Under the Pallister government there are fewer opportunities for youth and an increasing net movement of people away from Manitoba to other provinces

Under the Conservative Pallister government we are seeing an increasing movement of people away from Manitoba to other provinces.   Under the last year of the NDP the situation was not good with a net loss of people from Manitoba to other provinces of 4,921 people.   Under the Pallister Conservatives the net loss of people has gone up substantially to 9,246 - an increase in the net movement out of Manitoba to other provinces of 87%.    This is likely because the Pallister Conservative government's policies have made Manitoba a less desirable place to live so we have a larger movement of people away from Manitoba.

I am very concerned about the bad government we have under Mr. Pallister which is leading to this outcome. 

In a committee meeting on Poverty on Thursday evening December 5th,  I asked Minister Stefanson about a disturbing statistic in the government's Poverty report - that there has been a substantial increase in the number of youth aged 15 to 24 who are not in employment, education or training.  This number has increased from 10.7% in 2015 to 12 percent in 2019.  The evidence suggests that  under the Pallister government there are fewer opportunities for youth and an increased net movement out of Manitoba.  My question and the Minister's response are below.

Mr. Gerrard: One of the indicators here is the number of youth who are not in employment, education or training. And there has been quite a significant increase in the number of youth aged 15 to 24 who are not in employment, education and training. It's gone up by 12 per cent. I think this is of great concern. And, when one adds up to the fact that there's some evidence that there's more young people leaving the province [see graph above]  that's even more of concern.

      So my question to the minister is: What is her plans to address the increasing number of young people who are not in employment, education or training? Because I suspect that, you know, when young people are not in education, employment or training that they're more likely to be causing problems and getting into things like crime.

Mrs. Stefanson:   I want to thank the member for River Heights (Mr. Gerrard) for his question. And it is an important one. And certainly we are taking steps in a whole-government approach when it comes to this.

      Manitoba Economic Development and Training delivers a range of employment and training services for all Manitobans and including targeted programming for youth under 30. Services are delivered directly by government front-line services and indirectly through partnerships with third-party organizations.

      Youth under 30 make up over 40 per cent of the approximately 70,000 clients served annually across all labour market programs. And through front-line services of Manitoba Jobs and Skills Development Centres, youth job seekers are supported with employment and training assessments, employment counseling and support, including essential skills assessment and training, academic upgrading, pre-employment and life skills training, post-secondary skills training, work placement with a wage subsidy, self-employment assistant–assistance.

      And so, certainly, we're working from a whole-of-government approach to ensure that Manitoba youth are getting the employment, education and training that they need. We have launched Jobs on 9th and Jobs on main as well, to ensure that youth–we get youth ... and others–back to either work or into employment, and–sorry–into education and the training that they need.