Mr. Speaker, it is with pleasure that I rise to speak to the important issue of youth unemployment.
I listened to my New Democrat friends talk in particular about recommendation number 16. Following the NDP talking about that recommendation, the government then said in answer to a question I posed that people want action and results, not necessarily more studies. This somewhat contradicts, at least the latter part of my comment about not having more studies or committees not doing more work, which somewhat contradicts what recommendation number 23 states.
I hope to go through a number of the recommendations. I would like to address recommendation numbers 16 and 23, and I will start by reading verbatim what recommendation 16 states. It says, “That the federal government explore ways to promote youth hiring in Canada, such as tax credits for businesses that hire Canadians aged 18 to 30.”
The New Democratic Party has emphasized that recommendation, and the Conservative government has said that it needs to take action. I have a question that I would like to put to both the NDP and the Conservatives.
The leader of the Liberal Party introduced a wonderful idea that would have dealt with recommendation 16. Members will remember the EI premium exemption that was suggested by the Liberal Party and that was brought to the House for a vote. That EI premium exemption would have provided a tax exemption for every worker who is hired to fill a new job in 2015-16. Who would have been the biggest benefactor had the government and the New Democratic Party recognized that as being a good idea? The biggest benefactors would be the young people of Canada, no matter where they live. Had the government acted on that policy, young people from coast to coast to coast would benefit. They would be employed.
I was surprised to a certain degree with respect to the government's total rejection of the idea, from the Prime Minister's Office down to all of the ministers. I would like to think that if a good idea is brought forward that the government, wanting to serve the people of Canada, would jump on it if it would make a positive difference. However, the government had its own tax plan in mind, the small business tax credit, which in essence would draw upon the same fund. That plan would be exceptionally more costly.
If we are to compare the two ideas, we would find that the Liberal plan would have generated well over 100,000 jobs across this country. On the other hand, the Conservative plan, even in a bizarre situation, might have led to some businesses laying off people, or it might have generated 20,000 possible jobs, on the high side. I was disappointed that the Prime Minister did not acknowledge how all Canadians would have benefited from the Liberal Party policy by accepting our policy.
I was quite surprised to see the New Democratic Party vote against the proposal. Think about it. Today those members are talking about it in the form of a recommendation, and the recommendation says “That the federal government explore ways to promote youth hiring in Canada, such as tax credits for businesses that hire Canadians aged 18 to 30.”
One of the biggest, if not the biggest, benefactor under that Liberal plan was those youth, who are being referred to in this recommendation.
On the one hand, we have the New Democrats saying that they love this recommendation, and they espouse about how much they like it. However, when it came down to the time to vote, what did the New Democrats do? They voted against it. I somewhat expected it from the Conservatives, but I did not expect the New Democrats would have turned down an idea that would have employed more young people from coast to coast to coast in Canada.
Let us go on to the other recommendation that I made reference to in the form of a question. Again, for the benefit of all members, I will read the recommendation verbatim from the report. It states, “That the federal government and the appropriate” and I want to underline this part because I know the House leader of the official opposition loves this one:
—parliamentary committees consider further study of the following three topics: student enrolment in post-secondary institutions and the effectiveness in job preparation; student tuition fees and debt; and domestic and international youth employment rates, as well as the factors contributing to those rates.
In essence, the recommendation says that there is a very important role for our parliamentary committees to conduct studies. There are some within this chamber who do not recognize the value of having our standing committees meet. I would suggest for those members that they recognize what recommendation 23 talks about.