Madam Speaker, I have great respect for the member's work and the advocacy she is doing on behalf of her constituents and students in her riding.
I want to be very clear. The Government of Canada has been committed to supporting young people from the very beginning of this pandemic. We introduced a nearly $9-billion comprehensive support package for students. That package included boosts to job programs, boosts to income supports and a pause on student loan repayments. I will provide more details, starting with the job aspect.
The Government of Canada recognized many students could not find work this summer, which is why we introduced the Canada emergency student benefit. Through the CESB, eligible students received $1,250 per month between May and August. They were also able to continue working part time while receiving the benefit, as long as their income did not exceed $1,000. This meant they could remain connected to the labour force. Students with permanent disabilities and those with dependents received an additional $750 per month. This benefit has provided income support to over 700,000 post-secondary students and recent graduates since its launch.
The youth employment and skills strategy has helped to put focus on creating more opportunities for youth who face barriers to employment. New funding announced during COVID-19 provided nearly $190 million in additional funding to create almost 10,000 more work and training opportunities for young Canadians. These jobs are critical in sectors such as agriculture, health and essential services to support communities impacted by this virus.
In response to disruptions caused by COVID-19, the Government of Canada also invested nearly $62 million to boost the Canada summer jobs program. I know this because I manage the Canada summer jobs program here in my riding. Through this investment, we increased jobs under the program from 70,000 to 80,000, with just over 84,000 total jobs approved and thousands of opportunities currently still available. I encourage youth to visit www.jobbank.gc.ca. I have been sending students there in search of work, and many of them in my riding have been successful in finding some temporary work.
We also introduced temporary flexibilities to the program this year to respond to the pandemic, which included allowing employers to offer part-time and stay-at-home positions and extending the hiring period to the end of February 2021.
Another important job program is the student work placement program. It has given real-world hands-on work experience to post-secondary students across Canada. This year the government invested over $266 million in that program to support up to 40,000 work placements for students in vital sectors such as health care, food processing and e-commerce.
As this pandemic drags on, we promise to be there for Canada's young people. They are our future and the leaders of today and they absolutely deserve our support. I want to thank the member for Edmonton Strathcona once again for her advocacy on this important issue and for students from coast to coast to coast. I truly want to make sure we do well to serve them.