Debates of Nov. 17th, 2014

Health

[Rona Ambrose, Conservative, Minister of Health]

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud of our government's record, because since forming government, health transfers have actually increased by almost 60%. This now is record funding, which will reach $40 billion annually by the end of the decade.

We are obviously committed to increasing health transfers year after year after year.

Presence in Gallery

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I would like to draw to the attention of hon. members the presence in the gallery of the Hon. Jackie Jacobson, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[John Baird, Conservative, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order with respect to a matter arising out of question period.

I have served in this place for almost nine years. I have great respect for the member for Wascana. I know him to be an honourable man. The member for Wascana is free to criticize this government, its ministers, its policies, and the record of this government. However, on the very day that the late Jim Flaherty's friends, neighbours, constituents, and community are going to the polls to elect a successor, I think Canadians deserve better than the cheap shot we saw from the member for Wascana. He should be ashamed of himself.

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

It sounds like a point of debate, not necessarily a point of order. However, I do see the hon. member for Wascana rising. I will give him the floor.

[Ralph Goodale, Liberal, Wascana, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I must note that I truly admire the way Mr. Flaherty had the courage to stand up against a whole variety of issues, including when he conscientiously believed his government had erred.

Government Response to Petitions

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to 66 petitions.

Status of Women

[Hélène LeBlanc, NDP, LaSalle—Émard, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the fourth report of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women, entitled “Eating Disorders among Girls and Women in Canada”.

Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to the report.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the chair of our committee for presenting the report. On behalf of the NDP official opposition members, I would also like to thank every single witness who came forward, particularly survivors of eating disorders, who came with such courage and told us what we need to do.

Sadly, we find that this report is wanting. Our recommendations in our part of the report indicate that there needs to be strong leadership from the government, that we are at a crisis point in the way women and men who are living with eating disorders are not being supported. This is across the board in every region across the country. There is a deep need for federal leadership when it comes to data collection, supporting health care, and finding solutions for families who are trying to support their loved ones. We hope that the recommendations we have put forward will be duly implemented as soon as possible.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I wish to make a comment on the fourth report just brought forward by the New Democratic Party. I too would like to—

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

In order to respond or add his comments, the member would need the unanimous consent of the House to do so, because it is just the official opposition that is able to table a dissenting report.

Does the member have the consent of the House to speak—

[Some hon. members]

No.

[Joe Preston, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Mr. Speaker, if the House will give its consent, I move that the 18th report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, presented to the House on September 30, be concurred in.

[The Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Does the hon. member have the unanimous consent of the House to propose the motion?

[Some hon. members]

No.

Finance

[Matthew Dubé, NDP, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

moved that the sixth report of the Standing Committee on Finance, presented on Thursday, June 12, 2014, be concurred in.

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to speak today about the report of the Standing Committee on Finance, which I worked on with my colleagues from Skeena—Bulkley Valley, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques and Victoria and even my colleague from Davenport, who paid us a visit to speak about the issue of unpaid internships.

It is very important to speak about this today because this study was conducted over almost 10 meetings. That is a fairly long study, but this is a very important issue. We are talking about youth unemployment. which is a rather complex issue. At the outset, I would like to say that I was very pleased to see that even though we sometimes disagreed on what action should be taken, the Conservative members showed a certain openness to dealing with this problem.

We must now look at the recommendations. However, before I get to that, I would like to provide a brief summary of the situation and try to clear up some of the points that the government has made about youth unemployment.

We often like to remind the government that the youth unemployment rate is twice the national average. That is quite discouraging for my generation, those between the ages of 15 and 35. That is a large group. Apparently, some of these young people are still in school. However, many of them have just graduated from university or completed different kinds of post-secondary studies and are looking for a quality job. I will come back to the issue of quality jobs a little later.

However, first and foremost, we must point out that the government often likes to tell us that an unemployment rate that is double the national average is normal. The fact that this has become normal over time does not make it acceptable. Those are two very different points. Even though in the past, following a recession, it was normal to have such a high unemployment rate, I do not find that acceptable.

When speaking about the youth unemployment rate, the government often makes the same comparison. It is even on the first page of its response to the Standing Committee on Finance. The response states that the participation rate of young people in Canada's labour market is higher than that of young people in most other developed countries.

When we talk about developed countries, we often forget to mention countries such as Italy and Greece where the unemployment rate is even higher than it is here. If I am not mistaken, the youth unemployment rate in Greece is 50%. That is incredible, but does not make for a very good comparison. With all due respect to the Greek people, that is not something we should aspire to. Saying that the bar is set very low elsewhere is not an excuse to keep it low here. We must set the bar higher.

The other question is the quality of the jobs, which I said I would come back to. It has come up several times, including at committee. It is this phenomenon called “wage scarring”. There is one Conservative member on the committee who even disputed the use of that term. I suppose it was because it was a union witness who brought it up, so maybe we can look at other folks who have talked about wage scarring in the recent weeks.

One of those is the Governor of the Bank of Canada, who also talked about wage scarring recently. Notwithstanding his comments on young people taking volunteer work, which is, of course, important, because if I am here in the House it is in large part due to some volunteer work that I did in my youth, which got me involved in my community, the question of encouraging young people to take unpaid internships and to look at volunteer work for their experience is problematic. I will explain why, because he made a link with the question of wage scarring.

The question of wage scarring is something that was brought up in a TD bank report. The TD bank said that wage scarring would have a long-term impact on young people and their future job prospects. For someone in their 20s who has just finished their post-secondary education and is working a job for which they are overqualified, it might seem only temporary. But the problem then is that they will feel its effects into adulthood and for the rest of their lives, when it becomes difficult to translate that work experience into a quality job. That is something the government fails to mention all too often.

We heard all about the job-quality phenomenon one day in committee. A Statistics Canada report indicated that there is an increasing number of educated young people who are overqualified for their jobs. These numbers have even reached historic highs in recent years, most recently in 2013. These young people have varying levels of post-secondary education, such as a university degree or a three-year CEGEP program—or a trade school or community college program, in provinces outside Quebec.

Once again, this is a growing phenomenon. However, it does not help to simply talk about the unemployment rate and make questionable comparisons to countries where the situation is not very encouraging. Unfortunately, this illustrates the government's careless approach, especially in light of the notorious Kijiji data, which my colleagues from Saint-Lambert and Newton—North Delta love to bring up.

Not only was the government unable to take any measures that reflected the realities of the labour market, but it does not even seem to want to talk about it. That is why we were happy to study these issues in committee, and that is why it is important to discuss them today.

This situation aside, it is important to look at the recommendations and solutions proposed. I was very pleased to learn that a number of witnesses who appeared in committee—from the labour, student and business worlds—supported a very good solution. I think it is a great solution, although my opinion may be a bit biased since it was proposed by the NDP, namely by the leader of the official opposition. We are talking about universal child care, and this solution was advocated by eight out of ten witnesses. Even if it was not in their presentation, they thought it would have a positive effect on young workers and especially, of course, on young female workers.

The question of child care came up at nearly every single meeting in a very positive way. Witness after witness said that even if it were not something he or she was going to be lobbying or pushing for, none of them was able to deny the positive impact that a universal child care program would have on the plight of young workers, specifically young female workers. It would make it easier for them to get the experience necessary to move on with quality employment opportunities throughout their lives and into adulthood, and hopefully one day being able to secure a proper retirement, which is a whole other issue that young people are facing but is for the moment beyond the scope of this particular study.

If we are talking about the child care question—I said this in French, but it is important that I repeat it for our hard-working interpreters—the government might have an argument saying it was only union members or union representatives at committee that were defending this point and talking about the positive impacts it could have. It was not. It was student representatives, and union representatives, yes, but also representatives from business.

After all, if we were to ask small and medium-size business owners the best way for them to get more young workers into the system to give them the long-term experience that would lead to quality jobs, which would in turn lead to quality businesses and getting the economic wheel turning, they would say that one of the solutions was obviously child care, making sure it was affordable and that workers from my generation were able to have the tools necessary to start families. That is obviously important for the economy because it is what leads to businesses and schools opening, and the strengths of our communities based on the families that decide to live in them. Obviously, in order to have that phenomenon take place, we need to give young people the tools they need to work in high-paying, quality jobs. One of those tools, as I said, is the universal child care program as proposed by the NDP. That was heard in meeting after meeting.

Despite the fact it is unfortunately not in the main committee recommendations, it is important to bring it up because it was definitely, as far as we are concerned on this side of the House, a focal point of the study. I am sure that my colleagues who were at the meetings with me would agree.

There is another important point, and this time we are very happy to see it in the committee's recommendations. It is recommendation 16.

That the federal government explore ways to promote youth hiring in Canada [which is a laudable goal], such as tax credits for businesses that hire Canadians aged 18 to 30.

I am very pleased to be speaking about this recommendation because it is exactly what I proposed in a press conference with the hon. member for Parkdale—High Park last fall. To explain it in the context of our discussion here, the NDP's proposal builds on the general hiring tax credit for small and medium-sized businesses.

We want to offer that tax credit for hiring youth and training them as well. It ties in directly with the reality facing young people in terms of quality jobs, which I described earlier and which we heard about a number of times during the committee meetings.

Sometimes, the skills and qualities of a young person are matched with an employer. Then there is the question of training. I want to explain our proposal because, after all, this recommendation looks a lot like what we proposed.

This is not about replacing workers who have seniority. For example, I do not mean to criticize them, but this is not about allowing McDonald's to fire a worker who has been there for 30 years in order to hire a young person for so-called cheap labour.

The youth hiring tax credit for small and medium-sized businesses that we are proposing is meant above all for expansion. For example, a business that is expanding and considers creating new long-term positions would receive this tax credit to hire and train a young person. The youth hired would be assured of a long-term job and good training. It is important for communities to have young people with quality, well-paid jobs.

We would also like this tax credit to be doubled in parts of the country where the youth and general unemployment rates are extremely high compared to the national average. That is a good way to foster youth employment.

After all, if the youth unemployment rate is double the national average, it goes without saying that it is even higher in areas where the general rate is higher than the national average. I am thinking of the Atlantic provinces, for instance, where there are huge unemployment problems.

The other recommendation I would like to speak about is recommendation number nine, which discusses this whole question of unpaid internships. We had the pleasure of having my colleague, the member for Davenport, join us for the meetings. That was important because he has been a great ally of some of the folks who have had the courage to take their stories to the media and talk about the way they were treated as interns, and some of the high profile cases that we have seen in the last couple of years. One of those cases resulted in a death, tragically, due to the fact we do not have the proper measures in place for how to apply the Canada Labour Code to unpaid internships and how young unpaid interns working in these positions are treated.

We had several witnesses at committee speak to this particular issue. It goes without saying that they support the bill that my colleague from Rivière-des-Mille-Îles has proposed, seconded of course by the member for Davenport. The bill seeks not only to improve protection of unpaid interns, but also to move away from this model and create more and more proper opportunities, as opposed to simply having coffee and photocopy runners in companies that are under federal jurisdiction, such as telecommunications companies, banks, and so on.

Once again, not only would this protect young workers who are, in some cases, desperate to find very good experiences in the work place, but it would also go a long way to addressing the point I have been making so far, which is the question of high quality jobs. One way we could encourage this is by making sure that companies are offering high quality internship experiences, which, of course, would have the domino effect of leading young people to take jobs in these sectors as they move forward in their careers.

It is important to mention that when it comes to unpaid internships, if we read the government response to this committee report, one of the points it mentioned seemed to be very light in terms of taking concrete action.

The government said that it would continue to monitor the situation and left this wishy-washy element of the Canada Labour Code that says that employers are obliged to discuss with employees the risks associated with their jobs without mentioning how they are actually treated in their jobs. It also talks about continuing to consult with provincial and territorial authorities. I am concerned about that particular line, because we do not want to see this as a situation in which we are passing the buck.

As with another NDP proposal that speaks to a federal minimum wage, unpaid internships are a great example of where we can show federal leadership on an issue. By adopting the bill that my colleague from Rivière-des-Mille-Îles has proposed, we could set the example of not only protecting unpaid interns who are working for companies under federal jurisdiction but also show the lead for a lot of provinces. We are pleased to see this action, but from what we have seen so far, it is definitely the provinces that have taken the lead in their jurisdictions. As in all issues that affect our country, often it would require both actors to take care of what is under their jurisdiction, and that is something we hope will happen. There have been some pretty tragic examples. I spoke of the death of one individual.

As I said, my colleague from Davenport has been a leader on this issue. The witnesses at committee were happy to see him there and congratulated him on the work that he has done.

Given the recommendation from the finance committee on the need to properly support internships in our country, we definitely hope that the government will support the bill put forward by my colleague from Rivière-des-Mille-Îles. It is important for young people not only now but also in the future.

I would like to go over some issues that were raised in committee. The NDP makes solid proposals. We proposed a youth hiring tax credit, which is just a first step toward creating good jobs for young people. My colleague from Rivière-des-Mille-Îles introduced a bill about unpaid internships. To me, these two tangible measures are the most important ones because they flow directly from the recommendations in this report. We hope that the government will support our measures because, after all, the Standing Committee on Finance recommended them.

There are other recommendations that do not stand out as much, but that we still need to talk about. Among these is training mobility among the provinces. The government announced its intention to make it easier for workers to move. In committee, many people commented that they would not want that movement to hurt the regions too much. All the same, we have to understand and accept the realities of the labour market.

Unfortunately, the recommendation as written does not address the importance of close collaboration between the federal government and the provinces and territories on the worker training front. I wanted to talk about this because the government has not always been very good at working with the federation even though the Conservative ministers’ announcements suggest good intentions, as do the questions that Conservative members ask the witnesses. We have to collaborate on worker training because agreements have already been signed. The government still has work to do. It has to respect what the provinces and territories want. That is an essential part of the federal government's leadership.

I would like to reiterate the importance of considering the recommendations made by the Standing Committee on Finance regarding youth internships and the question of tax credits for businesses that hire young people. The government likes to brag about its record when it comes to youth employment, but the fact is that youth unemployment remains a problem. It is unacceptable that it is twice as high as the national average.

It is also important to create high-quality jobs, and not McJobs. Our future and my generation are depending on it.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Speaker, in looking at the study before us, it is important to note that the committee actually met from March 6 to March 8, 2014. It held seven hearings in relation to the study, 38 groups or individuals made presentations to the committee, and an additional 26 written briefs were provided. As a result of the committee's work, there were recommendations, a couple of which the member referred to. In total, there are 23 recommendations.

Would the member not agree that not only is it important that we act on as many of these recommendations as we can but that there is also a need to emphasize the importance of the good work that committees can do if they are prepared to get down to business and work?

[Matthew Dubé, NDP, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Yes, Mr. Speaker, there are plenty of recommendations. There are several, in fact, which is why, as the NDP critic for youth, I felt it was so important to talk here in the House about the committee's fantastic work and the reason for this concurrence motion.

It is also important to return, as I said several times in my remarks, to recommendations 9 and 16, which deal directly with NDP proposals both for a tax credit for youth hirings by businesses in Canada and the question of unpaid internships, which came up several times during the different committee meetings. At the end of the day, the length of the government's response, the length of the report, the number of recommendations in the report, and even the number of hearings are all proof of how seriously all parliamentarians take this issue. I hope that the government will follow the finance committee's lead and continue to take this issue seriously.

Unfortunately, from the government's response, we see a lot of proof that it seems to be falling back on its talking points and saying how good Canada is compared to some other countries in the developed world. When we look at some of the comparisons, we see they are not always comparisons that are acceptable for Canada. We need to have the highest possible standards for ourselves. If we look at countries like Greece, we see there is a 50% youth unemployment rate. When the bar is that low, it is not very hard to jump over it, and we owe it to ourselves to hold the bar that much higher. It is what we did in committee and it is what we will continue to do in our proposals.

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I notice table 4 in the report talks about the unemployment rate for young people. The first side of the table shows the unemployment rate when the Conservatives came to power, and then we see, as the member mentioned, what it is now. There is a staggering increase in unemployment among young people. It has risen from 15.7% when the Conservatives took power to over 20% now. Those numbers have been reflected in staggering increases in youth unemployment rates in many provinces, including my province of British Columbia, which has seen a 66% increase in the number of unemployed young Canadians. There are staggering increases.

We often talk about the Conservative government doing so little for young Canadians, and the figures are right there in black and white. We have seen a staggering increase in unemployment among young people, yet recommendations are not put into effect. Could the member for Chambly—Borduas comment on how the Conservatives can see that staggering increase in youth unemployment, yet do nothing about it?

[Matthew Dubé, NDP, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his question.

Indeed, that is very troubling. In its presentation, Statistics Canada explained that at the end of a recession, it is not unusual for youth unemployment to be higher. I find it unusual. Although that may have been the pattern in the past, it is completely unacceptable to do nothing to overcome this challenge, when we know that young people represent the future of our economy.

Furthermore, every time the government brags about lowering youth unemployment, this usually refers to low quality jobs relative to their training, or to part-time jobs. As we know, this trend does not affect just young people, as it is prevalent throughout this government's entire employability record.

Lastly, to come back to my colleague's point, what matters is the issue of the forgotten generation. For instance, if we look at the age of eligibility for old age security, which was raised from 65 to 67, yes, this affects people who are retiring today or tomorrow, but it also affects people who will be retiring many years from now. This has an impact on young people. It makes the issue even more worrisome. The Conservatives seem to be forgetting our youth. We hope this does not continue, following these recommendations.

[Nycole Turmel, NDP, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Chambly—Borduas for his presentation and his comments about young people and their current situation. I want to congratulate him, because he is one of the young MPs who was elected in 2011. Today we are seeing the results of what these young people do in the House. Again, I thank them for all their work. They do a great job representing our youth.

I would like him to comment on what the situation is like for young people in his riding. I see it in my riding, Hull—Aylmer. Young students are discouraged by the job market and the chances of finding a job in their field. I would like the member to say more about this situation in his riding.

[Matthew Dubé, NDP, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her kind compliments. I just want to quickly say that I am very pleased to belong to a caucus that has a good mix of youth and experience. We are also very proud to have lowered the average age in the House of Commons for the first time in Canadian history. We were very pleased to be part of that.

The hon. member made a very good point when she talked about discouraged youth. This is very important. Last week, during our constituency week, I visited a youth employment centre and took the opportunity to talk about this reality with the young people there. One of the issues they raised was the fact that some young people do not even bother to look for work anymore.

We are talking about measuring youth unemployment. During our study at the Standing Committee on Finance, a number of witnesses mentioned the fact that a young person who no longer actively looks for a job because he is so discouraged by the current situation—my colleague is quite right in using this word—is no longer counted in the statistics. We rather like statistics and numbers, but there is also a reality behind those numbers and this is part of that reality.

In my previous answer, I spoke about the forgotten generation, which is relevant to this question. That is why I am pleased to be a voice for young people in Parliament. However, we need to do more than that. We need to take action. We have some good recommendations here. I was particularly proud of the recommendations regarding the concrete measures proposed by the NDP. We would very much like to see the government support these measures. This would send a good message to young people. It would show that we have not forgotten them, that we recognize their reality and that we are the ones who will bring in the economy of the future here in Canada.

[Paulina Ayala, NDP, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am a mother of three teenagers, and they often ask me about what they will do in the future, whether they will find work and whether they will have to pay for my pension.

Young people are not very optimistic about the future. Even in my office, we have a number of students who have a master's degree but cannot find work.

Will this discourage them from having children and cause the birth rate to decline? People are wondering how they will rent an apartment or pay back their student loans.

I would like to talk about intergenerational responsibility.

[Matthew Dubé, NDP, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Mr. Speaker, that is an excellent question from my colleague. Since she spoke about going to school and student loans, it also gives me an opportunity to mention that, although I unfortunately did not have time to talk about it, the committee also addressed the issue of student debt in its study.

Many surveys and studies were conducted. Again, the timing was very good because many of these surveys and studies came out just as the committee was examining this issue. That research focused on both the reality and people's perceptions. There are important economic realities but perceptions are also very important.

If we want to have a strong economy, people need to be able to be optimistic about their ability to find a job so that they can participate in the labour market, as my colleague rightfully pointed out. However, fewer and fewer young people feel optimistic in this regard and fewer and fewer young people feel that they can participate in the economy, since they see that they have fewer opportunities to succeed in life and achieve the high standard of living that people have come to expect in Canada. This is a major problem that needs to be resolved.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by thanking and congratulating the members of the finance committee for their excellent report on the challenges facing young Canadians in the labour market. Thanks also to the Minister of Employment and Social Development for the government's response that has just been tabled.

The fact that some young people face special challenges getting into the workplace is not a new revelation, nor is it a situation that is unique to Canada. It is a global issue. Every country faces it, and every country must respond in some way to the challenge.

In Canada, as we know, the average unemployment rate for young people between the ages of 15 and 24 is slightly more than twice what it is for people in the 25 and older group. Last year the youth unemployment rate was 13.7% compared to just 5.9% for those aged 25 and older. This is in comparison to the United States, where the youth unemployment rate in 2013 was 15.5%, and the United Kingdom, where it was over 20%. In fact, over the past decade or so, the youth unemployment rate in Canada has been well below the average of the OECD countries.

While it is certainly good to know that we are doing better than many of our major trading partners, it is still an issue that demands constant attention from the federal government.

Ours is a multi-faceted approach that starts, quite reasonably, at the beginning, when young people are still in school. Since 2006 our government has helped over six million youth obtain skills, training, and jobs, and there is still more to do.

The federal government transfers large amounts of money to the provinces to support post-secondary education, but it has also developed specific initiatives to ensure that young people are aware of all the career options available to them. The more young people know about the labour market and what is required in it, the more likely they are to pursue an education or a career path that will see them working in a field related to their training.

For example, the government is investing $8 million per year in a job vacancy survey that will provide better information on in-demand occupations, job openings, length of job vacancies, education and skill requirements, and other relevant facts. It will greatly expand the scope of our knowledge by increasing data collection from employers. Similarly, a new national wage survey will collect more information from more employers and will provide a much clearer picture of the real situation on the ground by province and by territory.

We are also improving the Job Bank, which currently gets more than 60 million visits per year. The Job Bank allows job seekers to search by occupation, industry, skills required, and location and has up-to-date labour market information.

After launching the job alerts system, we currently have over 380,000 subscribers who receive daily emails about the jobs listed in the Job Bank as well as up-to-date information on the job market. A new job-matching service allows Canadians to apply directly through the Canada Job Bank for jobs that match their skills and experience.

Another refinement will be the career choice tool that will tell students, parents, and other influencers, such as guidance councillors, whether or not graduates of a particular program found jobs, what kind of jobs they found, how much money they made, and what jobs in that field are available right now.

All these initiatives give students an eyes-wide-open approach to planning their studies. The goal is to see them enter the labour market much better prepared and better able to take advantage of the opportunities available now and in the future.

There are a number of other government actions worth mentioning. For example, the sectoral initiatives program funds national partnership-based projects that support the development and distribution of labour market information aimed at helping Canadians make more informed career and training decisions.

The government has also developed new kinds of outreach to promote careers in high demand areas, such as science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and skilled trades.

Instead of just telling young people to stay in school and get a degree, the government has shifted the emphasis to encourage young people to consider a career in the skilled trades. That is not to say that people should not get a university degree. We still need lots of them with the right kind of higher education, such as in the STEM fields, as well as the drive to make our economy prosper. The point is that we need both. We need young people to know that having a skilled trade can be just as rewarding and in several cases even better paying than jobs that require a degree.

Promoting the skilled trades as a career option also helps us develop a more qualified and more mobile workforce and opens opportunities across the country for young people. To help students make choices, we also have the registered apprenticeship information system, which provides data on the number of apprentices taking in-class and on-the-job training in trades and on how many provincial and interprovincial certificates are granted to apprentices.

At the same time, the government continues to create a new and better way to help students and their families plan and save for education. With the registered education savings plan, for example, families can put away tax-sheltered money to use for their children's education.

There is also the Canada education savings grant and the Canada learning bond. The CESG could provide up to $7,200 toward a child's RESP. Parents receiving the national child benefit supplement might be eligible for Canada's learning bond, which may provide $2,000 toward an RESP.

The government has created tax-free savings accounts, which young people and their families can use to save money for education. Today about 30% of the assets of Canadians under 35 are held in tax-free savings accounts.

We should not forget the Canada student loan and the Canada student grants programs that have put post-secondary education within the reach of every Canadian student. In the last fiscal year, about $2.6 billion in loans went out to some 477,000 students, and nearly $700 million went out in grants to some 350,000 students. These programs have also been updated to make them work better for students. For example, the money people can earn without affecting the amount of their loans while still studying was increased to $100 per week from $50. Also, the accumulation of interest on loans during the study period by part-time students has been eliminated, and the value of student-owned vehicles is no longer taken into account.

That is not all. The Canada student loans program has been expanded to include a new Canada apprentice loan, which will help apprentices registered in the Red Seal trades cover the costs of their technical training. It will provide over $100 million a year in interest-free loans to more than 26,000 eligible apprentices.

As one can see, there are a number of programs now in place that are helping more and more students make the right learning and training choices for their jobs into the future. The government will continue to work to improve these initiatives, and I hope my hon. colleagues will support this effort.