June 26, 2015 – Duncan, British Columbia – Employment and Social Development Canada
The Harper Government is helping equip youth in the Cowichan Valley with the skills and experience they need to find jobs. The announcement was made today by the Honourable John Duncan, Member of Parliament for Vancouver Island North, on behalf of the Honourable Pierre Poilievre, Minister of Employment and Social Development.
Through the Youth Employment Strategy, the Community Options Society is delivering a project to help 36 youth in the Cowichan Valley successfully transition to the job market or return to school.
Project participants are learning or improving job and life skills, such as effective communication and teamwork, through group activities, including workshops and field trips. They are also gaining work experience with local employers in areas such as tourism, food service and retail. The Community Options Society is receiving over $269,000 for this project.
This is part of the Harper Government’s overall strategy to equip all Canadians with the skills and training they need to connect with available jobs.
Today’s announcement is one example of what the Government is doing to help Canadians. To help hard-working families, the Harper Government is also enhancing the Universal Child Care Benefit, introducing the Family Tax Cut and making improvements to the Child Care Expenses Deduction and the Children’s Fitness Tax Credit.
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The Youth Employment Strategy (YES) is the Harper Government’s commitment to help youth make a successful transition to the workplace. With annual funding of approximately $330 million, YES helps youth between the ages of 15 and 30 get the information and gain the skills and work experience they need to succeed in the workplace. YES includes the Skills Link and Career Focus programs, as well as the Canada Summer Jobs initiative, which creates thousands of job opportunities for students every summer.
Skills Link helps youth facing barriers to employment—including single parents, youth with disabilities, young newcomers and youth in rural and remote areas—to develop the skills and gain the experience needed to find a job or the confidence to return to school. Skills Link has helped over 191,000 youth since 2006.
Career Focus helps post-secondary graduates transition to the job market through paid internships and helps to provide youth with the information and experience they need to make informed career decisions, find a job or pursue advanced studies. Since 2006, Career Focus has helped over 29,000 youth.
Canada Summer Jobs provides funding to not-for-profit organizations, public-sector employers and small businesses with 50 or fewer employees to create summer job opportunities for young people aged 15 to 30 years who are full-time students intending to return to their studies in the next school year. Since it began in 2007, Canada Summer Jobs has helped over 304,000 students.
Through Economic Action Plan 2014, the Harper Government is investing $40 million towards supporting up to 3,000 internships in high-demand fields and $15 million annually towards supporting up to 1,000 internships in small and medium-sized enterprises under the Youth Employment Strategy.
The Government also provides a range of support—including Canada Student Loans, Canada Student Grants, the Canada Learning Bond and the Canada Education Savings Grant—to help young Canadians save for and pursue their post-secondary education, so that they can acquire the skills and training they need to succeed in the job market.
Visit youth.gc.ca and CanLearn.ca for more information.
