Reform training programs to tackle high youth unemployment, Tories say

The federal Conservative party is proposing a plan to improve the job prospects facing Canada’s young workers amidst high youth unemployment in the country.

Unemployment rose to 14.7 per cent for youth aged 15 to 24 in September, hitting a 15-year high outside the pandemic years.

The Conservatives pin much of the blame on what they call Canada’s broken immigration system, which they say flooded the job market and made it harder for young people to break in.

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MP Garnett Genuis is laying out a plan Wednesday that would see government student assistance programs, like the Canada Student Financial Assistance Program, offer more support to students seeking work in high-demand fields, and allow businesses in regions facing labour shortages to write off the cost of building homes for workers.

The Conservatives have made immigration a central issue in the fall session of Parliament and are calling on the federal government to scrap the temporary foreign worker program.

The Official Opposition is calling on the Liberal government to adopt its jobs plan and include it in the fall budget, set to be released Nov. 4.