In Ottawa:
The order to sanitize an audit of Sen. Mike Duffy’s expenses came from two key Conservatives on the Senate’s internal economy committee: chair David Tkachuk and Carolyn Stewart Olsen, CTV News has learned.
The original version of the audit report said Duffy broke the rules when he declared a Prince Edward Cottage as his primary residence and noted that the senator refused to co-operate with independent auditors.
Last Friday, CTV’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife reported that those damning notes were removed from the public version of the report that was tabled in the Senate.
In Selkirk:
“Our government’s top priorities are creating jobs, economic growth and long-term prosperity,” said Mr. Bezan. “The Government of Canada’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.”
KL Consulting is receiving more than $88,000 from the Skills Link program to help youth overcome barriers to employment. Skills Link is part of the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment Strategy (YES).
Years ago as a teenager I signed up for one of these government youth employment programs. It was summer and I was looking for a job. I dutifully went to the government office, this was before the internet became a thing. I dutifully filled out all the appropriate paperwork, this was long before I realized the nature of how governments actually worked. As required I returned many times to this office. They did not find me any work. None of the people I knew who used this program found work. The only youth employment this program seemed to generate was for the university student administrators, each of whom seemed utterly bored every time I visited.
After about two weeks of this I decided to find work myself. It took me four hours to get a job packing boxes at a warehouse in nowhere Mississauga. That lasted about a week. Then it took me about a day to find my next job, which last about two weeks. It then took me three days to find a job that lasted the rest of the summer. These were short-term casual labour positions. You worked so long as there was work to be had.
The lesson was well and truly learned.
While the press release speaks of preparing youth for the job market of tomorrow, if you read a bit further we come across this little revelation:
With the help of a job plan, participants will develop a range of skills through work placements in sectors such as construction, retail or hospitality. This experience will help them transition into the labour market or return to school.
Apparently manning cash registers, laying bricks and cleaning hotel rooms will comprise the job market of tomorrow. Given the economic illiteracy of the Obama administration that's probably a good guess. But why does the government of Canada need to get involved? These programs provide only the most marginal of benefits to their communities, though the patronage possibilities are obvious and well known.
If youth are having a hard time finding work in Selkirk, it's probably because they're in Selkirk. It's a small town of about 10,000 souls. By all accounts it seems to be a very fine small town. It's about half an hour north of Winnipeg and has an unemployment rate of around 6%, slightly below the national average. The primary industries are a local steel mill and a mental health facility. Not always the best sources of work for young people. Unless you've got a car, allowing for a commute to the Peg, your employment options might very well be limited.
A government youth employment program will not solve any of these problems.
While Canadians are outraged, and rightly so, over Nigel Wright cutting a $90k cheque for Mike Duffy's expenses, a bigger scandal is being ignored. Almost exactly the same amount is being spent on a make work project for consultants in southern Manitoba. Yet no journalists will write about the $88k wasted in Selkirk, and the millions of dollars wasted across this country every year in similar projects.
Mike Duffy claiming to live in PEI when he actually lives in Ottawa is a scandal. The PM's Chief of Staff possibly trying to purchase the silence of Mike Duffy is a scandal. That the MSM fails to report how taxpayers money is wasted on make work projects every year is the far greater scandal.
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