I would like to discuss the impact of the choice you make in the upcoming ¢lection. A lot of change has occurred in Canada in the past nine years; we are a leaner meaner country, we have moved further to the right and we have been fractured regionally.
There is nothing wrong with more competition and pushing for a greater efficiency, but we must be wary of the method of pursuing this avenue and the attendant costs. ‘The Tones, reform and provincial NDP, all represent one way of going about adjusting to this new sort of economy. A less active government is the key to the affluent society. This approach to governing has philosophical implications for the type of society in which we live. The very idea that government must play less of a social role in society is an idea that we must all fend for ourselves in a lean and mean environment. It is a very individualistic and atomized view of society; it is also a sure formula for frustration.
While speaking with people at the doors, I found that many are fed up with government, in part, because government in the past nine years has grown less and less accountable for public: policy. Lobbyists have a larger say in policy, and the conservative agenda has focused entirely on controlling a few economic indicters, and unemployment is not one of them. The big indicator on which they are focusing is, of course, the deficit. The problem is the single mindedness with which the right pursues deficit reduction; they focus only on cutting government expenditure as a means of cutting this deficit. Hence, the reform party will cut 3.6 billion dollars from pensions in the hopes that they can reduce the deficit in three years, and up until a few days also the Tories had promised to cut the deficit in five years. They haven’t learned the lessons that the Ontario NDP and all Ontarians have been forced to lean if you cut expenditures only without attention to maintaining government revenues, you will go further and further into debt.
The only way that you ensure that revenues are maintained is to ensure that people have jobs. That way job creation is the issue in this election. Canadians see that we are sinking deeper and deeper into debt. We are working harder and getting less, Job creation is the rule which government must pursue in 1993.
There are two liberal policies which 1] want everyone to be aware of because they directly draw upon. Young Canadians to be part of this new role for government. The first is the Canadian youth service corps, and the second is the creation of apprenticeship programs. Canadian youth services corps should been partnership with community based organizations; a liberal government will invest funds for ongoing projects which will employ Canadians under 25 in community based activities. There are essentially two reasons why this program will have immediate and long term benefits:
Practical experience both of a general and specialized nature will be gained through these projects and help youth decide the educational opportunities they wish to pursue, and the career they wish to have. The job market is so poor for youth, Over one half million young people have never worked, that is up to 79% from 1989, youth unemployment forages 1524 is hovering at around 18%.
The second reason is that the liberal government has an environmental agenda which requires young people to play an educative role in industry and the private sector about the dangers of ambushing the environment. Fulfilling the environmental agenda is a major role of the youth service corps.
When you leave high school, some of you will go directly in the job market, some to college and some to University, What we want to do to help the school to work transition is to create an apprenticeship program in conjunction with business, labor, and provincial governments. Currently, more than half of Canadian apprentice’s trains in the construction industry, high tech services, which have the best prospects for well-paid jobs, have just 03% of apprentices.
Initially, we will focus on apprenticeship training in growth areas, such as information technology, telecommunications and broadcasting technology, commuter services, environmental services, and medical/biotechnology. Later, it will operate in a broad range of businesses and industries.
This is exactly the type of apprenticeship program successfully employed in the European community and will work here. This program will start in the second year of a liberal mandate at the first year cost of $96 million, with increasing funding commitments during the next two years.
Please don’t be fooled by those who tell you that government can’t afford to do these things to prepare its citizen for the work force. By spending in the right areas, government can have a positive impact on the quality of life which its citizenry lead.
‘The liberal plan has been almost three years in the making and its figures have been verified by an independent firm, We will put forth our policies while cutting the deficit in two ways:
- Increase employment means less people collecting welfare, and doing two things; being consumers, and paying taxes.
- Cuts to needless expenditures like the military helicopters which the Tories want to buy.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 15, 1993
