Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to have the opportunity today to discuss our government’s plan to fight COVID-19 and support Canadians.
At the beginning of the pandemic, our government acted quickly and decisively to support Canadians through the crisis to help workers, businesses, the provinces and territories, municipalities, indigenous communities and public health officers to do the right thing. Our government has made major investments in health care, income support, paid sick leave and responding to the urgent needs of businesses. Our commitment to do whatever it takes to keep Canadians safe, healthy and solvent through the turbulence of this pandemic has always been at the heart of our plan to ensure that we are well positioned for a resilient recovery.
When the virus is under control and our economy is ready to absorb it, our government will deploy a stimulus package of up to between $70 billion and $100 billion over the next three fiscal years, roughly valuated at between 3% to 4% of GDP. The growth plan will help us jump-start our recovery toward an economy that is greener, more innovative, more inclusive and more competitive. We will make smart, time-limited investments that act fast, while also making a long-term contribution to our shared prosperity, our competitiveness and our green transformation. We will spend this winter working with Canadians to plan and prepare these investments when the virus is under control.
Canadians know that inequality makes our economy less resilient, so it is key for us to ensure that young people have the opportunity to acquire skills and work experience, that all Canadians have the means to find housing, that women can fully participate in our economy, that racialized Canadians and indigenous people who missed opportunities are given a chance and that all communities have the 21st century infrastructure that people need. This plan includes investments in good jobs for Canadians and helps deliver on our commitment to create millions of jobs and bring jobs back to pre-pandemic levels. The investments proposed in the fall economic statement will help us achieve these goals, lay the foundation for a fair and lasting recovery and create good jobs for all Canadians.
When it comes to jobs, many Canadians have already faced barriers to pre-pandemic employment, and they are now at risk of falling even further behind. This could have a long-term impact on their ability to build a career and create financial security for themselves and their families.
That is why our government proposes to invest an additional $274 million over two years to further bolster training programs for those hardest hit by the pandemic, including marginalized and racialized women, indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities and recent newcomers to Canada. This funding will support the indigenous skills and employment training program, the foreign credential recognition program, the opportunities fund for persons with disabilities and the women’s employment readiness Canada pilot project.
Let me reassure members of the House that our government is committed to ensuring that our job plan addresses the unique characteristics of this crisis and the disproportionate impact that COVID-19 has had on women. Job losses have affected people across Canada. They seem to have had a reassuring rebound, as 80% of the jobs lost at the beginning of the pandemic have been recovered, but employment gains have been slower for women.
As many of the hardest-hit industries disproportionately employ women, women have also faced a greater loss of earnings and hours worked. Lockdowns have led to closures of schools and child care centres across the country. For families with young children, it was more often than not mothers who took on the unpaid burden of care for children, many of them reducing their hours or leaving their jobs entirely. In September, our government announced in the Speech from the Throne that we will create an action plan for women in the economy to help more women get back into the workforce and ensure a feminist intersectional response to this pandemic and recovery.
With this fall economic statement, we are announcing the creation of a task force of diverse experts to help the government develop this plan. We are bringing the task force together in the coming weeks to begin the work of advising the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance on policies and measures to be included in the government's stimulus plan to support women's employment throughout the recovery period.
What is good for everyone must also be good for young people. The economic impact of COVID-19 on young Canadians is disproportionate. It is important that the government ensure that this pandemic does not derail their future.
Young people need to be able to transform their hard-earned knowledge and skills into secure, well-paying jobs. It is essential to their success and to Canada's future prosperity. That is why we are proposing to build on the employment, skills development and education supports available to young people and students over the summer. These measures include doubling student grants and funding for new employment opportunities with additional measures that will ease the financial burden on students and provide young people with more opportunities to gain work experience.
More specifically, we are proposing to allocate more than $44 million to the Canada summer jobs program to increase the number of internships available; invest more than $575 million over the next two years in the youth employment and skills strategy in order to be able to offer internships for young people; and eliminate the interest on the repayment of the federal portion of Canada student loans and the Canada apprenticeship loan program for 2021-22. This measure will apply to up to 1.4 million Canadians who are looking for work or are in the early stages of their careers.
The final issue I would like to touch on today is the work that we are undertaking to build a more inclusive and diverse Canada. Systemic racism and discrimination is a painful lived reality for Black and racialized Canadians and indigenous peoples. Data shows that racialized Canadians have experienced many of the worst health and economic impacts of the pandemic. Global events during the pandemic have also shone a spotlight on the realities of racism, particularly anti-Black racism, and that it still persists including here in Canada.
Our government has reiterated our commitment to fight racism is all its forms through clear and meaningful proposed investments in our fall economic statement. These are in a number of key areas: economic opportunity, representation at the highest levels of and throughout the public service, diversity in corporate Canada, modernizing the equity legislation to be truly inclusive, community empowerment, and action to address systemic racism in the justice system.
These measures reflect the advocacy and hard work of community leaders across Canada. We will ensure that senior government officials work directly with them to make sure that these programs are delivered as intended. Building on the previous investments, these are early steps in the work to be done to make sure that federal policies appropriately serve the historically underserved and in a manner that all Canadians deserve.
There is no doubt that the direction we take now will decide the future of our country. As members can see from the measures I have highlighted today, the government's stimulus package will make smart investments and create genuine sustained value for many years and generations to come. These are measures that will have a real impact on jobs in the short term and strengthen Canada's competitiveness in the long term. These are measures that will support people and communities hardest hit by this unparalleled economic crisis and provide economic benefits for a more inclusive workforce.
Bill C-14 is the first step in implementing these important measures and I hope that all of the House will support it. We must take advantage of the full potential of Canada and Canadians and what Canadians have to offer to create a stronger, more resilient Canada. Together, and now, is how we build the foundation for a better, fairer and more inclusive Canada for all, the Canada we all deserve.