HUMA Committee Report

Youth Employment Opportunities and Political Interference

Supplementary Report by Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition

The Conservative Party of Canada

Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities

Introduction

From November 2017 to September 2018, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA) studied pathways to employment for Canadian youth.  The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) greatly appreciates the work of the Committee and thanks the Chair and Members, the Clerk and staff, including the analysts, as well as the translation and technical teams.  We would also like to thank the witnesses who appeared before the Committee or provided written briefs to share their valuable insights and recommendations.  We are pleased to support the final report, Experiential Learning and Pathways to Employment for Canadian Youth.

Through this supplementary report, Conservative members of the HUMA Committee add to the robust work completed by the Committee and present additional recommendations which we urge the Government of Canada to implement.

Background

As the Committee’s report highlights, young Canadians “benefit from having better access” to experiential learning opportunities “which give them on-the-job experience to make their school-to-work transition easier.”[1]  We recognize that when young people have the opportunities to discover their passions and to identify and develop their skills, they can enter the workforce on a firm footing.

One of the programs highlighted in the Committee’s report is the Canada Summer Jobs (CSJ) program.  According to Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), the CSJ program “provides wage subsidies to employers to create employment for secondary and post-secondary students.”[2]  The CSJ program provides funding to not-for-profit organizations, public-sector employers, and small businesses with 50 or fewer full-time employees to create summer job opportunities for young people between ages 15 to 30 who are full-time students intending to return to their studies in the next school year.

Liberal Changes to Canada Summer Jobs 2018

For the 2018 iteration of the CSJ program, the Liberal government added an attestation requirement for all applicants.  According to ESDC, “CSJ applicants will be required to attest that both the job and the organization’s core mandate respect individual human rights in Canada, including the values underlying the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as other rights.”[3]  The CSJ 2018 Applicant Guide notes that to be eligible for the program the job must “respect individual human rights in Canada, including the values underlying the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter) as well as other rights.  These include reproductive rights and the right to be free from discrimination on the basis of sex, religion, race, national or ethnic origin, colour, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression.”[4]

While the CPC has always defended the rights of Canadians, we are concerned with the Liberal government’s decision to demand private organizations – whether not-for-profit charitable organizations or for-profit businesses – affirm the political values of the Liberal Party of Canada as a condition of receiving federal funding.  This represents a marked departure from previous practice whereby all Canadians would have equal opportunity to a public benefit regardless of their personal beliefs or values.  Furthermore, the CPC believes that the right to freedom of thought, belief, opinion, and expression must be respected by the federal government.  We are especially concerned the precedent set by this decision means that any future government would be able to approve or deny funding to Canadians based on the beliefs they hold.  This is contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, undermining the fundamental freedoms enshrined therein.

Canadians from a variety of backgrounds raised concerns with the wording of the attestation requirement.  To be specific, it was not clear what the Liberal government meant when it indicated an organization’s “core mandate” had to “respect” the “values underlying” the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  Due to these concerns, the Liberal government was forced to publish a “Supplementary Information” document in January to include a definition of “core mandate” and “respect”.  The document stated that an organization’s core mandate is “the primary activities undertaken by the organization that reflect the organization’s ongoing services provided to the community.  It is not the beliefs of the organization, and it is not the values of the organization.”  “Respect” was explained in the following way: “Individual human rights are respected when an organization’s primary activities, and the job responsibilities, do not seek to remove or actively undermine these existing rights.”[5]  Stakeholders noted the clarification failed to address concerns about the wording of the attestation itself which was interpreted by many as an attempt to compel individuals to concur with certain values held by the Liberal Party.  The Liberal government refused to adjust the wording, forcing many applicants to choose between providing community services and programming or acting according to their beliefs.

Opposition to the Attestation Requirement

The Liberal attestation requirement drew significant backlash from Canadians.  Nearly 90 representatives of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, the Canadian Council of Imams, and the Jewish Shaarei Shomayim Congregation, as well as other faith groups, issued a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asking him to accommodate the “diversity of values and beliefs in Canadian society.”[6]  The Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto, for example, had applied for $1.1 million through the CSJ program, but had their forms rejected because they could not sign the attestation.[7]

Reports noted faith-based organizations were not alone in their opposition.  Groups organizing community events and First Nations also highlighted concerns.  For example, the Great Lakes International Air Show said its board had decided it couldn’t sign and Loon River First Nation said it couldn’t sign the attestation because it discriminates “based on values held by the applicant.”[8]  The B.C. Civil Liberties Association also flagged concerns, with Executive Director Josh Paterson stating: “To say we’re going to force you to mouth these words, or to sign this attestation, whether or not you believe in the words written: that is what is problematic.”  He also noted that there is no positive right to government grants, “but once there is such a granting program, you have the right not to be discriminated against in terms of your protected grounds under the Charter in giving out that grant.”[9]

Several groups – both faith-based organizations and private businesses – have also initiated court challenges against the Liberal attestation requirement.  A coalition of businesses calling themselves Free To Do Business Canada has come together to help support court challenges on behalf of “business owners whose applications were denied because they refused to support the government’s values test.”[10]  For example, one Ontario concrete company is going to court arguing that the attestation forces businesses to take a stand on divisive moral and social issues.  “As a for-profit corporation, Sarnia Concrete does not have a position or opinion on abortion or other political, moral, ethical and social issues completely unrelated to its business,” reads their notice of application.[11]

The CPC notes that Members of Parliament from the Liberal Party, the New Democratic Party, and the Green Party also expressed concern with the attestation requirement.  In January, Liberal MP Scott Simms stated: “The application is asking [applicants] to do something that they shouldn't be asked to do for the sake of a summer job for kids.”  He added: “All I can do is I can look to the minister, I can look to the leadership and say, this application, as it stands right now, is not right.”[12]  Another Liberal MP, John McKay, is quoted as calling the attestation “regrettable” and a “lamentable state of affairs.”  He further added that: “It is my view that applications for government grants that engage in non-political non-activist work should be free of ideological bias and political preference.”[13]  NDP MP David Christopherson said in March: “To me, at the end of the day, that [attestation] box took away Canadians’ right to disagree with the laws that they have to obey. I had a very strong, fundamental problem with that.”[14]  Green MP Elizabeth May also said the Liberal government “overreached” with the attestation.[15]

Impact on Youth Employment

In the Prime Minister’s mandate letter to the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, he asks the minister to increase “the number of good quality, permanent jobs for younger workers.  This includes: increasing our investment in our Youth Employment Strategy and improving the strategy’s impact.”[16]  As one of the three components of the Youth Employment Strategy, the Minister of Employment should be working to provide additional opportunities to Canadian youth through the CSJ program.  While the CSJ program does not create permanent jobs for young Canadians, it aids in providing the skills and experience youth need to enter and remain in the workforce when they are ready.  The Minister of Employment has limited opportunities to Canadian youth through the introduction of the attestation requirement.

In terms of the impact that this discriminatory policy has had on Canadian youth, an order paper question[17] revealed that ESDC received 42,708 applications for CSJ 2018.  The government response shares that at the end of the initial assessment phase, “over 1,950 applications were incomplete.”  Incomplete applications were those that excluded information such as the business number, number of employees, the supervision plan, and applications in which applicants elected to modify or not to sign the attestation.  Applicants were given 10 days to resubmit a completed application.  Media reported that Service Canada “told the groups they can resubmit with the full attestation, and some are making a second try by requesting accommodation for their religion and conscience.  But unless the government backs down, their applications will be rejected again.”[18]

Following this period, 1,683 applications were deemed ineligible with ESDC deeming 1,559 applications “incomplete in relation to the attestation.”[19]  This compares to 126 incomplete applications out of 40,000 in 2017,[20] representing a 12-fold increase in rejections from the previous year where the attestation requirement had not been implemented.[21]  Therefore, students across the country were deprived of the opportunity to gain work experience in 1,559 potential job placements as a direct result of the Liberal government’s attestation requirement.

In addition to the loss of thousands of potential youth employment opportunities, the decision to politicize the program also saw applications dismissed as incomplete disproportionately higher in Conservative-held ridings.  On average, Conservative ridings saw 6.5 rejections per riding while Liberal-held ridings experienced 4.1 rejections per riding.[22]  While all Canadian youth lost out as a result of the Liberal government’s values attestation, youth in non-Liberal ridings appear to have borne the brunt of the discriminatory requirement.

Conclusion

The CPC believes that the Liberal government’s attestation requirement has politicized the CSJ program, limiting opportunities for Canadian youth who would have otherwise had access to good jobs created through employers’ participation in the program.  As the Government of Canada has decided to offer funds to the public, the Charter “requires the state to make that offer in a manner that is not discriminatory and that respects the fundamental freedoms of Canadians.”[23]  The CPC also believes that tolerance, openness, and respect for diversity of opinion are all hallmarks of a free and democratic society.  As a pluralistic society, Canada allows for diverse opinions and protects those who may think and believe differently.  The CPC therefore recommends:

Recommendation 1

That the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour ensure that an employer attestation is not a requirement of application in the Canada Summer Jobs program going forward.

Recommendation 2

That the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour ensure that an employer attestation is not a requirement of application in developing new programs to support youth employment in Canada.