TORONTO, July 30, 2015 /CNW/ - The Harper Government will help 225 young Canadian Armed Forces reservists of the Primary Reserve across Canada get the information, skills and work experience they need to find and keep jobs while remaining in the reserves. The announcement was made today by the Honourable Pierre Poilievre, Minister of Employment and Social Development.
Career Edge will use the investment of over $2,805,000 from the Harper Government to create a new paid internship program for active reservists between the ages of 19 and 30. Three host cities will be jointly determined by the Department of National Defence and Career Edge as areas of concern about retaining young reservists. The cities will be identified after the program begins in August.
Today's announcement is just one example of what the Harper Government is doing to help Canadians. To help hard-working families, the Government has also boosted the Universal Child Care Benefit, brought in the Family Tax Cut and increased the Child Care Expenses Deduction and the Children's Fitness Tax Credit.
Quick Facts
- Career Edge is a self-sustaining organization that works to connect highly motivated, well-qualified interns with leading organizations since 1996.
- Today's investment is from the Career Focus program, which is part of the Government of Canada's Youth Employment Strategy, has helped 29,000 youth find jobs and prepare for the workforce of tomorrow.
- The Harper Government's Youth Employment Strategy is helping youth develop the skills and gain the experience they need to get jobs now and prepare for the workforce of tomorrow. Since 2006, the Youth Employment Strategy has helped over 611,000 youth.
- The boosted Universal Child Care Benefit provides $1,920 per year for each child under the age of 6, and $720 per year for each child aged 6 through 17.
Quotes
"Our Government is helping young Canadians get the skills and training they need to find good jobs and build better futures for themselves and their families. I am pleased that our youth will benefit from our initiatives to connect young people with jobs. They join the more than half a million young Canadians who have already benefited from our Government's Youth Employment Strategy."
– The Honourable Pierre Poilievre, Minister of Employment and Social Development
"Primary reservists are an important part of the Canadian Armed Forces. By helping to create paid internships for them, the Government is showing once again that it cares for reservists and is taking direct action to help them be gainfully employed and continue to serve Canada in the Forces."
– The Honourable Jason Kenney, Minister of National Defence
"We are proud to partner with Employment and Social Development Canada and the Department of National Defence to launch our new internship program for Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Reservists. Through this program, we will proudly help Reservists get the experience they need to find meaningful and sustainable work in their communities, while continuing to serve their military units as part-time Reservists."
– Naguib Gouda, President, Career Edge
Associated Links
Backgrounder
The Youth Employment Strategy (YES) is the Government of Canada's commitment to help youth make a successful transition to the workplace. With annual funding of approximately $330 million, YES helps youth between the ages of 15 and 30 get the information and gain the skills and work experience they need to succeed in the workplace. YES includes the Skills Link and Career Focus programs and the Canada Summer Jobs initiative, which creates thousands of job opportunities for students every summer.
Skills Link helps youth facing barriers to employment—including single parents, youth with disabilities, young newcomers and youth in rural and remote areas—to develop the skills and gain the experience needed to find a job or the confidence to return to school. Skills Link has helped over 191,000 youth since 2006.
Career Focus helps post-secondary graduates transition to the job market through paid internships and helps to provide youth with the information and experience they need to make informed career decisions, find a job and/or pursue advanced studies. Since 2006, Career Focus has helped over 29,000 youth.
Canada Summer Jobs provides funding to not-for-profit organizations, public-sector employers and small businesses with 50 or fewer employees to create summer job opportunities for young people aged 15 to 30 years who are full-time students intending to return to their studies in the next school year. Since it began in 2007, Canada Summer Jobs has helped over 304,000 students.
The Government of Canada is helping Canadian youth get the skills employers are looking for with the Canada Job Grant, apprenticeship grants and the new Canada Apprentice Loan. The Government also offers tax credits, such as the tuition, education and textbook tax credits, tradesperson's tools deduction, and the Apprenticeship Job Creation Tax Credit.
The Government of Canada also provides a range of support—including Canada Student Loans, Canada Student Grants, the Canada Learning Bond and the Canada Education Savings Grant—to help young Canadians pursue and save for their post-secondary education, so that they acquire the skills and training they need to succeed in the job market.
Visit youth.gc.ca and CanLearn.ca for more information.
Career Edge is a self-sustaining social enterprise that connects interns with leading organizations. Since 1996, Career Edge has provided 12,000 recent university and college graduates, including those with self-declared disabilities, and internationally qualified professionals with career-launching internship opportunities.
SOURCE Canada's Economic Action Plan
Aaron Bell, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Employment and Social Development, 819-994-2482; Media Relations Office, Employment and Social Development Canada, 819-994-5559, [email protected], Follow us on Twitter
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