The winter weather may have returned to Thunder Bay, but a pair of local MPPs are already starting to think summer jobs.
On Friday Liberals Bill Mauro (Thunder Bay-Atikokan) and Michael Gravelle (Thunder Bay-Superior North) announced the continuation and expansion of the $5.65-million Summer Jobs for Youth program, which will provide employers with a $2-hour subsidy to hire up to 6,200 students between April and the end of August.
Lakehead economics and political science student Jonathan Bannon, who has benefited from the program for six years as part of a Fort William First Nation program, said he didn’t know what he was getting into when he started Summer Jobs for Youth. But he’s certainly glad he followed through.
"The program, when I went, it changed me," Bannon said on Friday. "I fell in love with it right away.
"I know that the money that goes into the program through the province, it really helps the youth."
It doesn’t do the employers badly either, said Dave Bradley, regional manager for Thunder Bay’s Outland Reforestation. For the past 10 years his company, which works in both forestry and mining interests in the North, has accessed money through Summer Jobs for Youth.
It’s helped him stay in business, Bradley said.
"It’s allowed us to subsidize the cost of wages, which allowed us to be a little more competitive, maintaining the appropriate amount of management and staff in projects, allowing us to deliver excellent service to our customers, but at the same time allowing us to offer value to our customers," Bradley said.
He added he likes the fact that students must be returning to school in order to qualify for the program.
"We know that everyone is on an educational path of some sort. What we try to do when they’re in our workforce is encourage them to stay on an educational path, so that someday they can enter the workforce with technical skills," he said.
It seems to be working, especially with graduates of the First Nation Youth Entrepreneur program.
According to Confederation College statistics, 257 First Nation youth have completed the Summer Jobs for Youth program, with 35 per cent of those students moving on to or continuing their post-secondary education. Of the rest, 70 per cent are employed.
"It’s been a wonderful success story," said Brian Kurrikka of Confederation College’s forestry centre.
Gravelle, the minister of northern development and mines, called it a fabulous program and said it makes a huge difference all the way around, particularly for youth looking for experience and a head start on a career.
That’s why it’s being expanded in 2010, he added.
"It’s all part of our commitment to youth employment and keeping our young people in Northern Ontario and certainly our focus on post-secondary education being such a focus on our government," Gravelle said.
The deadline for businesses to apply for funding is April 30.
