Madam Speaker, during question period in the spring, I pointed out that the Liberal government had no plan when it came to the then already-metastasizing youth unemployment crisis. Things have continued to get worse and the government still has no plan.
Youth unemployment, according to the latest StatsCan numbers, has jumped to 14.7%. We are now approaching half a million unemployed young people in the country between the ages of 15 and 24. This means hopes eroding and opportunities lost. Young people who want to work hard, contribute and get ahead are not able to because of the failed policies of the government.
We have called on the government to adopt a plan to reverse its bad policies, a plan to help young people get back to work. We have done more than just suggest that it put forward a plan. We have actually put forward a plan ourselves.
Last week, the Conservative Party released our Conservative youth jobs plan here in Ottawa. That plan was released in a constructive spirit, in the hopes that the Liberals would adopt our youth jobs plan as part of their budget. They have no plan, but we have a plan, and we put it forward in the hopes that the Liberals would adopt it.
Our Conservative youth jobs plan has four elements. We are calling on the government to unleash the economy, fix immigration, fix training and build homes where the jobs are.
When it comes to unleashing the economy, the Liberals need to reverse policies that are blocking economic development. They need to repeal Bill C-69, repeal Bill C-48, get rid of the production cap, eliminate the industrial carbon tax to allow our energy sector to move forward. More than that, they need to address the red tape and high taxes that are making it so difficult to start and grow a business.
They need to implement our proposals to stimulate economic activity. We proposed, in the last election, that the government eliminate the capital gains tax for dollars that are immediately reinvested here in Canada.
These measures would unleash our economy and help young people get back to work.
The second part of our plan is to fix immigration. We put forward constructive proposals on immigration, recognizing that under the Liberal government, the system has gotten way out of whack with our labour market needs. We keep hearing experts, during public hearings at the human resources committee study, speak about how Liberal policies on immigration have particularly exacerbated challenges for youth and working-class people by not having effective screening based on skills and by not aligning our immigration system with our labour market. The Liberals need to address these immigration failures. They need to unleash the economy, fix immigration and fix training.
We have proposed significant new investments to support union-based training and support trades programs in high schools. Also, student loan programs should offer relatively more generous support for students pursuing studies in high-demand fields. Right now, loans and grants are offered regardless of the program students are studying in. We are proposing that relatively more generous support be offered to students who are pursuing in-demand fields.
Finally, we need incentives to assist employers that build employee housing so that they build homes where the jobs are. We are proposing a 100% accelerated capital cost writeoff for employers that build employee housing. This plan would help get housing built where jobs are and would make it easier for unemployed young people in regions of high unemployment to move to areas where there are jobs and opportunity and find housing along the way.
This is our plan to unleash the economy, fix immigration, fix training and build homes where the jobs are. The Liberals have no plan to address the metastasizing youth unemployment crisis. Conservatives have a plan. Will the Liberals adopt our plan in the budget?