Ottawa- Cathy McLeod, Member of Parliament for Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo today reminded employers that the application period for Canada Summer Jobs 2019 will begin on December 17, 2018 and close on January 25, 2019.
Canada Summer Jobs funding provides wage aids to employers from not-for-profit, public, and private sectors to create quality summer work experience for young people.
“The Government of Canada has made changes to the Canada Summer Jobs application for 2019. This includes employee eligibility to include all youth aged 15 to 30, not restricting eligibility to just students. As well, the government has eliminated their Values Test Attestation that was introduced last year,” said McLeod.
The new application for the 2019 Summer Jobs program will no longer ask about a group’s “core mandate” or what rights it respects. Instead, it will list as ineligible any project or job that “actively works to undermine or restrict a woman’s access to sexual and reproductive health services,” or that “advocate intolerance, discrimination and/or prejudice.”
As a result of the Liberals values test, more than 1,500 Canada Summer Jobs applications were rejected in 2018, up from 126 rejections in 2017. Hundreds of other organizations withdrew their applications or did not apply due to their inability to sign the attestation.
“Justin Trudeau’s values test has no place in a tolerant, multicultural society such as Canada. Organizations should not have to agree with the ideological positions of the Liberal Party to get government funding,” stated McLeod. “This is a desperate attempt at damage control for the Prime Minister heading into an election year.”