House of Commons Hansard #142 of the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was young.

Topics

FinanceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

6 p.m.

NDP

Paulina Ayala NDP Honoré-Mercier, QC

Mr. Speaker, when I hear about internships, I think of university internships. It often ends there. However, if we ask people to continue doing internships, what we are basically telling them to do is to volunteer and then, one day, they will be lucky enough to find a job. Honestly. These young people already have huge debt loads because education today is not cheap. As a result, they have huge debts once they finish university. They may be at the age where they want to start a family. We could also talk about those who have finished high school.

As a society, what are we asking them to do? To work for us for free and then to pay for our retirement. I would like to hear what my colleague has to say about that.

FinanceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

November 17th, 2014 / 6 p.m.

NDP

Laurin Liu NDP Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC

Mr. Speaker, my colleague has made an excellent point.

An increasing number of young people are coming out of university with debt. Many students cannot accept an unpaid internship because that would be costly. They have debts to repay and they have to pay for other needs, such as room and board. Unpaid internships are often only feasible for a very small group of young people who come from families that might help them with their expenses.

That is why the NDP, in the dissenting finance committee report, asked the government to provide for better management of the practice of unpaid internships, mainly through amendments to the Canada Labour Code, in order to ensure better working conditions. That is what my Bill C-620 would do.

FinanceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

6:05 p.m.

NDP

Andrew Cash NDP Davenport, ON

Mr. Speaker, I listened with great interest. I want to congratulate my colleague on her excellent work on the issues of protection and on creating a stronger framework for looking at internships and unpaid internships.

However, what I wanted to ask and talk about right now is the fact that we know that for young people, the job market is precarious. We know that the jobs that are available are often part time and often on a short-term contract. They usually provide very little in the way of job protection or benefits. In other words, they are not the kinds of jobs that a young person finishing a post-secondary degree would imagine launching his or her adult life in. As a result, what we see is that more and more young workers are delaying some of those other markers, such as the buying of a house or potentially starting a family.

One of the measures that we are focused on is the issue of access to child care. Could my colleague speak to why that is so important for young workers?

FinanceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

6:05 p.m.

NDP

Laurin Liu NDP Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC

Mr. Speaker, people talk a lot about child care across the country and in Quebec. It is essential to provide affordable child care, and that is why the leader of the official opposition proposed creating a national child care plan to limit the cost of care to $15 a day. It is a very important issue for young people.

My colleague also raised an excellent point. We know that the youth unemployment rate is somewhere between 13% and 14%. That is very high. That is twice the national unemployment rate. We know that nearly one in three young people is underemployed. Nearly one in three young people has to take a part-time job or go back to school because he cannot find a job or he has to work as an unpaid intern.

There is a real crisis here in Canada, and the federal government has a role to play in helping young workers.

FinanceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

6:05 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Bruce Stanton

Before we start resuming debate with the hon. member for Davenport, I will let him know there are only about six minutes remaining in the time allocated for this debate on the concurrence in the committee report. He will have six minutes to do with as he pleases.

The hon. member for Davenport.

FinanceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

6:05 p.m.

NDP

Andrew Cash NDP Davenport, ON

Mr. Speaker, I could see the disappointment on your face when you came to the realization that I have only six minutes to speak on this issue tonight.

There was a time in the history of our country when young people could finish high school and look with hope and optimism to the future. They could get jobs with employers they would potentially work for over their entire working career. Then they would retire with pensions that would keep their senior years dignified.

All that is changed today. For young people, that change has been a matter of increasing concern. As I look at the members present tonight, I can imagine that many of them, in all parties, either have adult children or know adult children of friends who are very qualified, who have worked hard, who have taken some great financial risks in the form of student loans, and who are still unable to get a foothold in the labour market so that they can, as we say in the vernacular, launch.

What the government fails to see in many of its boastful statements is the harm this situation is causing to the long-term prosperity of the Canadian economy. There is a cohort of young people who, first of all, are working for free. This is where we are in the Canadian economy. We are compelling young people to work for free.

Again, as I look at the average age of our members here tonight, I think most people launched in an era when that would have been bizarre. There are and always have been apprenticeships, but most of them have been paid. There have been internships, and many of them have been paid too.

What we are seeing today is an economic climate in which employers know that it is a buyer's market out there for labour. No one gets hurt as hard, and hit as hard, by this reality as young people.

We know that the official unemployment rate for young people is twice the national average, but what the statistics do not show are all those young workers, desperate for that full-time job, who are working part time and often working multiple part-time jobs. They are working in casual labour without a set schedule. Their hours are undetermined. They are working on short-term contracts. They are even working for free.

We are letting down a generation of young workers in our country by failing to act in a focused and determined way to ensure that our young people get paid. How is it that we can generate an economy in which the unemployment rate for young people is twice the national average, and we have a government that boasts about that situation?

Members on the government side rarely explain to Canadians what those jobs are that they say they are creating. Do those jobs come with a pension? Do those jobs come with benefits? Are those jobs full time? Do those jobs have a living wage attached to them?

For most young people, the answer is no. These new jobs that are apparently being created do not come with those things.

Therefore, their value for young people is diminished.

We are in an era of what many people call intergenerational inequity. In the very same company, we have young people who will never have access to the benefits and job security that older workers have, and we have a government sitting on the sidelines.

On behalf of my colleagues in the New Democratic Party in the House of Commons, we are happy that the government has finally listened to us around the issue of unpaid interns and has put some money toward creating more paid internships. That would not have happened without the pressure, work, and the fight from New Democrats on this side of the House. I will give credit where credit is due on that one.

FinanceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

6:10 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Bruce Stanton

Order, please. It is my duty to interrupt the proceedings and put forthwith the question necessary to dispose of the motion now before the House.

The question is on the motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

FinanceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

6:10 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

No.

FinanceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

6:10 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Bruce Stanton

All those in favour of the motion will please say yea.

FinanceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

6:10 p.m.

Some hon. members

Yea.

FinanceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

6:10 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Bruce Stanton

All those opposed will please say nay.

FinanceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

6:10 p.m.

Some hon. members

Nay.

FinanceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

6:10 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Bruce Stanton

In my opinion the yeas have it.

And five or more members having risen:

FinanceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

6:15 p.m.

Conservative

John Duncan Conservative Vancouver Island North, BC

Mr. Speaker, I would ask that you defer the vote until after government orders today.

FinanceCommittees of the HouseRoutine Proceedings

6:15 p.m.

Conservative

The Acting Speaker Conservative Bruce Stanton

Accordingly, the recorded division is deferred until the end of government orders today.

Bill C-44—Notice of time allocation motionProtection of Canada from Terrorists ActGovernment Orders

6:15 p.m.

York—Simcoe Ontario

Conservative

Peter Van Loan ConservativeLeader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, I must advise that agreement could not be reached under the provisions of Standing Order 78(1) or 78(2) with respect to the second reading stage of Bill C-44, An Act to amend the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act and other Acts.

Under the provisions of Standing Order 78(3), I give notice that a minister of the crown will propose at a future sitting motions to allot a specific number of days or hours for the consideration and disposal of proceedings at the said stages of the said bill.

Bill C-18—Notice of time allocation motionAgricultural Growth ActGovernment Orders

6:15 p.m.

York—Simcoe Ontario

Conservative

Peter Van Loan ConservativeLeader of the Government in the House of Commons

Mr. Speaker, I must advise that agreement could not be reached under the provisions of Standing Order 78(1) or 78(2) with respect to the the report and third reading stages of Bill C-18, An Act to amend certain Acts relating to agriculture and agri-food.

Under the provisions of Standing Order 78(3), I give notice that a minister of the crown will propose at a future sitting motions to allot a specific number of days or hours for the consideration and disposal of proceedings at the said stages of the said bill.

Canada PostPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

6:15 p.m.

NDP

Carol Hughes NDP Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House to table two petitions.

The first petition is with respect to stopping the cuts to our postal services. The petitioners are concerned about the cuts to home delivery for millions of urban customers, the fact that this will get rid of over 8,000 jobs, and that Canada Post has increased postal rates but has provided less service.

The petitioners are asking the government to stop the devastating cuts to Canada Post.

PensionsPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

6:15 p.m.

NDP

Carol Hughes NDP Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, ON

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is with respect to increasing the CPP and QPP.

The petitioners are asking the government to expand the Quebec and Canada pension plans and maintain the retirement age for old age security at 65.

Sex SelectionPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

6:15 p.m.

Conservative

Leon Benoit Conservative Vegreville—Wainwright, AB

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise on behalf of constituents to present a petition on gender selection pregnancy termination. These constituents note that 92% of Canadians believe that sex selective pregnancy termination should be illegal. They call upon Parliament to condemn the practice of gender selection abortion, which is clear discrimination against females because it is females who are aborted in that fashion.

Heat Islands and SmogPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

6:15 p.m.

NDP

Paulina Ayala NDP Honoré-Mercier, QC

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions that have been signed by many of my constituents.

The first is about decreasing the effects that urban heat islands are having on the health of Canadians. The petitioners want to see coordinated measures to combat heat islands and smog in order to protect our health.

Canada PostPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

6:15 p.m.

NDP

Paulina Ayala NDP Honoré-Mercier, QC

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is about the cuts to Canada Post services. Residents want to continue receiving mail at home.

Palestinian ChildrenPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

6:15 p.m.

NDP

Jinny Sims NDP Newton—North Delta, BC

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present a petition signed by hundreds by my constituents in Newton—North Delta.

The petitioners want to draw the attention of the government and the House of Commons to the fact that millions have been caught in the line of fire on all sides, and that specifically in Gaza, the impact of the conflict upon the civilian population has become a humanitarian crisis.

The petitioners are asking that we, as a government, support the proposal launched by Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish to bring injured Palestinian children from Gaza to Canada for treatment and to support the idea that to achieve peace, we must refuse to hate. Only in that spirit can we hope to bring people together to forge a just, secure, and lasting peace.

Canada PostPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

6:20 p.m.

NDP

Hélène LeBlanc NDP LaSalle—Émard, QC

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition condemning the cuts at Canada Post and the elimination of door-to-door mail delivery in particular. It will have a truly negative impact on residents of my riding. Many people are condemning this decision and are calling on the government to reject Canada Post's service reduction plan. They want the government to explore other options.

EmploymentPetitionsRoutine Proceedings

6:20 p.m.

NDP

Andrew Cash NDP Davenport, ON

Mr. Speaker, across the country there is a patchwork of rules governing unpaid internships. Provinces have different regulations. Some provinces have none, and there are no clear rules at the federal level.

This petition, on behalf of dozens upon dozens of people in Toronto, calls upon the government to support a national urban worker strategy that would provide much clearer rules around unpaid internships, among many other measures.