Mr. Speaker, I agree with the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan that students need jobs to pay for their education and to gain vital experience and skills. Young Canadians are the workforce of the future. Anything we invest in them today will reap rewards for Canada in the years ahead.
We are investing in them. Take the student work placement program, for example. In budget 2024, the Government of Canada proposed $207.6 million for the program to create 40,000 work-integrated learning opportunities for college and university students: 40,000 is almost like a full Blue Jays' home baseball game. It is a packed stadium of students, all gaining valuable work experience. This is the scale we are talking about.
When given the opportunity to learn on the job, particularly in their field of study, post-secondary students can acquire professional skills, build their resumés and make connections that will help them get high-quality jobs after graduation. These opportunities also help them to adapt. They acquire new skills that will be useful as the job market evolves.
When we say skills, we are talking about communication, creative thinking and negotiation skills, which are best developed through practical work experience.
Since it launched in 2017, the program has created over 300,000 opportunities for post-secondary students across Canada. These opportunities span several fields of study, and 45% of them have gone to students from under-represented groups.
The youth employment and skills strategy, YESS, is another way we are investing in young Canadians. YESS is a Government of Canada initiative that delivers 16 programs through a network of 12 federal departments, agencies and Crown corporations. The strategy is designed to support diverse youth aged 15 to 30 to become job-ready through work experience, training, skills development and wraparound supports that allow them to successfully transition into diverse sectors of the labour market.
Employment and Social Development Canada is the lead department for YESS and delivers two programs: the YESS program and the Canada summer jobs program. In July 2024, the government announced $370 million for ESDC's YESS program to support over 200 projects, most of which are now under way, and in February of this year, we announced an additional $23 million that will fund over 35 new projects. This brings the total investments in ESDC's YESS program to over $393 million for 2024-28. That means we are on track to help more than 26,000 young people overcome job barriers and secure meaningful, lasting jobs.
The Canada summer jobs program is another example of how much we are investing in young Canadians. I do not have much time left to go into the details, but the CSJ supports are meaningful to thousands of youth during the summer.
There is no doubt that we are supporting youth at every stage of their journey toward a brighter future and a stronger Canadian economy.