Tories reverse themselves on summer jobs, Tony says

As the Service Canada Centre for Youth opened its doors this afternoon at 22 Bay Street, Sault MP Tony Martin was announcing that the federal government has reversed itself on summer job cuts affecting non-profit organizations.

Martin issued the following statement:

************************* NDP, community groups gain more Canada Summer Jobs for students

Issues of under-funding and cuts to public sector remain

OTTAWA – NDP MPs working with community groups celebrated a partial victory for students and communities today, as Service Canada confirmed that all non-profit groups receiving funding to hire summer students last year will receive funding this year under Canada Summer Jobs.

This is a major government reversal following a huge public outcry last week after scores of rejection notices went out to non-profit associations and municipalities who had previously offered valuable community programs.

Many local charities, tourist operators and municipalities had been turned down in the riding despite successful programs in previous years.

NDP MPs pledged to continue the fight for increased funding and a review of the public sector cuts that threaten community programs and local tourism capacity.

"The government got the message loud and clear from these groups, students and our caucus," Sault MP Tony Martin said today. "I am still concerned that the student employment program is inadequately funded. We are calling on the government to restore funding to the many valuable municipal programs that were cut in the announcements last week."

"I want to recognize the hard work of local and regional Service Canada staff in getting this right. The problems with Canada Summer Jobs lie with government and policy decisions, not the frontline staff or managers."

Through these programs, the non-profit groups and municipalities hire thousands of students to staff local parks, museums, summer camps, and recreation programs that are integral parts of summer in their communities.

"We asked the minister to take another look and see how many worthy groups and projects were excluded by his new program criteria," said NDP MP Olivia Chow (Trinity-Spadina). "We are pleased that he is proactively contacting many of those groups to fix the problem. We still have to fix a deeply flawed application and assessment process, and the issue of chronic under-funding of this program."

Martin (Sault Ste. Marie) said he also supports subsidies for the smaller businesses to create better paying jobs that help keep students home in the community.

"I understand the Conservatives' interest in ending the subsidies to large corporations under the old Liberal program. However, that funding could have been shifted to deserving groups and programs, instead of cut altogether. The Liberals consistently underfunded the program by over $20 million a year for a decade."

Although the 1996 federal budget pledged $120 million per year for student summer placements, funding for the old Summer Career Placement Program stagnated between $90-$97 million since 1997, despite a growing number of postsecondary students, rising unemployment and rising student debt among returning students during the summer months.

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