July 29th, 2020 - 3:15pm

Community, Consumer Protection, Economic Development

TRUDEAU LIBERALS’ WE SCANDAL’S REAL VICTIMS ARE HUNDREDS OF WINDSOR-ESSEX-CHATHAM STUDENTS WITHOUT JOBS

Flawed decision can be corrected by NDP solution of transferring the funds to the successful Federal Summer Student Jobs program

(WINDSOR)- Today, Brian Masse M. P. (Windsor West), NDP innovation, Science and Economic Development Critic detailed the impacts of the Trudeau liberal government’s WE scandal had on the loss of student jobs in Windsor.

“Every year the Canada Summer Student job program has more demand than there is funding available. In the middle of this pandemic as non-profits and charities are hurting from the lack of donations with an increase demand for services, the Trudeau liberals chose to break conflict-of-interest rules and ethics  laws to give almost a billion dollars and tens of millions of fees, more than triple the usual summer student job program funding,  to a financially troubled organization that had paid Trudeau family members hundreds of thousands of dollars, funded lavish elite trips and employed the Finance Minister’s daughter. This has cost hundreds of students in Windsor and thousands of others across the country employment this summer during these challenging times,” Masse stated.

The Canada Student jobs program, which was established decades ago and is administered by federal civil servants, has a budget this year $323 million and the expected number of summer jobs to 80,000. The wage subsidy is available to companies and not-for-profit groups to 100 per cent of the local minimum wage. The Federal Employment Social Development department website notes that in 2019, “requests for funding totaled more than three times the program budget.”

The Trudeau liberals decided to create the Canada Service Grant program with a budget of $ 912 million and have it administered by the WE charity as well as agreeing to pay the organization potentially more than $43 million dollars.

“In Windsor, in my riding alone, the requests for 484 jobs and funding of $2,769.464. The number of jobs approved were 300 and funding was just $1,208,437, less than 45 percent. This means almost 200 students in Windsor West have no jobs this summer.  If the government just put the $912 million in the summer jobs program not only would those 200 have employment but hundreds more in this city could have as well let alone the thousands more across this country. An example of terrible judgement that has real negative impacts on people. The Prime Minister can fix this before he testifies about this scandal at the House of Commons Finance committee by transferring this money immediately to the Canada Summer Jobs program today,” Masse stated.

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