It would highlight two areas where better information was needed by Employment and Social Development Canada to show that the program was meeting two of its key objectives. One was giving job opportunities to under-represented youth—“target groups” is how it identified them—but also whether or not it was creating jobs. The Canada summer jobs program is marketed as a job creation program, but Employment and Social Development Canada was only gathering information on the number of positions funded, instead of the number created.
We did a survey of employers to find out whether or not they would have hired a youth regardless of receiving the funding. What was reported back was that 38% of businesses, while they did not receive Canada summer jobs subsidies, still hired a youth. I would expect ESDC to gather that kind of information to know whether or not it needs to do better outreach or alter the program to actually create jobs, but then also to focus on those facing barriers.