Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan's robust contributions today and indeed on many days in this House.
It is a pleasure to rise to speak about a program, the Canada summer jobs program, that our government has indeed doubled, creating 70,000 paid-work experiences for Canadian youth. The Canada summer jobs program is an integral part of our plan to support Canada's young people so they can get the education and experience they need to get a quality job. It helps young people start off on the right foot toward building their careers, and it helps keep our economy growing and our middle class thriving.
The program benefits students and employers alike, and it helps move our economy forward.
Unlike the previous Conservative government, whose policies drove youth unemployment to its highest rates since the nineties, we on this side of the House are investing in young people. Budget 2018 invests an additional $448.5 million over five years to support our youth employment strategy. This funding will help to continue to double the number of job placements funded under the Canada summer jobs program in 2019-20.
On the issue of freedom of conscience and religion raised by my colleague, we have had many robust discussions about this both in this House and outside of this House. Let me be very clear. The changes we have made are not at all, in any way, about excluding faith-based groups. My friend raised the issue of the charter protections. As a constitutional lawyer, I will advise him, but also he will know quite clearly, that subsection 2(a) protects freedom of conscience and religion under the Canadian Constitution put in place by Pierre Trudeau when he was then prime minister of this country.
More importantly, the attestation clause, as has been discussed at length in this chamber, is not about changing doctrine, ideology, or belief with respect to any faith-based group. We recognize the important work that faith-based groups do around this country on a daily basis. We are saying if a Catholic church, a synagogue, a mosque, or a Hindu temple runs a soup kitchen, God bless them for running the soup kitchen. However, if in running that soup kitchen they say that an LGBTQ2+ youth cannot be employed working in that soup kitchen, that is an exclusive policy, and not something that we will fund as a government. That is what the attestation clause is meant to do.
I do not think we see differently on either side of this House. We believe clearly in freedom of conscience on both sides, but we also believe in inclusion on both sides of the House, and “inclusion” means ensuring that people such as an LGBTQ2+ youth have the ability to work in an inclusive environment, including one being run by a faith-based institution.
We are not here to dictate the faith or tenets of various faith groups around this country. As the parliamentary secretary for multiculturalism, who works under the Minister of Canadian Heritage in promoting those very faith-based groups, religious groups, and diverse cultural groups that make up this country, it would be abhorrent for us to even purport to do so.
What we are trying to do is ensure that government funding addresses the needs of Canadians, addresses young people, and gets them employed in jobs that are related to the careers that they are seeking to pursue, but doing so in a manner that protects that fundamental founding document, which is our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the rights contained therein. It is a critical facet. Employers continue to understand this. They have applied in record numbers. There are 3,000 first-time funding recipients for this program. That is why we are proud of the implementation of the Canada summer jobs program. We are proud of the fact that we expanded the program and the funding, and that tens of thousands of young people are currently employed.