Thank you. Just to clarify, I did not say it was “easy” during a pandemic; I said “feasible”.
We learn in the estimates that funding for the youth employment strategy has decreased. Looking at the departmental plan for 2020-21, the target for the number of green jobs created under the youth internship program is down to just 179 from the target last year of 969. In 2018-19 the actual results were 887 jobs.
Can you explain why there's this large reduction in green jobs for youth? As well, given that we could be investing in a tree-planting program that could be done with physical distancing, why haven't we been providing this kind of employment opportunity to students over the summer?