Yes, exactly. Thank you, Chair.
Chair and colleagues, I want to raise the issue of student unemployment, which I think is critical for this committee.
We're headed into the summer, and I'm sure everybody saw the latest Statistics Canada report of very high unemployment rates among young people in general, but particularly high for returning students. We're in a situation now where more than one in five returning students are unemployed this summer. That's a source of hardship for those students, but it also raises significant questions about their futures and, by extension, the future of our country. Students need summer employment, often not only to be able to pay for their academic journeys but also to be able to acquire skills and experiences that they can then leverage for their next steps.
I know we're headed into a parliamentary summer break, but I want to propose that we consider doing some work collaboratively on the student unemployment issue to confront this real and present crisis of students being out of work and to see if we can propose, in a reasonable time frame, some solutions to the government along these lines.
I want to put forward a motion on that, Chair. There may be some discussion about aspects of it, and that's totally fine, but I've put it together as kind of a first volley about how we might approach it. I'll flip it to the clerk in both languages just after I read it.
The motion is as follows:
Statistics Canada has identified that more than 1 in 5 returning students are unemployed this summer. Therefore, the committee agrees that, in the face of this student unemployment crisis and given that Parliament did not sit at all this year until May 26th, this committee conduct a study of the student unemployment crisis pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), consisting of at least 5 meetings and with all hearings to occur before July 31st, 2025. Parliamentarians must be prepared to get to work this summer so that unemployed students can get to work as well.
Colleagues, with the technology we have at our disposal now for virtual meetings, I do think having some summer hearings is much easier than it used to be. We are able to participate in hearings from our ridings, using virtual tools. To do five meetings before the end of July is a total of 10 hours. I think having that 10 hours of hearings in the course of a month and a half is reasonable and allows us, again, in a collaborative way, to hear from witnesses and to confront a very real and present crisis.
As I say in the text of the motion, our getting to work will allow young people to get to work. I don't think this is a study that should wait for the fall, because this is a critical time for young people who are missing these opportunities. We might be able to hear some testimony and put forward some recommendations in real time that would be very impactful for young people.
The motion is on the table now and obviously can be amended. I'd love to hear from colleagues if people want to take this up and proceed with it.
Thank you.