Human Resources and Skills Development Canada announced a $10 million investment in its
Canada Summer Jobs program last week, a move that is expected to create summer employment for 3,500 students this year. The Honourable Jean-Pierre Blackburn, announcing the program on behalf of the government, said the program will give students skills and experience, prop up the economy and "strengthen the local economies of communities across the country."
The program will offer funding for student jobs to non-profits, small businesses and public sector employers, all of whom can apply for funding through the program at the
Service Canada website beginning February 1, 2011. (Submissions for this year must be received by the end of February.)
A spokesperson for the federal government said that it was impossible to estimate right now how many of the jobs the program creates would be in Toronto, but noted that "The Ministry is committed to creating jobs and stimulating the economy in the Greater Toronto Area."
Noting that this was the first increase in the Canada Summer Jobs program budget since that program's funding was cut in 2006, David Molenhuis of the Canadian Federation of Students welcomed the announcement. "The Canada Summer Jobs program creates jobs for students that would not otherwise exist," he said. "After record levels of unemployment and the vast majority of students facing tuition increases, it is high time that the federal government do something about it."
Writer: Edward Keenan
Sources: Michelle Bakos, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development; David Molenhuis, National Chairperson, Canadian Federation of Students