university students, get a job, a trade, and have better education and a better future by thinking about what type of job they want to have and what kind of living they want to have. I think there is not enough education around the trade industry for people to make very good [Technical difficulty—Editor] AI technologies or computer technologies, or a financial wizard, yet I think so many people go [Technical difficulty—Editor] that leaves them with very little skills coming out to be able to participate or add value in a major corporation [Technical difficulty—Editor]. We could do a better job in educating our youth and helping them better understand some of the [Technical difficulty—Editor] obtain a positive job, a good income and a good living.
These would be my comments. With regard to taxation [Technical difficulty—Editor] continuing to invest in youth. How do we train people? How do we bring people into the company [Technical difficulty—Editor]?