Mr. Chair, I want to thank the hard-working member for Kelowna—Lake Country.
We know in western Canada that many of our prairie seniors find their way to Kelowna for retirement. The member is from a beautiful constituency, and I know he represents it very well.
As a complement to a strong retirement system, we are also supporting the growing number of seniors who choose to remain in the workforce. Many senior Canadians are now making this choice in order to stay connected with our social network or to add to their financial resources. These employment opportunities not only help these individuals in meeting their personal goals, but they also provide access to experienced talent that is often sought by other employers.
To support labour force participation by seniors, our government renewed the targeted initiative for older worker program in 2014. It was renewed for a three-year period, which helps the unemployed workers aged 55 to 64 living in small economically-vulnerable communities to improve their employability and reintegrate into the labour market.
Since its launch in 2007, our total investment in this initiative will be an estimated $345 million by March 31, 2017. To date, more than 35,000 unemployed older workers have been targeted to participate in the initiative.
We similarly invested $6 million over three years in economic action plan 2012 to extend and expand the third quarter project, an initiative that has helped approximately 1,200 experienced workers who are all over 50 years old. It helps them find a job that matches their skill set.
In addition to working, a large number of seniors also want to give back to their communities through volunteerism. The new horizon for seniors program helps seniors both benefit and contribute to the quality of life in their community through social participation and active living.
Since 2006, new horizons has funded over 13,000 projects, including those helping seniors and community members, to recognize elder abuse in all its forms and to improve the quality of life, safety and security of seniors.
I am proud to say that even in my riding of Crowfoot, I have had the opportunity to meet with senior organizations that have applied for and received funding through this new horizon program. I am also pleased that, through economic action plan 2014, we invested an additional $5 million per year for new horizons to support projects that have enabled seniors to share their knowledge, skills and experiences with others, bringing total funding for the program to $50 million annually.
New horizons is yet another example of how we are making Canada's seniors stronger, more prosperous and more secure. I am very proud of the work we have accomplished with our seniors.