Me Giving it to Harper

Though most of you are here tonight because you care about youth issues, or maybe you're kindly supportive of your friends and their political endeavors, some of you might be here because you heard there would be a speaker with some expertise on the subject we’re here to discuss. I assure you that we tried for various experts and public icons but the timing wasn't quite right, and, as of two days ago, I am the speaker, so I'm going to do my best to pretend I'm an expert. Having a young person speak – and not a politician, or a professor, or some public intellectual – is, perhaps, in many ways more appropriate. The issues we need to talk about tonight and after this evening deeply affect us as students and young professionals. The consequences of the government's policies and decisions to date will be shouldered by us and the society we inherit, so we should be the ones concerned and we should be the ones speaking out.

 

How does what's happened in Ottawa since January 2006 – since the Conservative Government came into power and Stephen Harper became Prime Minister – affect us: young people, students, youth, young professionals? This was the basic question we wanted to ask and the reason for organizing this event.

 

We wanted to find out what Mr. Harper and the Conservative Party have done for young Canadians since forming government over a year ago. What we found should concern us all. In 2006, the "New Government of Canada" had a surplus of $13.2 billion. With this money, how did they invest in our future?

 

• They cut an astounding $55 million from Youth Employment Initiatives.

 

• They eliminated the Youth Environmental Internship Program.

 

• They cut $10 million dollars from the Foreign Affairs Youth International Internship Program.

 

• They cut $18 million from the Literacy Skills Program.

 

• And they cut $10 million by eliminating the Canada Volunteerism Initiative.

 

I could go on but the point is this: in 2006 the Conservative Government made $1 billion in cuts to programs related to education, employment and volunteerism targeted at or important to youth. And remember, all of this despite the fact that there was a $13.2 billion surplus.

 

And that was just youth stuff:

 

• They cut $64.6 million from Foreign Affairs and another $4 million from the Canadian International Development Agency

 

• They said they were "Green" and they cut $10.5 million from the Environment.

 

So, in March 2006, young people were understandably upset; and not just Liberals: the Sierra Youth Coalition and the Youth Environmental Network were right to point out young Canadians wanted reductions in greenhouse gases, not in climate change funding.

 

Now, if we fast-forward to March 2007, we remember everyone was talking about a spring election. If you look at this year's budget, on the surface it looks a lot better than 2006's - until you look beyond the shock and awe way they threw money at everything, mostly at Quebec, and you realize young people have still been left behind.

 

• The Conservatives talk about research and scientific advancement at the same time they cut $970 million from the Indirect Costs of Research Program.

 

• They talk about supporting students while they don't put a penny into the pockets of undergraduate students at all. There's money for Canada's top graduate students but most young Canadians remain unsupported.

 

• There's no plan for student debt, there's no plan to ensure that the expiring Millennium Scholarship funding remains in the system as needs-based student grants, and there's no plan to make education more affordable for low and middle income families.

 

• The international internships they cut in 2006 are still cut. And yesterday it was revealed by the Globe and Mail that the Harper Government has been aware of totally unacceptable human rights violations occurring in Afghanistan, so the need to develop young professionals with expertise in human rights, democratic development, good governance, and international development should be all the more clear.

 

• Finally, it's been over a year since the Conservatives promised to build 125,000 childcare spaces in Canada within 5 years. They haven't built one. Either they have magical carpenters up their sleeve or they weren't serious about creating choice and supporting young families – particularly young mothers – who might want pursue career or educational development opportunities.

 

The 2006 Conservative Budget was short-sighted while the 2007 Budget merely paid lip service to competitiveness, environmental stewardship and social justice. In short, since January 2006, the Conservative Government has done nothing to position Canada for the 21st Century. It has neglected youth and young adults, and set us at a disadvantage in an increasingly competitive world.

 

These are a lot of numbers and these things can get lost in abstraction. The main point is this: we have young researchers at the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta who are considering closing shop and leaving for the US or Europe because there isn't sufficient funding for them here. We have young Canadians who are willing and excited to work for very little in developing countries to improve our image abroad and learn about international development and good governance – these youth have fewer opportunities for internships than others did just 2 years ago. We have a government that seems completely unaware of how much debt we're accumulating in our undergraduate years; how expensive the cost of living is in our cities; and how hard it is to find day care spaces if you're a new family. We have a government that just realized a year ago that climate change was real, and that can only put together an environmental plan by copying Liberal, NDP and Green Party ideas.

 

This is why, tonight, we figured it was necessary to party for our future, because the Conservatives aren't acting like a party for the future at all. Stephen Harper and the Conservative strategists are counting on the fact that young people don't vote and that they're too occupied to pay attention to things like federal budgets. We need to make it very clear that we will vote, we are paying attention, and that we're not happy about the direction Canada is going. We also need to know what we want.

 

Here are a few ideas:

 

• We need to appoint a Minister for Post Secondary Education that could work with Provincial Governments to ensure, if young Canadians get the grades, they get to go to university or college regardless of their family's income and savings.

 

• We need to reverse cuts to Research and Development and ensure Canada retains its bright young scientists.

 

• We need to appoint a Minister of State for Youth Skills Development responsible for establishing a world-class national volunteer and work experience program for secondary school graduates.

 

• We need to invest in international internships, and Foreign Affairs Canada, and the Canadian International Development Agency because what's happening in Afghanistan, whether you support the war are not, should and absolutely must occur within the bounds of the Geneva Convention and should respect the norms of international human rights we have championed for decades.

 

• We need to support and enhance programs like Katimavik so that young Canadians have a better understanding of what their citizenship means.

 

These are all new Liberal commitments to young people, but they could also serve as a framework for broader consensus between the progressive parties of Canada. We need to work together to ensure our leaders in Ottawa and our leaders in Edmonton fully realize the benefits and necessity of investing in us. Mr. Dion has a 5 point plan for youth that is circulating around tonight, and that's the kind of commitment we should be demanding from every politician who aims to lead our country. For me, the most exciting point is the last one: he proposes the creation of a National Youth Advisory Committee to bring youth issues to the attention of Parliament. It's exciting because it recognizes the fact that young people need to identify their concerns and take responsibility for enacting change – that no one else is a more appropriate spokesperson and advocate for our issues than us. We have politicians and leaders here tonight that are willing to listen and learn about the things that concern us. Please take the opportunity to talk to them and share your experiences and ideas.

 

We wanted to organize tonight so that it would be the beginning of something larger. I hope everyone has fun and I sincerely hope that everybody leaves feeling like they can have a place in a movement to create a better, more future-focused society here in Canada.

 

Done