Awesome.
Thank you for being here today.
I have a question for Minister Hajdu. I came in on a by-election in 2017, so last summer I specifically went on a Canada summer jobs tour. I met with every single organization that would meet with me and that received funding, or that contacted my office that they didn't receive funding because of the arbitrary values test that was placed by your government on the application for Canada summer jobs.
I've actually had people contact my office this year, and even last year, saying, “The government has doubled the money.” In reality, what happened is we cut full-time jobs into part-time jobs of six weeks instead of 12 or 14 weeks, or whatever organizations were getting previously. I had organizations getting six weeks of funding.
Where does the six weeks come from? Most university...even high school students are off for eight weeks and looking for work. Organizations have a hard time finding students to apply for these jobs because six weeks isn't enough. That's not enough money for them to earn to go back to school in the fall. I heard this first-hand from employers, let alone the employers who just weren't able to qualify whatsoever because they couldn't check the box with good conscience.
Where does this six weeks come from? Why is there a cut in jobs?