DAN ALBAS -- It does not make sense to spend $900 million and have only $500 million reach students who are ultimately being paid less than minimum wage to volunteer
"It does not
make sense to spend $900 million and have only $500 million reach students" ~~ Dan Albas
This week Prime Minister Trudeau apologized for not having recused
himself from a cabinet decision that awarded a, sole-sourced, $900 million
program to be administered by a charity with close ties to the Prime Minister’s
family.
It has been revealed members of the Prime Minister’s family received financial
payments from the same WE Charity in question.
As you may have also heard, the Ethics Commissioner announced an investigation
relating to Prime Minister Trudeau’s involvement in this decision.
This would make the third time that the Ethics Commissioner has investigated
Prime Minister Trudeau.
The purpose of my report this week is not to question the Prime
Minister’s judgement nor his apology or the ethics investigation, but rather
the decision to outsource the program as many of its details are deeply
concerning.
Many Canadians will know that, for decades now, the Canada Summer Jobs program
has successfully matched students with employers and, for the most part, has
been successfully and efficiently administered by the Government of Canada
public service.
The only major complaint over the years has been a lack of funds to meet the
all of the requests of potential employers.
Rather than increase funding by $900 million to the Canada Summer Student Jobs
program and increase the mandate to include charities and not for profit
organizations, the Trudeau Liberals came up with a different scheme.
$900 million was directly awarded to the WE Charity, who in turn intended to
use teachers and camp operators to recruit students to become paid volunteers.
The recruitment fees payable to teachers and other organizations would be in
excess of $10,000 for a certain number of students. The students in question
would then be paid below minimum wage to ‘volunteer’ for a set number of hours.
Aside from the issue of paying volunteers, there is another challenge.
Even if the program was able to recruit 100,000 students who worked enough
hours to earn the maximum credit of $5000, this only works out to $500 million.
Where does the other $400 million end up? In recruitment fees?
Either way, it does not make sense to spend $900 million and have only $500
million reach students who are ultimately being paid less than minimum wage to
volunteer.
At the same time, there are small business owners and other organizations who
have applied for the Canada Summer Jobs program and have been denied placements
due to a lack of funding.
The WE Charity and the Liberal Government have made the decision to end this
project leaving the future uncertain.
As the Conservative Opposition, we have recommended the Trudeau Liberal
Government should instead use that $900 million and invest it into the Canada
Summer Jobs program and ensure that charities and non-profit organizations have
the opportunity to apply.
My question this week is ... “Do you agree?”
I can be reached at:
Email: Dan.Albas@parl.gc.ca
Call Toll Free: 1-800-665-8711
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