Trudeau’s vow to help young find work goes ignored

OTTAWA— A notable Liberal election pledge designed to encourage employers to hire young people failed to make the cut in last week’s federal budget.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vowed during last year’s campaign to offer a 12-month holiday on employment insurance premiums to employers who give permanent jobs to people aged 18-24.

The promise, announced in September by Trudeau himself, was supposed to come into force this year and extend through 2017 and 2018 — but it didn’t receive a mention in the budget. During the campaign, Trudeau noted that the Chrétien Liberals did something similar in the late 1990s “to tremendously positive effect.”

“We saw the number of young people’s jobs spike during those years,” Trudeau said during a campaign stop in Burnaby, B.C. “That’s exactly what we need right now, given the extremely high unemployment rates for youth.”

Last month, the country’s unemployment rate for youth aged15 to 24 was 13.3 per cent, compared with an overall jobless rate of 7.3 per cent.

Trudeau‘s promise would have also provided financial relief for potential bosses by waiving the EI contributions.

The Liberals estimated employers would have saved $80 million this year, $80 million in 2017 and $60 million in 2018.

Dan Kelly, president and CEO of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said Tuesday his membership was very supportive of the promise of EI relief.

“That was one thing that business owners really liked,” Kelly said.