The Harper government has recently paid for advertising spots during playoff hockey to promote a new economic action plan project: the Canada Jobs grant. The jobs grant, however, does not in fact exist.
Originally published 06/06/13 on desmog.ca
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By Patrick Eldridge. The Harper government has recently paid for advertising spots during playoff hockey to promote a new economic action plan project: the Canada Jobs grant. The jobs grant, however, does not in fact exist.
A closer inspection of the commercial (which cost up to $90,000 per 30 second spot) reveals some fine print stating that the Canada Jobs Grant is subject to parliamentary approval. The grant at this stage is nothing more than a “concept of how it would work” that “needs to be fleshed out,” according to Conservative House Leader Peter Van Loan.
The Canada Jobs Grant webpage states that it expects provincial governments and private businesses to contribute $5000 per trainee. Several provincial governments have already expressed hesitations over the program. The premiers of the four Atlantic provinces voiced their concerns in a joint letter, expressing doubts about “the ability of small and medium-sized businesses to participate in the program.”
Human resource officials for the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia have criticized the proposed structure of the grant in that it allows the federal government to encroach on provincial jurisdiction. The current proposal involves re-negotiating labour agreements, which would expand the federal government’s ability to dictate job development priorities in the provinces.
[source]Image Credit: Wiki Commons, World Economic Forum