Canada’s youth unemployment rate is at 13 per cent, what would your party do to help more young Canadians find work?
Young people today work incredibly hard, but too often the doors that were open to my generation are closed to them.
Under Stephen Harper, the number of young people out of work for more than a year has tripled. An NDP government will connect 40,000 young people with job opportunities over the next four years through a $200- million pilot program to create jobs. Focused on the non-profit sector, the program will also be available to corporations and small businesses, and provides special funding for apprenticeships with municipalities and Indigenous governments.
These investments build on our work as Official Opposition to protect unpaid internships from exploitation. With 60,000 fewer jobs for youth today than when Harper took office, this plan will help connect young people with the opportunities they need to get working and stay working.
What should Canada’s role be in dealing with international refugees?
We have proposed the immediate resettling of 10,000 government-sponsored Syrian refugees by the end of this year. New Democrats will increase the number of government-sponsored Syrian refugees by 9,000 per year for the next four years, in keeping with what the United Nations has asked of Canada and other nations.
In addition, New Democrats will fast-track private sponsorships with no cap, remove the bureaucratic obstacles to private sponsorships, and provide temporary resident permits for Syrians who wish to come and stay temporarily with family.