Debates of Oct. 27th, 2026

Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Mr. Speaker, to my colleague from Vancouver Island, this may seem out of the blue, but in my riding, some wonderful teachers who used to teach shop are really worried about the decline in access for young people to learn trades. They have an idea that I am working on, and I am asking about it in case other members are interested in working on it.

Twenty-four Sussex Drive will need a major rebuild or renovation. The idea of this team of teachers is to get a team of youth from across Canada to rebuild the Prime Minister's house, learning trades, being paid as they do it, living in Ottawa and making it truly a project of national interest. Does the hon. member for Nanaimo—Ladysmith think it might be a good idea?

[Tamara Kronis, Conservative, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Mr. Speaker, one of the things I love about our communities on Vancouver Island is that we have an incredible array of creative suggestions. I want to thank the member for that one. Unfortunately, that will not be up to me. That will be up to the committee that is planning the renovation of 24 Sussex. I would be delighted to join with the member in pursuing this proposal and encouraging the government to make use of the skills and creativity of our youth in every way possible.

I would add one more thing. Part of the concern we have about our young people right now is that they spend so much time on screens, and they are not developing gross motor skills, except in their thumbs. I would love to see more youth getting the opportunity to learn shop and trades in school.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for the excellent work she does representing her constituents.

One of the first things I did when I became shadow minister for jobs is spend a bit of time travelling around and talking to people in different regions. I spent some time in the member's riding, and she set up some great engagements for me as part of that trip.

I know she has been a champion of recognizing and appreciating trades work. Some of the recommendations we have put forward have been about doing more to align education and training with the needs of the labour market and training Canadian young people for jobs here in Canada. I wonder if the member can share a bit about the work happening in her riding to achieve that.

[Tamara Kronis, Conservative, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Mr. Speaker, thank you so much for the time you spent in my community learning not just about trades, but about all the things that our young people are interested in.

As the member knows, I am in the trades since I am a goldsmith. I look for every opportunity I can to encourage people to learn to do things with their hands because I find that very satisfying. We have an incredible university in my community, Vancouver Island University, and I would encourage anyone who is interested in the trades to look into my community as a place to learn.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, John Nater]

This is just a reminder to the member to address her comments through the Chair since I have not been to the member's riding. I was not invited.

The hon. member has a point of order.

[Tamara Kronis, Conservative, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to ensure that the Speaker and all of his hon. colleagues as Speakers understand that they are welcome to come to my riding anytime. I would welcome them to see our communities.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, John Nater]

That was not quite a point of order, but the Chair appreciates it.

Resuming debate, the hon. member for Louis-Saint-Laurent—Akiawenhrahk.

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent—Akiawenhrahk, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am thankful for the opportunity to speak about this motion tonight. I want to highlight the fact that everybody in Canada, if not the world, is welcome in Louis-Saint-Laurent—Akiawenhrahk, because obviously Quebec City is the most fantastic city in the world. As Prime Minister Harper used to say, each and every Canadian should have two cities in their heart. The first is where they were born and the second is Quebec City. However, as I was born in Quebec City, I have a conflict of interest.

I want to talk about this debate today regarding youth employment. Young Canadians are currently facing a serious crisis. It is important to recognize that the teenage years are not exactly the best years in one's life. We try things out, we discover ourselves a little and discover life. We face challenges that are sometimes a bit sad. Sometimes we succeed and sometimes we fail, but that is part of life. One of the great things about being a teenager, especially in our late teens on the cusp of becoming a young adult, is our first job. We all remember our first job. I would say it is the first step toward adulthood. It is a time when we stop being completely dependent on our parents, although, of course, we are always emotionally attached to them. We start making money. We start working. We start making some money.

I will always remember how, in June 1980, I was working at the Brunet pharmacy at Place L'Ormière which, by the way, is still in business. When it changed hands about 10 years ago, I went to see the new owners to tell them that the pharmacy gave me my first job, and they were happy to hear it. Receiving that first paycheque at the age of 15, 16 or 17 is a big deal. In my day, in 1980, seeing a three-digit figure on a paycheque was really something. Earning $4 an hour and receiving a three-digit paycheque was fantastic. Those are memories that stay with a person.

I am sure that my colleague, the member for Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, who is also the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance and a former Quebec finance minister, remembers that. He knows just how much respect I have for him. He balanced the Quebec government's budget. I would encourage him to follow his own example to balance the federal budget. I am sure that he, too, remembers his first cheque, although it may have had four digits on it. Maybe he started working at a bank when he was 16, who knows. As we know, he has a Ph.D. in economics, which is no small feat.

The reality is that a young person's first job marks the first step toward adulthood, and it is something they remember forever. That is why it needs to be a great opportunity and a great experience. Right now, however, the youth unemployment rate in Canada is very high. We are talking about 14%. That is more than twice as high as Canada's current unemployment rate of 6.5%, which is on the rise. We need to be cautious. That said, among young people 15 to 24, the rate stands at 14%. Over the past month, 48,000 youth jobs were lost. In Quebec, the situation is not necessarily any better, since the youth unemployment rate is twice as high as that of people 30 to 54. In short, from coast to coast to coast, and particularly in Quebec, we are facing a youth unemployment crisis.

Members will recall that everyone had a job right after COVID-19. Businesses, coffee shops and plants everywhere kept saying that they were hiring. Some restaurants were even closed on Monday evenings because they could not hire enough staff. Whenever I ordered my coffee at the drive-through of a well-known national chain, I always thanked the lady or gentleman for being there to serve me. There were plenty of jobs available. Those were different times. The unemployment rate was 5.3%. In 2025, it rose to a little over 8%, and now in 2026, it is around 10%. Specifically, for those aged 15 to 19, the unemployment rate is 12.5%. In Ontario, the unemployment rate is 22.6%. In Alberta, the youth unemployment rate is 24.1%. Almost one in four young people is unemployed. Sadly, it reminds me of 1982-83, when youth unemployment was over 25% and interest rates were hovering around 21% or 22%.

Every generation has its challenges. I will not make anyone cry about my generation today. I think of my father's generation. He was told that they were going to put a helmet on his head and that he had to go and kill the Nazis to save humanity. Let us just say that it was much more demanding for my parents' generation than for mine. At the same time, we hope that our children and grandchildren will have the same opportunities, which, unfortunately, is not always the case.

To close on the issue of unemployment, among those without a high school diploma, the unemployment rate is at 17%.

We need to tackle the issue of youth unemployment head-on. As I said earlier, people take great pride in taking that first step in their adult life, with a paycheque with three digits or sometimes four digits. It should be a good experience, and young people should be able to have that opportunity.

The Conservatives have a four-point plan. First, we must free up the economy. The government keeps bragging about wanting to speed up major projects and cut red tape, but the fact remains that, after 11 years of Liberal governance, Canada is lagging behind in this area. It is crucial that we unblock major projects. We must fully develop our natural resources. We must also enable all of our research chairs to achieve their full potential.

We must put an end to anti-resource laws. We must lower taxes to accelerate production and leave more money in businesses' pockets so that they can grow, rather than forcing them to send money to Ottawa or to the provinces, which leaves them with less money. They know how to create wealth. It is not the government that creates wealth. It is businesses that do that. We need to give them more freedom to operate.

We also need to fix the training system. The programs we have right now are too cookie-cutter, in our opinion. We need programs that are much better tailored to our needs. I am thinking of the Canada student financial assistance program in particular. We believe that we should focus on jobs where there are needs, jobs for which employers are actively seeking workers.

Let us be very honest. In the past, we used to say that education is an investment. That is still true. Earning a university degree, whether at the undergraduate, master's or doctoral level, remains important. We can all agree on that. I should point out that, when I was young, skilled trades were not held in particularly high regard. Today, we need these jobs, and young men and women can have amazing careers and lives with core trades that are essential to our economy. I am talking about plumbing and electrical work. People can do multiple tasks to build homes or build infrastructure. Those workers must not be overlooked. On the contrary, they deserve to be valued, just as all forms of work deserve to be valued.

We also need to build housing where the jobs are. We often hear businesses in regions outside the major urban centres described as being “remote”. In reality, it would be just as accurate to say that the urban centres are remote from those regions. It may sound a little pretentious to describe them as being far away, but the distance from Montreal to the Gaspé Peninsula is exactly the same as the distance from the Gaspé Peninsula to Montreal. I checked. It is the same distance in both directions. A region should not be put down that way. I see that my colleague from Marc-Aurèle-Fortin agrees with me. He is nodding his head.

To share a little story, when I was the leader of the provincial Action démocratique du Québec, or ADQ, I was in Matane when there was talk about opening a CEGEP in Montreal. I said that a CEGEP was going to open in Matane and that people from Montreal would come to Matane, because people from Matane go to Montreal, and the distance is the same both ways.

We therefore have to overhaul training, build housing where the jobs are, and fix our immigration system. Unfortunately, for the past 10 years, Canada has pursued a one-size-fits-all approach to immigration. We opened the door like that with no respect for the immigrants themselves. Never forget that immigrants are the first victims of the kind of disrespectful immigration we have had for the past 10 years.

Therefore, it is a cocktail of proposals that includes liberating the economy, overhauling training, repairing immigration and building housing to fight youth unemployment.

[Carlos Leitão, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. Indeed, there is unemployment in general, but youth unemployment is quite high. Of course, this is also a major concern for us. It is really a matter of that first job. How does a person go about landing their first job?

I remember my first job. It was in 1975 and I worked the night shift. It was not necessarily pleasant, but by the weekend, the paycheque was nice. That is very important. That first job is a stepping stone.

My question for my colleague is very simple. In this context, in his view, what role should the federal government play in getting young people trained faster?

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent—Akiawenhrahk, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the more things change, the more they stay the same. We are currently on the evening shift. That is where we find ourselves in 2026.

In all seriousness, the MP and Parliamentary Secretary's question is quite relevant. The federal government absolutely must listen to businesses and respond to their needs.

All too often, the government introduces one-size-fits-all programs, assuming that a single approach will work for everyone, but that is not the case. Take immigration and employment issues, for example. The unemployment rate is much higher in Montreal than in Chaudière-Appalaches. In Chaudière-Appalaches—the right side of the St. Lawrence River—the unemployment rate is 2%. When I say “right”, I am exaggerating a little, but there are quite a few Conservative MPs across all constituencies.

It is clear that, if we want to tackle the issue of youth employment, we must do so on a regional, not national, basis.

[Andrew Lawton, Conservative, Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague spoke eloquently about the importance of a first job. I have fond memories of my own first work experiences.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for young people to get their first job. When they are late entering the workforce, they acquire less experience and have less financial resources. They also have fewer opportunities to gain the skills they need to get better-paying jobs.

Can my colleague explain the long-term consequences of entering the workforce late?

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent—Akiawenhrahk, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague first and foremost for his excellent French. I do not know if anyone has seen him play the piano, but it is impressive. On top of that, he penned the biography of Quebec's future premier, the current Leader of the Opposition.

What young people need is to be given the chance and the privilege to experience the happiness of getting their first job.

Unfortunately, I must bring up the sad memory of what happened during COVID. I know that we were flying by the seat of our pants, we all understand that, but it was too bad to see young people being given money to stay home. They received $2,000 a month.

I am sure that all members heard from business owners and job creators who said that young people wanted to work, but that if they were getting $2,000 a month to stay home, employers could not compete with that. We pointed out at the time that this was a mistake. It was not easy to stand up against something that a lot of people clearly liked, but we did it, and it was the right thing to do.

[Natilien Joseph, Liberal, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am going to share a brief story, even though my time is limited. This summer, while visiting organizations participating in the Canada summer jobs program, I met a young man from New Brunswick who was working in Longueuil. I asked him whether he had come to Quebec because job opportunities were scarce in New Brunswick. He replied that this was not the case, that he was simply there to discover Quebec and that he loved gaining experience in other parts of the country.

Mr. Speaker, the question I would like to put to my colleague, for whom I have great respect and whose work I sincerely appreciate—I will not deny that—is the following: Does my colleague believe that mobility can contribute to youth employment?

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent—Akiawenhrahk, QC]

Mr. Speaker, yes, absolutely, all Canadians are invited to travel the length and breadth of Canada to discover the riches and beauty of the most beautiful country in the world: Canada.

[Sandra Cobena, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Bowmanville—Oshawa North.

Today's debate is about whether young Canadians have a fair chance to get started in life. Too many young Canadians are sending out resumes and knocking on doors, but every day, they are finding that no one is calling them back and no one is hiring them. How are they supposed to build a future if they cannot get their first chance?

I have a youth advisory council, and its members said to me that they feel as though they are on a bus that is driven by someone who does not look back to ask where the passengers want to go. All they can do is sit on the bus and look out the window. This is quite telling, but I have a message to these young Canadians: They deserve a seat on the bus, and they deserve to have a say as to where the bus is headed. Members of the House believe that their contributions, their insights as to what policies are best to help them are incredibly valuable.

Let us imagine spending our last year of school looking forward to graduating, only to face months of unanswered job applications. The latest labour force survey shows that Canada lost 68,000 jobs in September alone, following another 42,000 lost in August. That is 110,000 fewer jobs in just two months. Youth unemployment stood at 13%. Employment among young Canadians aged 15 to 24 fell by 48,000 people in September alone. Let us think about the student who needs shifts in order to pay for school, or a graduate who keeps sending out résumés while the student loan payments are coming due. For young people, it often means putting off buying a home or starting a family. Young couples are putting their lives on hold. After months of unanswered applications, it is hard not to lose confidence.

This is being felt close to home as well. York Region reports that the average monthly number of people receiving employment insurance rose by more than 56% between 2023 and 2025. That is 56% more families trying to pay their bills while also looking for work. The region's review also found that although new job postings increased between December 2024 and December 2025, the share offering full-time work fell from 84% to 75%. Finding a posting and finding enough dependable work to pay one's bills are two very different things. Young people should have the chance to save, become independent and build a future in their own community.

I was door knocking in my riding of Newmarket—Aurora and met a young welder who was living in his parents' basement. He said that he makes a good living but still cannot afford to buy a house. He wants to be independent. He wants to start his life, but he does not want to have to live two to three hours away from his parents. He wants to stay close to home and build a family in his own community, but it is nearly impossible for him to do that today. As a mother, I want my children to have that chance of building a future here in Canada. As a member of Parliament, I want every young person in Newmarket—Aurora and across this country to have that chance as well.

A young Canadian cannot get a job at a business that cannot afford to hire one. That is why an employment plan has to address the costs facing the people who create those jobs. A small business owner has to make payroll every month before hiring another person. They need to know that they can afford to pay them. If the government wants young Canadians to be working, it needs to make it easier to open a business, to build a project or to hire another employee.

The committee's first recommendation calls for reducing taxes and red tape. Conservatives have proposed a youth jobs plan that starts with getting the economy moving by repealing antiresource laws, reducing taxes that discourage reinvestment and removing the red tape that is holding back homebuilding and business growth. We want businesses investing in Canada, taking on more work and hiring our people to do it.

The report also calls on the government to consider jobs and housing when setting immigration levels, and to help qualified newcomers work in the field they have expertise in. We should not be inviting someone here with professional qualifications only to leave them unable to work in their profession. It is also unfair to young people when the government fails to consider how many entry-level jobs and homes are actually available. A young person looking for their first job and a newcomer trying to use their qualifications both deserve a fair chance to contribute and to build a career. The government needs to plan around the jobs and housing available and to work with the provinces to get qualified people working in their field.

We also have to make sure that training leads to work. Young people put years into their education. Many take on debt, and many have their family make sacrifices to help them. Recommendation 10 calls for training funding to go to programs that actually help young people find work. If a program is not delivering, the government should not put money in that program but should direct that money to the program where it will give someone a better chance of getting hired.

Our plan would give students more financial help if they choose to study in a field where employers need workers. That means looking at actual job market data and helping young Canadians train for jobs that need to be filled.

Young Canadians also keep hearing that they need experience to get their first job. How are they supposed to get experience if they do not get a chance in the first place? The report recommends more student work placements and stable funding for the student work placement program, a program I benefited from when I was in university, in fact. That would help students get experience with an employer while they are still in school so they have something on their résumé when they graduate.

Another recommendation suggests bringing back grants that help apprentices pay for their training. If we need more electricians, carpenters or plumbers, we must ensure that the young people entering those trades can finish the training. However, even with the right training and a job offer, there is another layer of complication, another challenge, which is to find somewhere to live. If a young person is willing to move for work but cannot find a home they can afford, how are they supposed to take the job? The report recommends studying a tax write-off for employers that build housing for their workers.

My children are little, and I do not know where life will take them in terms of their careers, but I want them to know that they can build a good life here in the country we love, Canada. Young Canadians should be able to look forward to their future instead of wondering whether they will ever be able to afford it.

The report gives the government clear recommendations it can act on now to make it easier for businesses to hire, help students get work experience, support apprentices through their training and help workers find housing where the jobs are. Young Canadians should be able to build a future in the country they call home. They are willing to work for it. it is time the government stopped making it harder for them.

[Carlos Leitão, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, indeed, youth unemployment is a major issue not just in Canada but around the world as well. However, we are talking about Canada, where it is a major issue. We find ourselves in a situation that is rather unique in that there are a lot of young people looking for jobs and a lot of businesses and companies looking for workers. There is a mismatch between people looking for jobs and businesses offering jobs.

In that context, what would my colleague recommend the government do first in order to make sure that the mismatch disappears and that the people looking for jobs can find one that businesses are looking for workers to fulfill?

[Sandra Cobena, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Mr. Speaker, that is an incredibly important question, and I am a firm believer that we will come up with the best policies when industry and government work close together to find the right policies.

In speaking to young people, they want to be part of the solution. I would encourage every member of the House to create a youth advisory council and get recommendations from youth themselves. In speaking to businesses as well, I have learned that they often find a mismatch for the skills needed for a particular job, which is why training and entry-level experience is important for students.

When we bring both parties, including the people who are part of the solution, to the table to have a discussion, we will have a better outcome in terms of policies. This report actually has some very simple solutions that would help ease the problem.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I have just a brief comment in response to the question from the Liberal opposite, who quite rightly highlighted the need to work on bridging the gaps that exist between employers and young people in skills development.

One of the critical institutions that does that work in bridging the gap is the vocational institutions that work with employers to offer vocational skills that are highly aligned with the needs of the labour market. This is for young people, and the government is attacking them. In fact, the Minister for Jobs and Families has viciously and aggressively attacked these institutions and suggested they are all fraudulent. One thing the government needs to do is stop demonizing those who are doing this important work of trying to bridge the gap between employers and young people.

I want to thank the member for raising the issue of credential recognition. When skilled professionals trained in other parts of the world are forced to compete with young people for entry-level jobs, that is a big loss to our economy in every sense. How can we do better at addressing this gap in credential recognition so that people who are trained can work in their areas of skill and leave space for young people in entry-level jobs?

[Sandra Cobena, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Mr. Speaker, in the last election, we were very clear that part of the solution is the blue seal program so highly-trained immigrants could practise in their field of expertise. In speaking to a number of professionals, I have heard nothing but good feedback on that.

On the topic of young Canadians, their first job, that entry-level job they are looking for, their first opportunity, is oftentimes created by small businesses and medium-sized businesses. We need to support them as well.

[Andrew Lawton, Conservative, Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it was with great pleasure that I heard my colleague mention a program she benefited from in university, because that was when I first had the opportunity to meet her, which was when we were students together.

The country we faced then, a number of years ago, which I will not put on the record for both of our sakes, was very different from the one facing youth now. One of the biggest problems I have seen is that young people cannot get a first job, which means employers are looking at 20-somethings with no experience. Can the member speak to the longer-term consequences of that?

[Sandra Cobena, Conservative, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I do thank the member for not mentioning the year we met when we were in university.

That first job is incredibly important. It gives experience, and it is an employer saying, “We believe in you. You can do it. Your contributions are valuable, and we are taking a chance in building your career here in Canada.”

[Gérard Deltell, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent—Akiawenhrahk, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Earlier on, during questions and comments, when I was answering the question from the member for Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, I got carried away a little. I said that the leader of the official opposition would be the next premier of Quebec. I want to make a correction: He will be the future prime minister of Canada.

[The Deputy Speaker, Tom Kmiec]

I thank the member for correcting his comments in the House.

With that being said, we will resume debate with the hon. member for Bowmanville—Oshawa North.

[Jamil Jivani, Conservative, Bowmanville—Oshawa North, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the great people of Bowmanville—Oshawa North to discuss the urgent and important matter of youth unemployment.

There are a lot of statistics that get referred to when we talk about this issue, and those statistics are very important, but I also want to spend some time talking about the people and the lives behind those numbers. To paint a broad picture, as a country, we have lost, in the last two months, 110,000 jobs, and in September, 70% of the jobs lost were lost by young workers. That is 48,000 jobs lost in one month by workers under the age of 25. This number is startling and alarming. It is a reminder that policy makers and legislators here in Ottawa must take this problem seriously and be looking for solutions.

I have the privilege and honour of representing a riding and a community home to two post-secondary schools, Durham College and Ontario Tech University. There are wonderful opportunities for me to not only feel old regularly, because when I speak to students I am reminded of just how much time flies by, but also to be reminded of all the incredible, dynamic, wonderful young people we have in this country.

To give a perspective on the student population of my home community, we have 13,000 full-time students at Durham College, as well as 30,000 part-time and continuing education students. At Ontario Tech University, we have over 14,000 graduate and undergraduate students. I have the opportunity to go to campus and hear how their lives are going, hear how they are experiencing this economy and see from their point of view how the Prime Minister's decisions affect their generation and the prospects they have to build a life, build a career, buy a home one day and move forward with their dreams.

Recently, I was able, with the help of a fantastic professor, Ms. Keri-Ellen Walcer, who is at the faculty of business at Durham College, to bring together a group of student leaders to share their experiences and give me their feedback on how the economy is affecting them, their peers and their families. We got together with heads of the Durham College students' union and the Ontario Tech students' union, as well as the Durham College student business club, the Durham College blogging club and the Durham College makers and shakers club.

What really became clear to me from these conversations is that, if we want to tackle the youth unemployment problem, we have to be cognizant of how the economy is affecting the young entrepreneur. The young entrepreneur is the person who is going to build the economy of the future. The young entrepreneur is going to create jobs for not only himself or herself, but also for his or her peers and the broader community. If we are going to make a dent in these alarming numbers that indicate that job losses are acutely affecting young workers, we are going to have to have a plan for the young entrepreneur to be empowered and supported.

In the feedback that they shared with me, those students raised a number of issues that I think can paint a clear picture for members of the House to better understand how the future leaders of our economy are stressing and struggling with the current affordability crisis and the impact this has on job creation.

I want to start by talking about their concerns over housing. What they made very clear to me was that, because they are just eking by every month to be able to pay rent, and because of how difficult it is for them to make ends meet, it leaves very little time at the end of every day, at the end of every week and at the end of every month to actually work on their businesses, and they have a very broad range of interests, from fashion design to manufacturing and restaurants. They have all sorts of things that they want to be working on, but because of the affordability crisis, they have very little time to access opportunity to work on those things.

We know that in order to grow a business and in order to build an economy, young people need mentorship and they need networking. Especially if they want to start a business, they need mentorship and networking in the field that they want to work in, innovate in, create in and build in, but if someone is eking by every month, struggling just to get by day to day, then they have very little time to do the big picture thinking and planning to actually build those relationships to build that business and grow our local economy.

This paints a very clear and logical picture, so when the government comes out and says, it has a program, and the government and the Prime Minister are very good at announcements, press releases, press conferences and standing at a podium, often with a manufactured design behind them to indicate that they are doing something constructive, it leads to a lot of questions, like, in the middle of an affordability crisis, how much time young people have to access these supposed announcements and programs.

If young people are struggling to get by, where is the time at the end of the day to fill out government paperwork or talk in a government office about a program that is supposed to help their generation build for the future? This is even clearer if someone visits the Durham College campus. There they will see that, like many other campuses across the country, it has started a food bank on campus because of how bad affordability has become for the average student to get by.

This not only paints a picture of a precarious situation for young entrepreneurs to be operating in, but paints a picture of the difficulty in having the time and focus to build the businesses of the future, in accessing mentorship and networking, in accessing programming and in doing the planning necessary to build. It also paints a picture of severe mental health crises. What people will hear if they talk to students, not just at Durham College and Ontario Tech University but at campuses across this country, is that they are dealing with an extreme amount of stress to complete their studies, plan for the future and build a career when they graduate to pay their bills and get by. This leads to very serious mental health concerns for many of their peers, and it leads to a lot of concern about whether there are appropriate resources and supports for young people on campuses and beyond. This is not just clinical support, but community support and the opportunity to build relationships, friendships and fellowship. These things are often lacking in the lives of young people today as they struggle with the affordability crisis.

All in all, if we are to recognize, as I believe we should, that young entrepreneurs are critical to resolving the youth unemployment problem, then we also must understand the circumstances they are growing up in, the circumstances they are studying in and the circumstances they are working in. My belief is that if we are to take this problem seriously, then every time we see a statistic come out in a StatsCan report or a jobs number get released in the news, we should think about young people like the business leaders I mentioned at Durham College and Ontario Tech and the students all across this country who are bearing the brunt of an economy that simply does not work.

I recall that just a couple of years ago, members of an earlier iteration of the Liberal government used to talk a lot about the idea of generational fairness. I remember that buzzword being used very often. However, when we visit students at campuses and hear from them, we hears that the government has not produced generational fairness. In fact, the government has produced a very imbalanced economy where those who already have a home or business and have already made their way do not feel the same consequences as those who dream and strive to have those very same things and who are trying to get those things in an environment where it is much more difficult.

With my remaining time, I would like to highlight a plan that some of my Conservative colleagues have spoken about in the House today. It is a plan that Conservatives have put forward that we believe will make a difference for young workers and young entrepreneurs. It is a plan that will address many of the issues and concerns that I hear when I visit the students at Durham College and Ontario Tech. It is a plan that will address four particular pillars.

The first pillar is unleashing the economy by cutting taxes and reducing red tape. This is economic growth 101, and it is mind-boggling that we even have to argue these points in the House, but we do.

Number two is to fix the immigration system. There are too many people coming into our country. It is skewing the labour market and making the labour market worse for everybody. We have to address that. The only people who benefit from high levels of immigration are the large corporations that would like to see the wages of Canadian workers depressed.

Number three, the Conservative plan mentions the Canada student financial assistance program, to make sure that taxpayer dollars are being marshalled toward supporting students to pursue fields where there are actual jobs and opportunities.

Lastly, that plan is supporting workforce housing, which is very important, because as I mentioned, as young people struggle with affordability and the housing crisis, it makes it harder for them to get ahead and build their careers.

[Carlos Leitão, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry]

Mr. Speaker, if there is one thing we can agree on, it is that the Canadian economy is indeed under severe stress. That stress is coming from the trade war. That stress is coming from the pressure of our trusted neighbour, which now wants to make sure that our manufacturing sector goes back to the United States. Of course, that is not going to happen. If we want to increase the creation of jobs for young people, we have to address the elephant in the room, and that is the attack that Canada is under from our trusted neighbour. This is just a comment, not really a question.